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
Ben Bostrom race (a t Misano in Italy) after the switc h , he wa s suddenl y a p la ye r. Then he a lmost won , fin ishing second in both ra ces in Valencia , Spain. Now he comes home to La gu na Se c a - th e s ite of the ra ce that ma de hi m a s tar last ye a r. And he comes here with a s mile, oozing with confidence and happy to be home - e ven if it is for just one race. Q Uit e a t urn ar o un d in f o rtu n e s f or Mr . