Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

-Iated to join Antho ny Go bert to rid e the earn's factorv V-twins in the 1999 AM A uperb ike Natio nal. Cham pionship, an d re'Il do so as the defendi ng cham pion . Here comes the pr essu re aga in. "In a wa y, it would have bee n be tte r f I h ad n ' t wo n the cha m p io ns h ip so uickly," Bostro m said. "If I had n't won , it would have been mo re like, 'Oh, look he runs up fron t a nd does a goo d job , ut he 's got some thin gs to learn.' Now tha t I' ve go t the championship, people re expecting this and tha t. I know w hat I' m expecti ng, a nd th at' s now th at I lave a year of experience, it's my tum to a out th ere and wi n some races. But there are so many guys ou t there in this day and age wh o can w in, it makes it tough." Winn ing. Bostrom hasn't d on e th at yet, at least in AMA Su perb ike racing. e won the title without winning a race, and he will be subjected to the criticism th at brings. It' s a m o nkey on his back that he h op es to rid himself of in th e coming season. "That's the m os t im p o r tant th ing rig ht now," Bostrom said . " If I co uld just ge t that out of my way. I th ou ght I had a co u p le of reall y go od cracks a t wi nning this year. Bu t I didn't win, and I rea lly wan ted to win for myself and for my mech an ics, because th ey wa nt ed it so bad . In the end, we won ,the war in w innin g the cham pionship, bu t I want to win that first race so bad ." , A s if fa il in g to wi n wa s n ' t bad enoug h, Bostro m had to live through the fac t th at his little bro ther Eric wo n his seco nd and third races on a superbike at Brai nerd a nd Pikes Pea k. The Hond a te am pu t b oxing gloves in the tea m truck in anticipation of w ha t could happen be tween the two, but bro therlv love . end ed ~p winning out. "There are tw o ways to look at it," Bost rom s a id of Eric's success. "We wen t to Braine rd, and I was pr et ty su re I was going to w in th a t race . I was just thinking, 'My bike is so fast, how can I lose?' Jamie (Hacking) was rid ing grea t and so w as Mat (M la d in ), a n d the y should have had a bett er cha nce of winning, but our Hondas we re fast. Then I loo ked back a n d Eric was there, a nd before I knew it, he had won the race and I was third. I was onl y on the podium because Jamie had crashed. It was like, 'God, w hat hap pened ?' It all happen ed so fast . Fo r tha t fir st minute, I was mad . It was like, 'What just happened?' You don' t want to ge t beat by yo u r yo u nger bro the r, and it was like ~he wo rld w as com ing to an end. But I sta rted thinking abo ut it and it was like, 'Well, if Eric d idn't w in , so meone else wou ld ha ve .' A n d th ere' s no o ne I' d rather ha ve win than Eric. If I can ' t wi n the race, th en I wa n t Eric to win the race. It's bro th erl y lo ve. A nd I respect him as-a rider because I know how good he is . I' ve been rid in g with him since day one.. There's no ha rd feelin gs." No hard feelings, bu t pl en ty of su rp ris e , If Be n wasn 't su ppo sed to be AMA Su perb ike Cha m p io n in his first year, Eric certa inly wa sn ' t supposed to win in just his secane! race. "I knew he was ca p able, but I just d idn ' t th in k h e ' d go th at fa st tha t qu ick," Bostro m said of his broth er : "I knew he wa s on a great bike, a proven b ike , a n d h e h a d g rea t m ech a ni cs behind him. It w as on e of those thi ngs w he re I kn ow how Eric is . He u sually takes a little bit of tim e to warm up to so mething, and then he ' s jus t fast every day. He doesn 't ha ve an off d ay. But to win a su pe rbike race, seco nd race out that' s just amazing . I can' t think of.a ny~ one else w ho's ever don e it." (Above) The Brothers Bostrom Ben and Eric, (Right) Ben and Eric Bostrom proudly s how off their trophies after a race at the Cow Palace in San Francisco in 