Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Ben Bostromand Matt Wait va lves in the thing every other day." Wait conti nued to ra ise eyebrows and tum head s with his on-the-edge riding, bu t a horrifi c crash on the pavement at Phoenix sideli ned him for some time and, he says, nearl y ruined his passion for the road racing game. "I slipped in some oil that was left by Dou g Polen earlier in the d a y," Wait recalls. "It started raining, and that lifted the oil right to the top (of the racing su rface). I was the first guy to hit it. Three or four gu ys hit the same spot after me, and Rick y Graham ' s bike came ri ght into my ches t. It lacerated my spleen and took a little piece out of my liver . I was ou t for a little wh ile. My first race back was Laguna Seca, and I was kind of wary of the roa d racing. It felt real . sketchy, and it took me three races to get back to normal. Eleventh was the highest I finished that year, I think." No ne theless, Wai t rebounded, scoring a n impr essive victory in the 883cc Na tiona l at the Syracuse mile late in '93, fi nis hi ng sixt h in the AMA 883cc National d ir t track series in 1993 and imp roving to fifth in 1994. His road racing skills also continued to develop as he was sixth in the AMA Super Twins series in 1994. But '95 was his best season yet. Wait scored victo ries on the dirt at the Harrington, De la w are, and Pomona, California, half miles as well as a pavement win at Brainerd. His results we re good enough for fou rth in 883cc Na tio na l d irt trac k series and thi rd in th e Su per Twins class. So far in 1996, Wait has continued to pick up speed. He was u ndefeated a fte r t he fir st two rou nds of the AMA Super Twins Series, though Bostrom is ho t on his heels. Yet his de trac tors are quick to point out that Wait has forfeited several races by cras hing; often w hen he was clearly. the fastest rider on the track. He claims that his "reckless ness" has been blown ou t of pr oport ion . "It's like anything when a new guy comes along and beats everyone," Wait says . "People don' t like it, and they say that you're dangerous, or wha tever. But then th ey ge t used to it , an d it go es away. But I r eall y am in co n trol ou t there, an d I know tha t to finish first you mus t first finish. I heard Wayne Rainey say that. And I'm working on my sty le a lot. I'm trying not to lean the motorcycle over as much so that I can keep more of the tire's contact patch on the gro u nd." Wa i t, to o, is tha nkful for his di rt tr a ck ra ci ng experien ce, and like Bostrom, st resses its importance in deve loping a rider for road racing competition. "It's so important tha t (recent Japa nese Gra nd Prix winner) Norick Abe came over from Japa n to stay wi th me and my family to learn how to ride dirt track," Wait says . "His dad shipped him over here just to learn how to do it. Dirt track teaches you control, and it teaches you how to slide. No t anyone can do it, but if you can do it, you can ride anything. I think it's the first step ping stone that anyone should take if they wa nt to start racing. You can be a good racer if ,you d on't do it, but it will take you a lot longer." Dir t tr ack o r no, bo th Wa it and Bostrom hav e pr ogressed quickly, and both are moving on to new challeng es in road racin g for the 1996 season as they contest the AMA /Pro Honda Oils 600cc Sup erspo rt class in addition to figh ting it out for the ,AMA Sup er Twins title - a championship that may be up for grabs between the tw o of them judging b y their 1-2 status in the curren t ser ies standings. It is in the 6D.Occ class, though , that Bostrom has picked up an edge in his rivalry with Wait, having signed a d eal with Zero Gravity to ride what is essentially a Smokin' Joe's Racing Ho nda "B" bike in the class this year. So far he has p u t it to good use, scoring a second -place finish a t the recen t L.A. Superbike Championships in Pomona, California. "I have a really good program w ith th e 600s," Bo s trom says. "America n Hond a gave me some bikes and a pa rts allo tmen t. They bu ilt me some rea lly good bik es, a n d m y mecha nic Ma rk . Lucas is a super-sha rp guy . Every body at Honda has helped me in one way or anoth er. Then I've also got a rea lly