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/128006
Round 11: Brainerd International Raceway AMA/MBNA SUPERBIKE SERIES By Henn y Ray Abra ms Photos by Tom Riles BRAINERD, MN, AUG. I en Bostrom has been racin g his whole life, but he' s never experien ce d a ny thi ng lik e th e p a st thr ee wee ks. First cam e the d om inant win in ' the second leg of the World Superbike race at Laguna Seca, follow ed , a week later, by a certai n w in in Mid -O hio, only to see it taken away by a mechan ical pr oblem . And now thi s. On the same track where his you nger brother Eric w on h is fir st -ev er AM A Superbike N ational last yea r, Van ce & Hines Ducati's Ben Bostrom finally took B '" '" '" - _ iii ::> g> < 12 his first, an d the way he di d it gave little d oubt that it would be the first of many., "I' m su r p rised a lot m ore peop le aren't tal king to Ben next year to go to World Superbik e becau se he' d probably clean up over there as well," Yoshi mura Suzuki's Mat Mladin said after finis hing seco nd, 8.625 seco nds beh ind Bostro m, o n a pl e a s antly su n ny a f te rnoon a t Brainerd Internation al Raceway. Boltin g from his record-settin g po le , position , and the all-impo rtant cham pio ns hi p p oint th at comes w ith i t, Bostro m vanished from the pack, gai n.ing a secon d a lap in the early going as the others squa bbled over second. By the time the race was half ove r, he had close to eight seconds, and he held it there to take the win in his 31st Superbik e Na tional. " It was ki nd of a bummer wa iting, and waiti ng, w aiting, waitin g (for the fir st wi n)," Bos trom sai d. " I k no w watching Mat (Mladin) and (An tho ny) Gober t and (Miguel) DuHamel and my , brother (Eric), they' re all wi nn ing races, and [ go, 'What about me?' I just figured m y time wou ld co me an d it ' s p aying off." It co u ld n' t h a v e co me at a b e tt er tim e. By taking the pole, leading the most laps, and wi nning the race, the 25-year old Bostrom maxed ou t his point po tential, ea rn ing 38 of them and closing to within eigh t of cha m pio ns hi p lead er This was as close to Ben Bostrom"(1) as anyo ne would get on a sunny and warm day at Bra inerd Intern ational Raceway. Bostrom led from the start and was chased initially by hi s teammate Anthony Gobert (95) and Mall Wait (23), but their challenges didn 't hold up. Mladin w ith o nly the season-endi ng race at Pike's Peak to be run. "I can't predict the future, but I hav e • to say I'm going for the win no matt er what," Bostrom sa id of the Col orado race, on a track he describes as his best. "I'd rather cras h than stra igh t up lose. And Mat's goi ng to do w hat he ha s to