By Paul Carruthers
Photos by Carruthers and
Henny Ray Abrams
0u can't blam e Ben Bostrom fo r
any of th is. H e was si m p ly fol lo win g th e pl an . Mi gu el
. DuHamel was su ppo sed to be the 1998
AMA Su perb ike N a tio nal Ch ampion .
Bostrom was sla ted to spend th e yea r
getting familiar with the factory RC45
and wit h the notion of being a full-time
factory su pe rbike race r, all the whil e
learning what he could from his expe rienced teammate. Hey, if he could win a
race or two along the way, all the bett er.
He would go into the 1999 season wit h
a fu ll season o f ex perience und er hi s
belt , and perhaps he could make a run
a t th e tit le in ... w ell, ma yb e th e year
2000, whe n DuHam el was back hom e in
'7
22
Ca nada , pl a yin g ch eckers in a retirementhome.
Goi ng in to th e n inth round of the
se ries, H ond a' s pl an w as wor king to
p erfection. DuHam el led th e se r ies
stand ings . And Bostrom was provin g to
be a quick study, sit ting fou rth in th e
s ta nd ings in what wa s just th e fourth
season of his road racing caree r. Then
things cha nged. DuHamel went ou t and
broke his leg during qu alifying at New
Hampsh ire Internati onal Speedway and
sudden ly Bostrom's w orld was turned
upside down.
N ow th e 24-year -old virtua l roo kie
was Honda's on ly hope for a su pe rbike
crown. Sort of like tak ing the boy from
d own in the mailroom and maki ng him
the compa ny's CEO.
Thro wn into th e pres su re cooker,
Bo st rom cras h e d ou t of th e le a d in
(Above) 1998 AMA
Superbike National
Champion Ben Bostrom
and his vehicles of
cho ice - a Hummer and a
.CR250.
(Right) The garage at the
Bostrom house features an
arsenal of Honda ZSOs. WheeJle
contests are a regular part of the
dally grind of being a Bostrom. Who Is
the only man to ride a wheelie around
the entire block? Miguel DuHamel.