good deal with Zero Gravity. It's a real clean, professional-looking program. I think w e're g on na have a real good year. There's real positive attitu de there." Wait has thus far been fo rced to s tr uggle alo ng as a ny aspiring rid er would, paying his du es aboa rd his own machine wi th limited help, all the wh ile hoping th a t his per forma nces will be good enough to get him noticed . "It's strictly a privateer effort, " Wait said. "We have a lot of great prod uct sponsors helpin g u s out, and Honda gives us a break on parts, but I own the bike, and my mechanic Pancho Rangel does all the work on it. It's a year old, and I'm ridi ng the wheels off of it and getting smoked down the straightaway. Like Ben' s bike (for example), I can't even get into his draft. That's a problem in the 600cc class. There's guys out there with way faster motorcycles than everyone else. I don' t wa nt to say too much, but I think they' re using parts tha t I can' t ge t. Th e 883s are a lot closer. I haven't shown them (the factories) anything yet." But yo u ge t th e impression that is what both riders are at once preparing themselves and being groomed for - bigtime factory rides, and while both make no bones abou t where they want to go in road racing, both have sligh tly d ifferen t ou tloo ks on how they want to ge t there. "I wa nt to win the championship in the 883 class, because this will be my last year in it," Bostrom says. "After tha t I wa nt to try to ge t on a superbike. I wan t to try and progress as quickly as I can so that maybe in a couple of years, I'll be maybe head ed for World Superbike. I think we all want the chance to ride in the 500cc GPs. Tha t would be the ultimate. Bu t vou still have to learn slow to go fas t. Th is is going to be a very s teep learni ng year for Ben Bostrom." "Actually, I wa nt to try out a superbike," Wait said. "I tested with Ducati at th e Michelin tire test, and -Ive been asked to d o that again this year. But what I've really been trying to do is find a way to ride a 250 in the Ducados Series in Europe and then go to the 250 Grands Prix from there. It's just been real hard to pu t anything like that together. But I'd rather ride for an A superbike team than a B Grand Prix tea m. I want the best equipment I can get." . Both are right on schedule, and barringthe unforeseen , something the sport is all but full of, it may only be a mat ter of time before both riders get their shot at the bigs. Both have a long way to go, but w hen you consid er that they have come such a long way in a very sho rt time, the att enti on that they have been receivin g is .not such a won de r afte r all. Th ere m a y be m ore of a future fo r , Am erica than just Bost rom and Wait , but the pair is definitely at the forefront of it. Ch amp ionships may be in th e cards soon. The future does ind eed look brigh t. Doesn 't it? l~ BenBostrom on Matt Wan "We definitely hav e two di fferent riding styles, and I think that my riding style is d efinitely going to work a lot longer than his, He crashes a lot. I do n't want to wa ke up when I'm an old man and not be able to get ou t of bed . He' s a little too aggressive. You don 't want to tak e a gu y ou t, becaus e next time he may come looking for you. I go abo u t it like, 'Hey, I'v e got to deal with this guy next week.' But when I ride with him, I do n't get too upset. He 's real fast, and on the race track I deal with him the way that I deal with Matt Wait - just like you dea l w ith each indiv id ual guy in a certain way once you learn abo ut him. I think we both really enjoy bea ting the other guy." Mall W o an nBen Bostrom "Ben's conserva tive, and somet imes you can be too conserva tive . He's a great rider, I think, bu t I do n't know what he thinks out there someti mes. I think that sometimes he crashes because he's tryi ng too hard. We've been racing against each other since we were little kids , so it (the rivalry) is just natural to me, but I don't think about it as a 'rivalry.' He' s just ano ther competitor ou t on the race track - just ano ther guy you have to beat. It would be cool if we ever got to be teamm ates together someday. I think we' d be a really tou gh team."

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