Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Ben and Eric aren't the only racing Bostroms. Ben (14) leads his older brother Tory (17) at the Lodl Cycle Bowl. (Right) Riding motoc ross bikes is an integral part of Bostrom's tra ining program. your mind is already p repa red to compete. I th in k t hat gives u s a slig h t advan tage on a lot of th e g uys, b u t some of those guys are tough. You take a g uy like Ma t Mladi n . He' s a s uper rid er a nd he' s ha rd -hea d ed . He's like Mig u e l a n d Yat e s a n d th es e g u ys . Th ey're alI realI y fas t, talent ed g uys, and I don't thi nk they really need so mebod y to tra in with and motiva te them. I th in k th ey h a ve e noug h m o tiva tio n bu ilt in thems elves to try to win races. I'm hoping I have a step up on 'em, but who kn ows?" Both Bostroms wer e br ed to be d irt tracker s. Their fat her, Dave, still buckles on the steel shoe and races at the Lodi Cycle Bowl in North ern Ca lifornia . "1 never saw m yself there (d irt tracking)," Bostrom said . "When I started d irt tracking, I always wanted to road race. I always had that built in, and I kne w that one d a y I w a n te d to roa d ra ce, but I kn ew th at I n eed ed th e d irt tr a ck to establish good fund amentals. I think it' s because m y heroes we re guys like Chand le r, Ra in ey , Robe r ts - a nd a lI th ose guys had d on e the d ir t tra ck b efore sw itch ing to roa d racing . I've also see n them all on mo tocross tracks, an d they are fa st . I wanted to road race, and I knew that one da y I'd get that opportunity." Tha t opportunity first came in 1994 bu t it didn' t really count. Then, in 1995, Bos trom' s roa d ra cing ca reer took off with a full-time Bar tels' d eal to com pete in the Harl ey SuperTwins Series. "In '94, I d id a road ra ce for Azt ec Racing ," Bostrom recalIs. "We literalIy grabbed a bike off the sho wroom floor, hu ng some stuff on it an d we n t to Dayton a . We had no idea ; we w ere d irt trackers. I wa s circulating aro und, thi nking, 'Man, these guys a re just smo king me down the strai ghtaw ay.' Then my me ch ani cs toldvrn e we had a s toc k eng ine . I d ragged my kn ee for the firs t time there, and damn, did it feel good . I kn ew that's wh at I wanted to do ." In 1995, Bostro m finis hed seventh in th e Ha rley-Davi d son Supe rT wins Ser ies , bu t he won hi s first road rac e along the way - in th e final rou nd in Phoenix. H e cr ashed a lot , but it was expected. "I' m a little di fferen t from my brot her," Bostrom said. "He takes it rac e by race, learns an d gets u p to speed, and I kind of want it now . I cras hed a lot of Harleys and bent up several frames. It was the same 'deal in '96 when I go t on the Honda. I had a su p port rid e from American Hon d a and, Go d , I w recked seve ra l o f t hose bi kes . I kept m y mechanic, Mark Lucas, so bu sy. Fina lly he stop ped se nd ing me o u t w it h new bodywork for qua lifying. I' d always ge t so am ped up , try ing to be on the front row. I' d cra sh nea rl y eve ry ti m e . So he'd send me out there wit h used bod ywo r k th a t was u su a ll y du ct-t ap ed togethe r." In addition to getting up to speed in the 600cc Su persport cla ss (he fin ished fo u rt h in th e final p oin t s ta n di ngs), Bostro m also compet ed in th e Ha rley class again. Thi s time he won five races bu t lost the title by thr ee points to his longtime riva l Matt Wait. In 1997, Bostrom left the Harley class beh indto concentrate on the 600cc class while also ge tting his feet wet in superbike racin g with an RC45. The Bostr om n ame s till r e s id ed a t t he to p of th e Ha rley class, w it h Eric w in ning eigh t times en ro u te to ta ki ng the title . Th e 1998 season marked a move to the Big Team and on to full-tim e 600cc Superspo rt and Su perbike w ars. You ge t the feeling h e' s s tilI a littl e a w ed b y th e whole thing. "l' rn pr ett y friend ly w ith every one in the pit s because I think highl y of every one that's ou t ther e," Bostrom said . "1 ju st ta lk to every s ingle o ne of the m, and every one of them gives me a little bit d iffere n t kn owledge that I put into my racing . As you talk to people, yo u put toget her a littl e bit of w ha t they say, and the res t you can' t use because that's no t you. But eve ry racer in the su perbike cla s s th at I ta lk to on a weekly ba si s, I learn a litt le bit from a lI o f them ." ~ H e learns from alI of th em , but h e d efinitel y ex hib its his ow n style: wild and in a cons tan t s tate of evolution . Take the Bostro m d ress cod e, for example: His pa nts are of the bag gy variety, tak ing tw o steps to catch up to his every move. At this year' s AMA awards banquet , Bostrom s how ed up fulI g la m including eyeli ner. He took so me hea t for it, but don't expect him to change . " It' s ju st th e w!"y I am," Bostrom sai d . " I've a lw ays e nj oye d fu n ky movies and go ing to stra nge clubs. I just lik e th in gs like th a t, an d it makes me ha pp y to feel a little differe n t. But to me, it's not that much d ifferen t, because a lot of my friends dress that way and that's how we are. But when you show up at the road race track, mo st of them seem a bit serious and they dress nice. Th ey' re great gu ys a nd th ey playas hard as the rest of them , but... we ll, it's just me, it's my person ality. " I~ It's wo rking so far . Reversal of fortune E xactly one week after conducting this in terv iew , Ben Bostro m was being operated on at Halifax Medical Cente r in Dayton a Beach, Florida. Shortly after turning in w ha t was the best lap time recorded at the Du nlop tire test - a 1:49.9 in his d ebut ride on the Van ce & Hi nes Duca ti Bos tro m 's re ar tire fa il ed on th e ba n king between turns th r ee a n d four, sending him down the track a t over 160 mph. Thou gh he wa s fortunate eno ug h not to su ffer an y brok en bones, he was left with serious abrasions, the most serious being a badly injured hand with a severed tendon. Bos tro m unde rwent s u rgery to repair the te n don a n d to clea n h is wounds a nd was expected to return to h is Ca lifornia ' home th e week o f December 14. Pr ior to th e cra s h, Bostrom was impressive, circ ulating quicker tha n not only his tea mmate An tho ny Gobert, bu t the r est of the superbike riders in attendance - alI while ge tting used to the new Vtwin. "It' s just a whole lot d ifferen t," Bostrom said of the bike pri or to the cras h. "It's just a completely different ani mal. You've go t Ben Bostrom had his first outing on the Ducati at the recent Dunlop tire test at Daytona. Bostrom lapped at 1:49.9 before a tire-failureinduced crash put him in the hospital . to rid e it a lot different beca use of the way the rpms are, and the bike... it's not a slider, it's more of a kee p-the-w heels-in-line, kind of stay-on-the-rails bike. If you ride it right , you do quic k laps and you also save the tires. The bike's really good ." 25

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