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/127974
.M A ASuperbike National Champion Ben Bostrom (Left ) Bostrom is fi t. spending hours on end at t he Gold's Gym in Gra nada Hills, California. said and done, he didn' t have muc h of a choice . "Sta y in g at H on d a did n't en d u p being a n o p tio n for m e ; o the rwise I wo u ld have stayed there," Bostrom said . "I'd learn ed tha t bike, and I di dn't want to jump on something differe nt when there was a lot of expectations on me. I didn' t wa nt to have to learn a new bike and a new team, but I think it's worked ou t pretty good." Bostrom is so polite tha t it takes a little proddi ng to get him to say much about the situation. "I was a strange deal," he admitted . "I had a relati on ship wit h Hon da, and all th e guys down a t Honda were my frie nds . I think th ey're all good guys, and I di dn't thi n k of goin g a ny w here else. Then we ran into a weird situa tion when the whole silly seaso n came along. I think there was some misunderstanding that went along with it. This was my first lim e ever d ealing with so me thi ng like this, and I didn't really deal wi th it so mu ch - I jus t let m y m an a g er g o about it . I've learned th at so me times you have to be more hands-on . I don't have anything agains t Alan (Labrosse his former manager), and he still manages m y bro th er , M ig ue l (Du Ha mel) and Pascal (Pico tte), bu t I just decided to go in a di ffer ent di rection with a new ma nager. I have a good rel a tionshi p wit h Fred (Bramb lett - his new ma nager), and I think the world of the guy. I think he does a good job and I'm happy with my decision. "I know there's no wa y your manager goes out there and tries to sabo tage you, an d I rea lly believe tha t Ala n had m y best inte rest in mind . I ju st don 't th ink he rea lized in the end what was go ing to happen . It' s al most like they (Honda) called his blu ff." Backing up to the past season, there was certainly no way that Bostrom could bluff his way in to th e cha m p ionsh ip. Going into the fina l round , he was tied on points wi th three-time AMA Super bike Nation al Champion Dou g Chandl er. Tied . Dead even. Winner tak e all. Chandler had a mechanical failure that forced him to drop back, but at the time he wa s lead ing Bostrom and he later said he had the Honda rid er covered... "I do n't think he did," Bostro m sai d . " I jus t tol d th o se g uys th at I was n' t go ing ou t there to win , I was go ing ou t there to race Dou g. I was a little worried to s tart w it h , because he ou tq ua lifi ed me. In the race, we just took off and had a good pace go ing . I passed him, an d I noticed that he was jus t followi ng me, pl aying it s ma rt. I know how he is . I wasn't sure if I was going to beat him or no t. I just told myself, 'Hey, I' m yo ung and I've go t nothi ng to lose. I'm eit her w inni ng thi s cha mpions hip o r I' m crash ing. If he goes fas ter, I'm goi ng faster. I d on 't care what it takes; I'd rath er cras h than lose this thing : I had that in m y mind, and I was just going to wait u ntil the last five, 10 laps and then put the hammer d own. I'm sure Dou g was th inking the sa me thing. It could have gone either way. Everyone kn ows how Dou g is: He holds back . If he has to go fast, he goes fast. He's got more experien ce, and I definitely would have put it on my head befo re I let him beat me. But then he wo uld have be at me anyway - I d on't know. I didn't care where I crashed , or wh en . I just wanted to wi n. It ju st wo rked out in my favor - v that' s all." On e of the things that Bostrom will mi ss in 1999 is his former teamma te Du Ha me l. In his place will be Gob ert, the fast Aus tralia n w ho retu rns for a second yea r on the Vance & Hines team . It mat ters not, accordi ng to Bostrom. "Any time you have a tea m ma te, job nu mber one - and I d on't care if yo u're racing for last place or first place - is to beat yo ur tea mm at e," he sa id . "T ha t's just th e w a y it is. I a lways e n joyed Mig uel (Dul-larnel), becau se he al ways had a race face on an d he always wanted