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/128373
What's Up With Ben? that we fried the rear wheel bearings - not sure how." His problems continued when his return over where the bike stopped to get the recovery car to get me and the bike back and he said, 'He's on his way.' Then, after about 15 minutes of sitting there I said, 'Hey, where's that car? This is my qualifying session.' But it was over 25 minutes before my bike was back in the garage. Crazy." Even when all is well with the one good bike he has, it's still not quite ready yet. "We haven't had the good motor running properly yet," Bostrom said. "They are still working on our fuel mapping. It's not to the pits was delayed. running great, but at least en Bostrom could have hoped for a better start to his return to competitwe B World Superbike action. After day one in Australia, he was 20th fastest after final regulation he qualified 23rd. In the first of two races at Phillip Island, Bostrom was a nonfinisher. In the wet second race, the Honda rider ended up II th in the two-part race. His thoughts were positive - or at least for the most part. "The situation is that we have one full race motor and one Superstock motor," Bostrom explained after qualifying. "We had to qualify with the Superstock motor, mainly because I was stranded out on the track for half an hour after there was a problem on the bike with the race [Superbike spec] motor. The problem was "I know it's coming, so that's why I'm not stressed about it right now." - Ben Bostrom Ben Bostrom: Not a good start to his World Superbike return. the outside world right now. "I know it doesn't look good on paper, but we're coming along," he said. "We are also short of one guy in the garage. The engineer for the team, Matsudu-san, had some "They left us there!" Bostrom said. "We didn't come here to test [in the winter] like a lot of other people did, and then we had to sit out half the session. We started behind, and then they kick you in the ass to knock you further behind. I asked the guy it more when we are racing at the front. I know it's coming. so that's why I'm not stressed about it right now." kind of disagreement and left, and I think he's hoping to have more, but we knew it was a working with Fonsi Nieto now. So we are Bostrom had a further problem in that rush to get us here. We have two bikes now, which is a bonus." shy one guy right now. Robby [Bostrom's his good race engine was last seen being mechanic] and I are working on the chassis, changed over in the pit garage. He ended Bostrom, indefatigable in his optimism, is but then he's got to work on the bike as well. up racing with his Superstock motor. nonetheless realistic of how things seem to We are having little problems now because Fast? Not So Fast? KTM's David Casteu won the opening prologue of the Rally Tunisia on April 4, the Frenchman besting teammate Carlo De Gavardo in the 41.S- The World Superbike organization FGSport - made a special declaration that the 316-kph (196.35-mph) top speed set by Ducati's Regis Laconi in the first qualifying session at Phillip Island in Australia on April I was a new absolute best in the 18-year mile stage that featured a 2A-mile special test. Americans Andy Grider and Chris Blais ended the day third and fifth, respectively, on their KTMs. "On this rally my aim was to win a stage and get on to the podium," Casteu said. "The first part of the deal is already done. After having changed my battery just before the start I was very motivated to do something before my home crowd over a type of terrain that I know well." Grider, riding a KTM 660, was impressed in his first time in the rally. "The thing that impressed me the most was the number of spectators on the side of the track," Grider said. "In the USA there aren't many spectators for off-road races. Although I don't have much experience riding the 660, it seemed to handle very well." Dakar Rally winner Cyril Despres finished 12th in the stage. "It was extremely slippery," Despres said. "Until I0 meters before the finish I was going pretty fast. But I didn't really want to open on the first African special as I think I will be doing that quite a lot over the next few days. By starting behind I think I should be able to post a good result for the first stage in Tunisia." APRIL perfect yet. I've got faith and I like the team a lot. And I'm enjoying myself, but I'll enjoy we've got one now, which is cool. We were Casteu Leads Tunisia Rally 8 Renegade is new to the Hondas. So it's not 13, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS history of the series. Historians of the class thus were left with no choice but to point to the 3 18-kph (197.6-mph) top speed set by Akira Yanagawa at Hockenheim in 2000 on his Kawasaki ZX-7R 750. The timekeeping staff on site acknowledged that indeed Yanagawa did hit that speed on that day in June 2000, but that the new timing equipment employed nowadays is far more accurate than that used to measure Yanagawa's time. Hence, the trumpeting of the new best- ever top speed at Phillip Island - in the form of a press release from the organizers. Laconi's 316 kph equates to 196.35 mph, with the magic imperial 200 mph figure equating to 32I.B68 kph. Quibbles about the exact figures were quashed short- ly after Laconi went 318 kph on day two. Gordon Ritchie Gordon Ritchie