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/128095
ing's Kurtis Roberts that rates one of
the best ever.
"Obviously, there's always something you can do different," Bostrom
says when recalling the final race of
last year. "I'd love to take it over if
we had that chance. We have to
make up for it by doing a better job
this year and we will. I'm sure of
that,"
The front-end chatter that the ZX-6
suffered from at every race last year
has mostly been eradicated during
off-season testing. Still, Bostrom has
to ride more than many of the Superbike riders, which he sees as a mixed
bag. In general, it's a detriment, he
says. But it can work to your advantage.
"The bonus is sometimes the 600
works really good and the Superbike
has some problems and it helps you
see the problem," he said. "You can
take almost 95 percent of the corners, and you're faster on the 600
than you are on the Superbike. Some
of that you can understand because
we're trying to carry a little more
speed on the 600's, but some of the
corners that doesn't add up. Because
there's no reason you should be
faster on the 600 like turn 8, and turn
9 here at Willow, than on the Superbike, but we are. There's something
to be gained off the 600 and you've
got to keep that in mind."
Bostrom says that when he tests
the Superbike exclusively, he and
Chandler turn equal times. When
Bostrom has to ride the 600, his
times suffer.
"Sometimes it feels like it can certainly slow you down. And then when
you're racing them on the weekends,
sometimes if you want to make a
change from one practice session to
the next and it's pretty big, if you do
something to the front end or some
large change to the chassis, but then
between that you have to go ride the
600, it makes you numb to the
change because you almost forget
where you were at before. You have
an idea, but it's almost like an ideal
in your head and the fact is that you
kind of lose a little bit of the precise
feeling."
Riding the 600 allows him to challenge himself in a way that the Superbike doesn't. The machinery and racing is generally closer, and more
dependent on the rider than the bike.
Bostrom constantly challenges himself, whether it's dirt bike riding, snow
boarding, BMX riding, or learning to
play the guitar, which he's just taken
up.
"When I go out and ride, I pretty
much do everything I feel like doing,"
he says. "The fact is, if you don't,
you're never going to elevate yourself, you're never going .to have that
good feeling inside that you can overcome anything."
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