1990. Eric w ill return to the Ho nd a team this year, essentially takin g his bro ther's place. Now he will be u nd er the m icroscope a bit more, and he'll be expected to no t o nly win more races bu t also challen ge for the title. Ben knows his bro ther has the package to win a title . "Of course," Bost rom said. "I think he's d efin it el y go t w ha t it takes . He' s fast , he's sma rt and he doesn't like to crash, so he's going to be in it for the title. He's got good bikes, he 's pa rt of a grea t team and he's got goo d mechanics. Bu t the re are a lot of g uys . There a re grea t r id ers like (Ma t) Mlad in - if he d idn't have the trouble he had this yea r, he'd have been righ t in th ere fo r the title. Some ba d fo rtune fell on some great ride rs - Migu el (Dul-lam el), Dou g Chandler.. . There a re too many grea t riders to think, 'A h, this is the guy I' m going to be racing against.' But I know Eric will be on e of them." , Ben Bost rom is since re when h e speaks hi ghly of his co mpet ition. Hi s respect fo r his fellow co m p etitors is imme nse, and he m ention s them often. He also has a great dea l of respect and a d m ira tion fo r hi s former m ech an ics and his fo rm er team. He was a Ho nd a guy through and th rough , and no w he ha s to make th e change . Goi ng from sus hi to pasta wo n 't' be the only thing he'll have to a dj us t to, but he kno w s w hat's in store. "I'm like anyo ne else... I jus t learned to ride a su perbi ke th is season, I had great mechanics and a really good company behind me ," Bostrom sai d. "I' ve been a Honda g uy all m y lif e - ever since I wa s brough t u p. It' s been in my blood. I always fig ured as a kid , 'O h, th at' s wha t I'll a lw a ys be - a H ond a guy.' And then somet hing like this hap-pens, and you 've just got to change. I' m a little worried because now that I have the champion sh ip, I thin k a little mo re is expec ted fro m me. I do n' t wa nt any one to think, 'Oh look , he jus t totally fell into that d eal and now he suc ks.' So I'm a little a p p reh ensi ve. Bu t th e Ducati is a great bike, I've go t great mechani cs and I th ink it's a good team. Obvious ly, it' s a winning bike, and I wa nt to be o n a wi n- run g bike, so that's why 1 cho se to go to Ducat i. I'm worried , bu t who wou ldn't be?" As if hea rin g about the fac t tha t he wo n th e tit le w it ho u t wi n ning a ra ce wasn't eno ugh, Bost ro m also hears the comparison between his career and that of Mike Hale. Recall tha t Hal e was in line to be th e nex t DuHam el a t Ame rican Honda. He won races, he cha lleng ed for the title and then he left - to Ducati . And h e 's n e v er b een th e s a me . The resem bla nce is eerie. Both ra ced dirt track and bo th swi tched to roa d racing, firs t in Harley-David son TwinSport, then 600cc Su p ers p o rt, and fin ally to AMA Superbike with Honda... "Peo ple a lw ays bring up the Mik e Hale thing and tell me, 'He was a great r id e r a nd this happened to h im: " Bostro m sa id . "Bu t it' s differe nt . Mik e had to go to Europe, he had to learn new tracks, a new bike, new tires, new food , the travel. I jus t th ink the re was a lot on him. I'm still a t the same tra cks , eating the sa me foo d , wo rk ing wit h mechanics that I've been friends w ith for a lon g tim e, still using Dunlop tires , It's jus t a new bike for me. I've also had a lot of ad vice from so me of th e old er rid er s who hav e sa id , 'Hey, that bike (the Ducati) is great. You'll jump on that th in g and in two laps yo u ' ll love that bike.' Th e way I look at it, it's just a bike. It ' s go t tw o wheels , an engin e and a throttle. It's th e same as anv other bike, • just a littl e d ifferent." Why the change? Why switch from some thing that wa s succes sful to so meth ing unknown? Because when all was 23

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