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/128004
su ccess - w it h s ix v ictor ies in it s last seven races - the team again pu t both . riders on the front row and again looked certain of succ ess. But there are no certa in ties in this sp or t, a nd every th ing sim p ly fell ap a rt on Sunda y a t Mi d - . Oh io, ma kin g the pa st success not hin g bu t a faded mem ory. To add in su lt to injury , Bos t ro m was n' t the only one on the team with problem s. Prior to Bost rom bein g blackflagged , An thony Gobert w as already going backward in a hu rry af ter choosing the wrong front tire and stru ggli ng to keep th e bike on tw o w heels. After finish ing the first lap second , behind his teammate, Gobert's decline w as not only steady - it was rapid . Dro p ped to thir d on lap fou r, Gobert w as fou rth on lap fiv e, fi ft h on lap si x, seven t h o n la p seven, eigh th on lap eight and 10th on la p nine . H is p ositio n wou ld cha nge aft er t h a t b a sed on a t tr itio n, b ut h e wou ld ultimately end up ninth - tha nks main ly to Steve Grigg runnin g ou t of fuel - only one spo t better than Bos trom. So, after a ppearing indomitable in th e p a s t fe w rou n d s , including th e Lagu na Seca rou nd of the World Su perbike Series , the team was brought back to ea rth wit h a resoundi ng thud at MidOhio. But as it goes in racing, one team's loss was anothe r team's gain, and the big wi nner in this one was Yoshi m ura Suz uki - and Mladi n in particular. Mlad in now lead s the championship by 14 points ove r Bostro m, 301-287, an d ยท Gobert is ju st a sing le p oint behind his tea mma te, wit h 286 po in ts. Chand ler's victo ry boos ted h is tot al to 250 points, but his ear ly-seaso n woes still give him very li tt le ch a nce of winnin g a no the r title in 1999. Among th e n ot ables w ho fail ed to fi nish w er e Ha rl ey-Da vidson ' s Sco tt Russell an d Yama ha's Ja mie Hacking (the pa ir cras hing in th e sa me corner), the afo re me n tio ne d H a yd en, an d Yoshi m ura Su zu ki's .Steve Ra p p, who exited early with an electrical problem on his GSX-R. (Right) Chandler's wi n was made easy when Ben Bos trom was black-flagged because his Ducati was leaki ng oil. Prior to tha t, Bostrom had led every lap . The Californian got the prob lem fixed, returned to the track and fi ni shed 10th. (Below) Mat Mladin (66) gained a lot at Mid-Oh io . Wit h his second-place fini sh, the Aus tralian now leads Bo strom by 14 po ints with just two races rel'Qaining.. A fte r a m a ss rid er exod us t o t h e nearby po rta-john on pit road , the rac ing go t under way at roug hly 2010 p.m., with Ben Bostrom screami ng away from the sta rt line and in to the lea d. At the e n d o f t he fir s t la p h e led Go be r t , Mlad in , Chandler, Pri dmore, Crev ier, Eric Bostrom, Hayden , Yates - and fina lly Pico tt e, des pite the fac t tha t he 'd sta rted fro m row two . "A ll weekend we were strong on race tir es," Picotte sai d later. "I jus t could n't ge t off the line w ith them. After that, I ha d to pass them one at a time, and traffic di d n' t go in my favor a t all. Ju st a decen t sta rt wo u ld have helped." Pico tte wo uld continue to charge and h e wo u ld u ltim a te ly finis h fif th, and "fi fth is better tha n no th in g," as th e French Ca nadian sa id . Afte r two laps, Bostro m led by over a seco nd . He co n ti n ued to stre tch tha t advan tage until he was some three secon ds clear o n the fi ft h la p . Th a t gap stayed st eady u ntil the 12th lap , w he n he go t the better br eak in tra ffic to open u p ano ther second and a half. Then the smoke started . On the 17th lap, Bostrom was shown the black flag, and he pulled in tw o la p s. la ter . N a tu ra ll y, h e was fru strat ed . He w ou ld re-enter th e ra ce and climb to an eve ntua l 10th-place fin- Bostrom gets thep~oi~n~t~....:......-... A Pparently, Ben Bostrom bro ughtthe momentum gained from his stunning successat the Laguna Seca round of the World Superbike Series with him to Ohio. With Big Mo riding sidesaddle on his Vance &.Hines Ducati, Bostrom picked up right where he left off a week ago by earning pole position at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Perhaps more importantly, Bostrom earned the single championship point that comes with pole position, and that point moved him out of a tie with his teammate Anthony Gobert and into second all by himself - just four points behind championship leader Mat Mladin. Not a bad 'wa y to sta rt the wee kend after his dream weekend in Monterev. Bostro ~ also got his name in the record books as the new Superbike lap record holder on the 2.4-mBe Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The Californian lapped at 1:27.401 in the final session on Saturday afternoon to sneak past Muzzy Kawasaki's Doug Chandler, who lapp ed at 1:27.488 - also und er Aaron Yates' lap record 'of a year ago . It was Bostrom 's second pole position of the year. "l'rn-just pretty fortunate that we've hit a good setupand my bike's about perfect," Bostrom said. '1 don't have to use a lot of energy to ride it, and I have to give Vance & Hines a lot of credit. They've done a super job the last two races in a row. Mostly, Laguna just gave us more track time. Like Mat (Mlad in) didn't get to ride last week, so we got one more little jump - just because we didn't have to wait two weeks. We got to ride each weekend, and that's been really nice. I think the bikes are better this year, and every year the tire development gets better, but the track disintegrates, so it balances.out. All the riders are getting better, also. Everyone is upping it and just trying to keep stepping up to the next guy's level. I'm pretty confident. You can always go better, but not that much better right now. My bike is great on race tires, so I'm pretty confident going into tomorrow en en en 9