to beat yo u and eve rybody else out the re. And if you happened to beat him tha t da y, he still congratu lated yo u. He's rea lly a mo tivati ng guy and I enjoy riding w ith him . With Antho ny (Gobert), it's going to be the same dea l - yo u wa nt to beat the other guy so bad . I ge t alo ng with An thony well. I d on't know him as well as I kn ow Migu el, bu t I'm sure I will ne xt yea r. He's a great rid er; he's g o t a lot of ot he r thin gs he need s to straigh ten ou t in his life, but yo u can 't take an y thi ng awa y fro m the guy , because he's really talen ted . He'll be ou t th ere winning races next yea r, and I p lan o n ta kin g severa l of tho se wi ns ' awa y from him. We'll just see w hat happens." With such a meteor ic rise to su pe rbike stardo m, it shou ld come as no sur- . prise to learn that Bostro m was raised aro und mo torcycles. His par ent s owne Honda dealerships in No rthern Califor nia , a n d th e fa mi ly liv ed on a ran ch w here the three boys - Tory, Ben an Eric - could ride at w ill. And ride the did. Early on, Bostrom had big goals. H was goi ng to be a cha m pio n. Then h di scovered he was a pretty good ska t boarder, and the girls at school wer attracted to th is. Motorcycles we re pu on the back burner, bu t not for long. " M y parent s p u t u s on bikes," Bostro m recalls. "Every year they'd ge us new bikes, an d we'd ru n 'e m in to th ground . Th en th ey' d g ive u s anothe one the followi ng yea r. They'd take u. to so me races, bu t they never pu t an pressure o n u s. If we di dn't want te ride, that' s okay. If we wanted to race th e y'd ta ke u s to th e race tra ck . W co u ld n ' t hav e as ke d fo r a be ll e upbringin g. "Like a ny kid , I w as w atching 0 Any Sunday e ve ry d a y, Ta ke It to the Li m it - a ll th os e m ovi e s," Bostrom recalls. "And I' m thinking, 'That's wha I'm going to do: Then you kind of vee off that pa th th rou gh you r high schoo yea rs. You don' t rea lize that's wha t yo wa nt to d o, an d yo u start d oin g othe th ings. Th en one d ay it hits yo u, and yo u've go t to get back to focusing. Yo don' t ever know if you're go ing to be J cha m p io n, beca use ther e a re so man other guys ou t ther e who are great rid ers, Ther e are a lot of grea t rid ers wh os luck never falls their wa y. I'm fortuna t to get one in early, so no matter wha t, a least I hav e a cha mpions hip." Having an olde r brother helped Ben. Apparently, it also worked fa irly well for Eric. "Th ere are three of us, so I alway had an older brother to look up to. H (Tory, who is tw o years old er than Ben is a re all y ta lented rider, s o it wa always the th in g tha t he was fast and I wan ted to be that fast, " Bostro m said "I wo uld always push myself to try and catch hi m , but he was o lder , so h would go faster. Likewise with Eric, was quicker than h im, so he would tr to cat ch me. At one point, it all leve led ou t. I had caught up to Tory and then Eric was ca tching me at a rapid rat e. I was thinking, 'Man, what' s happenin h er e?' You're always exp ecti ng to b the fas ter guy, bu t eve n tua lly you kind of pl ateau a n d you r broth er ca tch es yo u . I think w e were all fortunate t ha ve each o the r to race against - w learned what com pe tition is at a you n ag e . It mentally prep a re s yo u fo what's to come. We never had to wor abo u t having a rid in g budd y because we a lwavs had each other. We neve had to g~ rid ing by ou rse lves, and I:d ra the r ride wit h them than anyo ne els in the world." Tory Bostrom no lon ger races motor cycles, but Eric definitely d oes. Ben con siders him self fortu nate to ha ve one 0 th e best liv in g right und er. th e sa m e roof. "I' ve go t Eric here, an d it' s a beautiful thi ng," Bostro m said . "I've go t m y brot her, and he's a motivated guy. He ge ts up and ge ts things don e, so I know I can' t let him ge t one step on me. W use each other to train against. We ride ag ains t each other, race each other. It' s who can do the most pu llu ps here, th most dips ther e. It's com petitio n yearround , so w he n yo u s ta rt the season,