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/128621
Right off the bat, this had to be a nightmare. Are you having any fun yet? We we n t t he re in th e beg in n ing a n d I d idn 't kno w a ny th ing. We were on the road for th e first m onth - nev er eve n goi ng to Euro pe . I ha d a rea lly good tim e in Au str a lia. I got my sc uba ce rtifica te, tra vel ed all over the place, c heck ing out everyt hing a nd ha ving a great tim e . Th en I got to the race [a t Phillip Is land] a nd I was getting slower. I was s lower there than a t the first one [South Africa]. I was ra cin g o n Tro y's setup and it was killing m y head. I started having a pretty good time in J a pa n , but I noticed I wasn't s m ili ng e no ug h. I was n ' t happy in s id e , I wasn 't slee ping good . It was te rrible . I cou ldn' t sta nd my resul ts . W e w e n t t o E n g la n d a n d pi c k ed up th e motorhom e and it was a bit c h aotic th e first week trying to dial it in, th en I had to fly to Italy to do some te stin g . I wa sn 't rea lly happy . Th en I wen t to Monza an d ha d t his whole dea l with Ducati. Afte r Hockenhe im , I cha nged m y who le att itude. I started doing wha t I like to do . I don 't stay so se rious du ring th e we ek , I pla y m ore a nd I smile m or e . Now I look ha ppy a nd I feel h appy , a nd th e re sults a re com ing . Now I'm e ve n happ ier. I' m sleepin g we ll be ca us e I know I tr ied hard du ring the ra c e a nd had a shot at winning . It's te nfold from wh ere I was . I'm happy a nd it' s pa ying off. HOW d iscou raging was t he who le si t ua tion with t he t ea m? It ' s ha rd t o call it anything but a demotion . lt wa s disco uraging . At fir st I wa s bum m e d a bo ut it, but something insi de of m e told m e it was a good th ing . I just decided I was going to do what I like to do - and ra c e . I just jum pe d on t he other bike and we nt. The team [NCR ] needed a lot of orga niza tion - I coul d n't be lie ve it. Th e first we e k was really discourag ing because I went from a team that was really we ll organized to one that was very disorganized . Afte r Hockenheim, I wa sn't very happy with m y re su lts so we sat down with all th e gu ys and we fixed t hin gs. Th e y to o k Mark E lde r [Bostrom ' s friend a nd he lp er] stra ight into th e team a nd made h im team mana g er. We o rg a n ized things a nd th e team is g re at now . It's just gettin g s moot he r a nd s moothe r. It's pr etty c oo l. Th e team is so beh ind me. At Mis an o , I finis he d sixt h in th e first ra ce and th ose guys acte d like I wo n th e race . Th e y we re so happy. I wa s like , 'What a re th ey so ha pp y about , I finishe d sixth? ' They a re jus t a good gr o up of gu ys a nd the y re ally get be hind yo u. It m ake s yo u fee l good a nd it give s yo u a lot of e nergy . S o how is your relation ship wit h Du cati at th is point? Ar e the re hard feeling s between you and them ? Fo r su re th ere is not. I nee d them to race and th e y a re still s up po rt ing m e as mu ch as th ey c a n , a nd I a p preci ate the ir s upport. Withou t them, I wo u ld n't be t he re s o th ere a re no h a rd fe eli ng s tow ard Duc at i. Ever yth ing is gr e a t and I'm happy. In a wa y , they di d the rig ht thing . Th er e are a lot of good peop le th e re a t Du ca ti and I'm g ood friends with a lot of the m . No ha rd fee lings . It had to have pr ov ided yo u wit h extra motiva t ion - a t least t o bea t t he gu y who t oo k over yo ur ride , J ua n Bo rj a? Ac tually , e ve ry bo d y ha s the wrong id e a there. Everyon e sa ys , 'O h, good jo b , you beat J uan a nd he h a s your bik e .' But I've be e n trying to co rrect p e op le on th a t. I'm frie nds with Juan an d I like the guy . Fo r s u re , I did n 't go o ut th e re to beat h im . If I di d , I'd pr obabl y be o n th e g ro und. I do n't tr y a ny h ard e r no w than I did t hen . I' m a ctu a lly rid ing s a fe r now than I did whe n I wa s o n the Infostrada bikes . I was o n a b ike whe re I d id n 't know where Q A Tell me about the tire s ituati~n. ~id you wa~t to switch to Dun lop from MIchelin? How did that a ll play out? T h a t' s a re all y strang e dea l. I d id n 't as k fo r either o ne . I wanted to prov e to th e world that I could ride either tire - tha t it m ade no d iffere nce to Be n Bo s t ro m wh at t ire h e was usi ng . If Col in Edwa rd s is out there winn ing o n a Michelin , th e re 's no re ason I ca n't win on Mich e lin. I wanted to pr ove to every body th at it d idn 't make any d ifference. I d idn 't ha ve a ny c hoice o n what the tires were go ing to be , so I just s tepped ba c k a nd us ed the tires I wa s given. I'm riding the Mich e lins a nd I wa nt to win on th ese Miche lin s . It s eem s a s though yo u 've ta ke n big steps toward proving that you didn 't in fa c t go to World Superbike s t oo ea rly , a s s o