David Anthony, an Australian expatriate who has lived in the U.S. almost as long as he did in the Land Down Under, has been a fixture in the MotoAmerica paddock since the beginning, and this year, he has the single largest Superbike team in the paddock.
Think about that for a moment. The factory-supported Yamaha team (Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha) has two Superbike riders in defending champion Cameron Beaubier and Jake Gagne, and the factory-supported Suzuki team (M4 ECSTAR Suzuki) also has two Superbike riders in 2017 Champion Toni Elias and last year’s Supersport title winner Bobby Fong. Meanwhile, the privateer FLY Racing ADR Motorsports Superbike team is fielding a whopping three Superbike riders in David Anthony, Sam Verderico, and Bradley Ward. What’s more, each of the riders is on a different brand of motorcycle with Anthony aboard the #25 Suzuki GSX-R1000, Verderico racing the #17 Yamaha YZF-R1M, and Ward campaigning the #57 Kawasaki ZX-10R. Three different riders. Three different motorcycle brands. One race team. Oh, and did we mention two full-size team transporters?
How is this possible?
Anthony, who has raced a Kawasaki Superbike for the past several years and also had a short stint aboard a Yamaha Superbike with another team two years ago, recently acquired some parts that led to him having a three-brand Superbike team for 2020.
As Anthony explained, “We were able to buy some already developed Suzuki parts, and we built a GSX-R1000 Superbike, which I am going to race in MotoAmerica this season.”
About having three different motorcycle brands under his canopy for 2020, Anthony said, “It’s a big benefit for our product sponsors because we can showcase their products on three different brands of motorcycles. It’s a great way to activate our sponsors and merchandise their products all in one place. We’re excited about it, and our sponsors are, too.”
The new Suzuki Superbike has already been a winner for Anthony. Well-known for using club races as “test sessions” for his MotoAmerica season, Anthony recently competed in round five of the Chuckwalla Valley Motorcycle Association (CVMA) Winter Series at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway in Desert Center, CA. In the Formula Open class, Anthony broke the track record, which was set by him two years ago.
In the weekend’s CVMA Shootout race, Anthony battled for the win with his FLY Racing ADR Motorsports teammate Ward, who was also using the event as a MotoAmerica shakedown test for his Kawasaki Superbike and Kawasaki-mounted Corey Alexander, who is competing in MotoAmerica Superbike this year, too. Anthony and his Suzuki Superbike took the checkers with Ward finishing second and Alexander rounding out the podium in third.
Pleased with the performance of the newly built Superbike, Anthony then competed in the WERA West event held this past weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where he won four races and broke the track record. Teammate Ward also raced his Kawasaki Superbike in the WERA West event. The tall Brit finished second to Anthony in four races, and he managed to beat his boss in one race last weekend.
Meanwhile, FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ third team member Sam Verderico, who broke his shoulder and both hands when he inexplicably went over the bars last September during round nine of the MotoAmerica season at New Jersey Motorsports Park and became somewhat of a social media sensation for the unintentional and painful “dismount,” is fully fit and ready to race his #17 Yamaha Superbike for another MotoAmerica season.
As a matter of fact, Verderico is more than ready to race this season, and he is especially looking forward to round five of the series at the end of June when MotoAmerica will compete for the first time at The Ridge Motorsports Park, which is the Wenatchee, Washington, resident’s home track.
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