Accompanying a press release from the Daytona International Speedway concerning a Michelin tire test conducted by Ducati with Eric Bostrom earlier today, this photo should strike fear into Ducati’s competitors for the 2004 AMA Superbike crown.
If you have already forgotten, Eric Bostrom has kept a relatively ancient, underpowered Kawasaki ZX-7R on or near the podium in AMA Superbike competition for the last few years. The Ducati 999 pictured above is fully supported by Ducati Corse in Italy, and shouldn’t give away an inch to a full spec World Superbike machine. It should be a step forward from the machine Neil Hodgson rode to the WSB championship earlier this year.
The one place where Mat Mladin’s Suzuki GSX-R1000 superbike competed with Neil Hodgson’s 999 this year was at Laguna Seca, and observers (as well as Mladin, himself) commented that the 999 was at least as fast as the GSX-R1000. With the AMA Superbike rules for 2004 favoring twins, Eric Bostrom would have to be one of the favorites, if not the favorite, to take the title. One also has to wonder whether Bostrom has been promised a MotoGP ride in 2005 should he claim the 2004 AMA Superbike championship for Ducati. He has made it clear that MotoGP is his ultimate goal.