me have sa id. When I wa s over there doing terrible, of course I tho ug ht that m a ybe I'd gone ove r too early . I co uldn 't und ersta nd why the resu lts weren't there . I kn ew I was a better rider th an that. The thi ng tha t kept m e goi ng was think ing ba c k on th e te st ing . I ha d no prob lems with th e Mich elins , no prob lem with go ing fast. It wa s jus t m y c onfid enc e g etting lower and lowe r. For su re I didn 't go to ea rly. I jus t needed to get ba ck on track , back to m y oid s e lf aga in. I just ne ed ed to be Ben Bostrom. That's what's hap pening now and it' s great. I c a me at the pe rfect tim e . I kn ow th e tracks , I'm bu ilding mome nt um a nd hope to win a fe w of th es e in th e second ha lf of the season, for s ure a lways run up fro nt, a nd sta rt 2001 with the goal in m ind' to be World Champ io n . I a lready c a n't wai t for next yea r. No w we 're he arin g about some wild ne w le a t he rs for Laguna S e ca .. . Th e Alpinesta r guys ha ve been great. I sa t down with th e c ompute r g uy the re a nd we c a m e up with so me lea thers a nd th ey made them as qu ickl y as th e y co uld [for Misano a nd Valencia ]. Th er e will be s ome th ings on the new ones that I haven't ha d yet. Th e y were supposed to hav e a colla r, a bel t a nd some other c razy s tuff. Th e peopl e ove r the re sa y, 'Hey, yo u look like som e sort of stunt man , or superhero.' A lot of them don't kno w who Eve l Knievel is . I was J ohnny Cash , Eve l Kne ivel. .. Go ing into Laguna, Alpinestar has made me a special set of leathers so it's goi ng to be reall y funny . It's those little det a ils that make me ride bette r. I don 't know if it's just being proud - it's just be ing yo urself. Th is is more Ben Bostrom. And you co me home t o find little brothe r Eric bac k up to speed ... I c ouldn't wa it to get home and congratu late the guy, you know. Seei ng him agai n is the best. I forgot how much I m issed that g uy . eN the fro nt e nd wa s and I rode ve ry ha rd . The re we re ma ny t im e s whe n I th ough t , ' Wh e w, that was a reall y close c rash .' On t h is bike , I' ve ridde n th e b ik e rea lly h ard fo r t h e p ast two race s an d it ' s been rea lly safe. I don't go out there to ra c e Juan. I got o ut the re to ra c e mys elf a nd th e re sul ts will come. Th e mot iva t io n certainly isn 't to b e at Duc a ti or Jua n , it's to p ut myself ba c k on top . For sure I felt lik e I cou ld beat th em , but it wa s only a test of one 's s e lf. I wa sn 't tr yi ng to ra c e Ju a n and I wis h everybody wou ld stop stayi ng th at I wa s . Eve ry body thi nks I've got this ex t ra m otiv a t ion , bu t I ride the s ame as al ways . I do n 't like to cra s h a nd I ride at m y le vel. Where I finish , is whe re I finish . So how cool is it to be racing at La gu na Seca this weekend? Yo u ca n 't even be lieve it. We've had a really grea t second half of ou r trip in E uro p e and we hav e a lot of g o od s to rie s , bu t wh en t hat pl an e touched d own a t LAX yo u s ho u ld have s e en th e g rins on o ur fa c e s . We ju st co u ld n' t wai t to get o ff th at ai rp la ne. My b roth er [Eri c ] and som e o the r friends were waitin g fo r us . We ran off the p lan e , ga ve them all hug s , and went st ra igh t int o a Me xica n resta ura nt. We lo a de d o n th e c h ip s and sal sa a nd we ' d be en tal kin g a bo ut th at for week s . It' s re a lly nic e to com e hom e . We 've got a new p la c e th at I've never live d in and my mom h a s o bvio us ly be en down here to s o rt o ut m y c lot he s a nd every thi ng. I ha ve a new hou s e , new t hings a nd I we nt to pi ck up m y o id c a rs . I've been ha ngi ng o ut with m y brothe r and I went o n m y first dirt bik e rid e th e d a y I go t ba ck - m y firs t ride in fo u r m on th s . Yes t erday , I c o u ld n 't e ve n wa lk - m y m us cl e s we re to rq ue d . I c a n 't wa it to get to Lag una . I know I ha ve a lot of fa n support a nd I've always do ne well at Lagun a. I ha ve a lot of confidence and I enjoy the track. It' s a g reat ra ce tra c k - very difficult. The Euro tracks are ha rd . but th e y re a lly flow. You ca n p iece th em toget he r, no p robl e m . Lagu na is di fferent - it's a hard track . Coming ho me a nd hav ing a ll this fan s u pport, for s ure I wa nt to go 1-1 th is weekend . Is th e re a ny extra pressu re now th a t you a re ho me a nd yo u are ex pe cted to win th ose two ra ce s ? The re is a little bit. In Europe , they were s a ying , 'O h , whe n yo u go hom e you' ll win both legs .' But a ll t ho s e g uys rid e rea lly we ll. La s t Sun d a y nigh t, T roy [Cors e r] a nd I had a lot of fun a rg ui ng back a nd forth as to who wa s go ing to win La gu na . He goes rea lly we ll there. But I'm goi ng the re to win both a nd so is he . Q A Q Q A A A Q «z: e y e I ... n ... ON S • J ULv12.2000 15