Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127960
ROAD RACE AM A/MBNA S UPERBlKE N TIONALCHAMPIONSHIP A By Pa ul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams FOUNTAfN, CO, SEPT 6 . ra in erd In tern a tion a l Ra cew a y a n d Pikes Pe ak ' Internati on al Racewa y ha ve nothing in co mmon besi des the tw o words they sha re in their nam es. On e is a true racer's race track, fast and flowing; the other is for su rvivors, a mostly one-lined stop-a ndgo tor ture tra p . Young Eri c Bostrom proved a t Brainerd in Au gus t th at h e could rid e a fas t motorcycle to victory on a fast race track. With a win at Pikes Peak tod av, he show ed he has the versatility to win anywhere. Bos trom was simply domin ating , w inni ng his second successive AMA Superbike ational and maki ng this one look easv. He trailed his older brother Ben for few laps , then blasted around the ou tside of his sib ling to take the lead on the fou rth lap. He was never headed again as he wai ted a dozen or so more la ps befo re rea ll y taking cha rge a nd p u lling away . By the ti me an oilin u ced, four-rid er crash brought out the red flag on the 42nd lap, Bostrom was som e se ven seconds clear. When t h e ra ce wasn ' t restarted, he was declared the winner - a worthy winner ind eed . And let's not forge t, tha t's two race victo ries in onlv three caree r s tar ts for Bostrom in the premi er class in AMA racing. This race actually featured two races within a race . Ther e was the race for victorv , w hic h Eric Bostrom ended fa irlv early by se tting a demoralizing pa ce that th e o the rs couldn 't match; and th ere was the race fo r the AMA Superbike ational Champion ship betwee n Arner - B a ica n Hond a's Ben Bostrom and Mu Z2Y Ka wasa ki' s Dou g Chand ler. Tha t one wen t the distance a nd ended u p in a draw . Wit h Ben Bostrom ci rcu la ting nea r the front and Ch andler battling to- stay in tou ch with th e lead g ro u p , it appeared that th is w as goi ng to be an all-Bostrom d ay . Eric would win, Ben would finish second or third and would leave Pik es Peak with the po in ts lead . That looked go od on pap er, but not so good on pavement. Ben Bostrom started slipping backward when he, like Cha nd ler, encounter ed trouble. Chand le r's (Above) The Su perb ike National at Pikes Peak Intern ational Raceway gets started w ith Ben Bost rom (11) lead ing h is brother Eric (117), Mat Mladin (66), Pasca l Picotte (21) and Rich Oliver (97) out of turn three and int o turn fou r on the opening lap. (Right) Eric Bostro m (117 ), Ben Bostrom (11) and Mat Mladin (h idden) sta yed c lose f or a handful of laps before Eric Bostrom was able to leave th e others in his wa ke. woes were traction-rela ted ; Bostrom' s we re mechanical. Both persevered , wi th Bostrom fin ishing fif th to Cha nd ler's sixt h . Chandler came in to Pikes Peak with a tw o- p oint a d van ta ge over Bos trom . They leave Color ad o tied , both clutching on to 323 poin ts. Neither has yet to win a Su pe rbike Na tional in 1998, and the champio nshi p will be decid ed at Las Vegas Mot or Speedway the first weekend in Oc tober. On e race for the title yet another prizefight in Sin City . Rewind to Pike s Pea k, thou gh, a nd the on ly fight at the top was the on e for secon d . Tha t featured Yoshimura Suz uki 's Ma t Ml a d in vs . Van ce & H ines Duca ti's Jaso n Pridmore. Mlad in ca me ou t on top for h is second stra igh t second-place finish as he continues to rid e the Suzuki as hard as it can be ridd en . Still, it w a s n o m a tch for Bostrom ' s RC45. Pridmore, like Eric Bostr om, showed that his fou rth-place fini sh at Brainerd in hi s Va nce & Hines debut w asn 't a fluk e. Pridmore started sixth and d id no thin g but move forward, finall y arriving at Mladin's rear wheel. Whether or not he could have mu stered up a chal-