From a press release issued by Yamaha Motor Corp. U.S.A.:

SEASONED YAMAHA FACTORY ROAD RACE TEAM RETURNS FOR 2005 AMA SUPERSPORT AND SUPERSTOCK CHAMPIONSHIP CHASE

CYPRESS, Calif., December 6, 2004 — The same factory Yamaha road race team that won the 2004 Superstock championship and ran up front in the Supersport series will return for 2005 aboard the a fully-developed Superstock championship winning YZF-R1 and the new, heavily-revised YZF-R6.

Returning riders Aaron Gobert, Jason DiSalvo, Damon Buckmaster and Jamie Hacking will compete under the unique arrangement that sees all four members racing in the Superstock class aboard Graves Motorsports prepared R1s and in Supersport on factory Yamaha prepared R6s. According to Chuck Graves, Graves Motorsports team manager, he is confident about next year and added that he feels that Yamaha has the best team and bikes in the series. Noting the benefits of working with an experienced team, Graves said, “After two years together, the team is pretty tight and we all know what to expect from each other.”

Keith McCarty, Yamaha racing manager added, “We had great results last year in both classes and with a carbon copy of our team personnel for 2005, we expect to continue our winning way.”

The team recently completed testing at California Speedway and according to McCarty the team has made some solid performance gains. “The R1 was already fast, so we concentrated on improving handling. The R6 received some updates to the forks, brakes and intake system and they are making a big difference on the track.”