Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Briefly••• Ben Bostrom: Unfinished Business B en Bostrom is returning to the World Superbike Championship to complete unfinished business. It's the same reason he's giving for eventually returning to the United States. "I always felt I kind of left there without giving it a shot," Bostrom said about the 2002 season, the final of his three in World Superbike. "Granted, I'm really happy to get another shot when World Superbike is coming back strong. On the other side, I want to come back to America and have another go because I left getting my ass kicked. I will be back in America - I will be back." First things first. Bostrom recently returned from Bologna, Italy, where he signed a twoyear deal. with the second year an option on both sides, to race the Renegade Koji Honda CBR IOOORR in the World Superbike Championship. "I have unfinished business in Europe." said Bostrom, who finished fourth in AMA Superbike this year. "The opportunities are few and far between. When you get the opportunity, take it. That's exactly what I did." Given his lackluster performance in the early part of the AMA Superbike season, Bostrom was happy to get the opportunity. '" was worried about it," Bostrom said when asked jf he could turn his season around. "The problem I had when I left [World Superbike] is I was a little bit burned out and I wanted to come home, and I was exdted to come home with Honda. I like the people. I wanted the chance to come back home, live at home, be with my brother [Eric]. When I left in '99, I'd lost the [AMA Superbike] Championship and now wanted a chance to win it back. It didn't pan out. When I left World Superbike, we got third in '0 I when the tires were fairly equal. I always felt like I kind of left there without giving it a shot." Bostrom began working on the World Corser Quick in Oz Team Alstare Suzuki concluded a successful three-day test at Phillip Island, leaving the Australian racetrack full of confidence for the coming season as former World Champion Troy Corser easily went under last year's lap record, and teammate Yukio Kagayama wasn't far behind. For both riders it was their first proper taste of the new 200S Suzuki GSX-R IOOOs that they will campaign in this year's World Superbike Championship, and both were more then satisfied with the progress of the new bike. "Generally, I am very happy with how the test has gone - especially with the new 200S bike," Corser said. ''I'm happy that we made a good step forward, and that's very encouraging for the year ahead. Here we were as fast on day one as we had been on the final day of the last test, and it's good to start from that position. Here we have been trying lots of different things, just trying to make the deal after the end of the AMA Superbike season. "I wanted to go to World Superbike pretty bad, and it didn't seem like there was an opportunity in AM A, and some really good people in Honda at the last minute came up with a ride, which is amazing on their part, their dedication. They still wanted me to ride for Honda," he said. "A huge thanks to those guys." The AMA ride, with Erion Honda, eventually went to Kurtis Roberts. By the time the American Honda offer solidified, Bostrom was well along the path to the Renegade Honda ride. "I'd already put a lot into World Superbike," he said. "It's what I wanted in the first place. I'd already made promises with people and, in the end, that's where I was headed anyway." The decision to return overseas caused a rift in his relationship with his manager, Fred Bramblett, the president of OMS Sports, and now Bostrom is his own manager. "Fred [Bramblett] and I more or less just grew apart," Bostrom said. "Fred had his ideas to stay in the U.S., I had my ideas in the World Championship, and with World Superbike, there's so much factory support and so many great riders." Bostrom said Bramblett was working on one deal while he was working on a different one. "Our communication was probably not strong enough." Bostrom said. "We had different views, so it was probably best to separate." The World Superbike season begins in Qatar on February 26, about a month away. The track will host a test a week before the race. That will be Bostrom's first time on the kitted Honda and the Pirelli tires. bike the best it can be. Funnily enough, I've really not been pushing hard at all here and I've just been circulating - putting in the laps and trying different stuff." Both Corser and Kagayama had tested versions of the 2005 before, but the threeday test at Philip Island gave them a true indication of how the season could shape up. Corser is of course no stranger to the circuit and methodically worked his way through a variety of changes throughout the tests, trying to find a good base setup. With his own wedding to take place just three days after the tests, he didn't push it too hard, so to do the lap times he did without much effort brought a smile to his face, and to the rest of the team. Even three collisions with Phillip Island's notorious bird life did nothing to dampen his enthusiasm. Kagayama rode steadily and consistently