Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

it was clearly Ben Bostr om the former AMA Sup erbi k e Champion an d W or ld Sup e rb ik e ' s Captain Am eri c a w ho sh ow ed up an d c l ai m ed the i nau gural A MA Red Bu ll Su p erm ot o Cha m pi onship. His was. a heroic perfo r man c e , rem ini scent o f th e doubl e assk icking tha t he gave th e Worl d Sup erb ik e elite at Lagun a S eca i n 199 8 , and ample p roo f of j ust wh at he i s ca pa b l e of a g a inst so me o f t h e world 's best racers. In a t h r i ll i n g eve nt that was argua bly on e of th e b est AM A r aces in an y di sc ipli n e all year , B o strom came f rom behind and passed his way up to former Red Bu ll Supe rmoto even t winners Doug Henry and J eff Ward, dicing back and forth with each man on his way to th e fro nt and taking the lead for good on lap 12 of the final. He was able t o sta ve off one more last -ditch effort by Henr y on lap 14 to ensure a deserved and m ost cert ainly sweet victory over a ' t alent . lad en 24 - r id er f i eld th a t in clud ed numerou s AMA Nati on al Cham p ion s, ra cin g le ge n ds and curren t Wo rl d Sup ermoto supe rstars. Bostrom averaged 38.1 mph on the 21 -turn , .9 m ile course , cutting the fastest lap of By S COTT R OU SSEAU PH OTO S BY R A YMO ND G UND Y LAS VEGAS, NV, NOV. 21 \ \ . /hile h e was c ordi al t o an y on e " Vwh o ap pro ached him before th e Red Bull Superm oto A -G o -G o , the winn er -t ak e -all fi n a l ro u nd o f t he A MA Red B ul l Sup erm o t o Ch amp i o ns h i p , A m e rica n Honda ' s B en Bostrom was cl earl y abo ut as agi tat ed as he has been at any point in hi s ca reer. He sm il ed, he paced , he fi d ge ted, an d he m or e or less acte d li ke a happy 5 -year-old in despe rate need of a restr oom . "l 'm f ee l ing a li tt le ner vo us , " Bostrom said before the race. "I don 't k n o w wh y . T h i s ra c e fee l s k ind o f im po rt ant for some reason . I'm feeling some p ressu re." Perh ap s th ere w as reason to b e nerv ou s, t o fee l pressure. Consider that Bostrom t he su pe rst ar h ad just suffe red through two lackluster road race season s - on e aboard a Ducati in 2 00 2 World Sup erb ik e com pe ti ti on , and th is past season after re-joining T eam Hon da in th e A MA Superb ike Ser ies. As he ofte n mi xed brillian ce with mundane results , it had becom e a qu e st i on o f w h i c h B en B ostro m wou ld show up t o race. B ut at th e Ri o Hot el [,. Casi no in Las Veg as, befo re a stron g crow d at th e event and a live audienc e view ing the race on th e Outdoor Life Network, 8 D EC EM B ER 3 , 2003 ' IC U IC • e nevus the race, on e minute 36.8 63 seconds, on th e 14th and fi na l lap. " I th ink all these guys rode in c redi b le , " B o st r o m said . " T h ey k i n d of boosted me up th ere. It's nice to have a ro ad ra ce r co me out on top . Now the p ressu re ' s off, and I' m n er vou s about the Red Bull athletes are go ing to do to me tonight. " Henry w ould also pass Wa rd for seco nd pla c e late in th e ra c e and t hen t ak e on e l ast shot at Bo strom b e f or e finishi ng 1. 2 5 9 seco n ds behind him at the com p letion of the 14-lap final. "It was a really awes ome race ," th e Moto D y n a m i c s / Tu l u i e Ya maha - b a c k ed H en r y sa id . "I w is h tha t I co uld have won it , but it was such a great b attl e. [Al exandre ] T h ieba ult was setting a good pa ce, and we were all pass ing back an d fo rt h there. It was a go o d race . Ben and .1 me t a long time ago, and I never rea lly rode with him, but this was fun . I got him at Ir w i n d al e, h e go t me h e re, and hopefully I' ll get him at th e next one ." Tro y Le e D esi gns Honda 's Ward held th e lead th e most , but j ust not w he n it co u nte d th e most, t he 4 2 y e ar- o ld Ca l ifornian adm itting to m ak ing a few mistakes at the end tha t may have co st him the race. "T he differenc e betw een this race

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