throughout the three days, and when he did crash on the final day, it wasn't even his fault. On the approach to Siberia Between now and then, the team will be working flat out. "We've been working on stuff for the last couple of months, and it's come together kind of late it seems," Bostrom said, "but we should make it to Qatar. It seems worrisome." But, Bostrom adds, "I have faith in the team. In three years of racing, they've never finished worse than third in any championship. They're solid, and I'm really solid to be on the team. Those boys have so much work to do." The team is moving from its UK base to Bologna, Italy, and is hiring a mostly Italian crew. Bostrom's team will be led by Robby Valletta, his crew chief at L&M Ducati. "We know the bike well, and we've heard great things about the [Honda Racing Corporation] kit," Bostrom said. "Tires I don't know about, but everybody's on the same tires. In two races, I'll have everything figured out. Just last year, watching on TV, there was a lot of blue smoke and sliding going on. It added a second to lap times, consistently a second and a half off the pace. They seemed strong for a few laps and faded and then kept that fade the whole time." Bostrom understood the initial reservations about the spec tire rules, but he believes popular opinion is changing. "Everybody's reconsidering; maybe it's benefiting a lot of teams," he said. "It made it more equal last year. Who knows what's going to happen in the future?" Of all the big-time series, Bostrom thinks World Superbike will be the most competitive. ':Anyone of 10 riders can win a race. It's the best series in the world. I wanted a piece of that so bad. Iwanted that so bad." Henny Ray Abrams corner, he hit a rabbit and was forced off the track. He took to the gravel and looked to have saved it, but then tipped over at low speed just before the tire wall. Previously, he too had smashed into a bird, so the final score read: Corser 3, Kagayama 2 - unless of course, one hare equals two birds. Kef Edge Troy Corser at speed on the Suzuki GSX-R1000. Shogun Yamaha's Josh Demuth broke both his wrists at the Guthrie, Oklalhoma, Arenacross on January 21 . Demuth came up short on a quad jump during the 125cc main and both arms were later that night placed in a cast at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City. He returned to watch Saturday's program from the stands. "I broke two bones in my right wrist and one in my left," Demuth said. "I should be a monthand-a-half with the casts on and a couple of weeks after that before I get back to riding again. We were going run the Supercrosses after the Arenacross series was over, but that's kind of shot now. But there has been some talk about running the Canadian series - it's just kind of up in the air. My contract with Shogun is up this year, and hopefully I can resign with them. Maybe this is a little bit of a blessing. I am still healing from my leg injury, and now I can just let everything heal up and start off fresh again come March or April." Corse Superbikes' Benny Carlson and Cole Walsdorf (KTM) won the II th annual Steel Shoe Fund Three-Hour Ice Endurance race at Sunset Tavern and Marina, near Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, on January 23. Carlson and Walsdorf won by 20 seconds over the defending champion, Bob's H-D Yamaha team of J,R. Schnabel and Scott Schnabel. The FRP Kawasaki team of Jeff Fredette, Tim Farrell and John Strangfeld finished third overall and first in the Middleweight class, on a Kawaski 250cc four-stroke. Marc Ottenad and Ed Smulders took the Lightweight-class victory. This year's event hosted 70 teams competing on a 2.2-mile ice track. The Steel Shoe Fund is a nonprofit SO IC3 organization dedicated to help injured flat track racers. Round one of the 2005 West Coast Flat Track Series, the first annual West Coast Flat Track Series Salem Shoot Out presented by Cycle Country Honda/Suzuki of Salem, is scheduled to take place at an allnew venue, the New Pavilion, located on the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem, Oregon, on February 26. Completed in August 2004, the New Pavilion accommodates over 5000 fans, and in 200S it will be hosting such events as MX, concerts and Monster Truck shows. The February date will mark the first time for flat track motorcycles inside the New Pavilion. For more information, visit www.wcfts.com on the Internet. Clear Channel Entertainment's Motor Sport's division has announced the rider lineup for the eighth-annual Suzuki Crossover Challenge that will take place at San Francisco's SBC Park on Saturday, January 29, during the night program of THQ World Supercross GPfTHQ AMA Supercross Series. The list of entries is as follows: Salman Agah (skateboarding), Jordan Burns (music), Paul Burton (surfing), Rob Buydos (announcer), Steve Caballero (Skateboarding), Bart Dejong (BMX), Jim Doman (kayaking), Jeff Kimball (skateboarding), Brian Lopes (mountain biking), Byron McMackin (music), Dave Mirra (BMX), Jim Moran (snowboarding), Matt Pritchard Continued on page 9 CYCLE NEWS • FEBRUARY 2, 2005 7

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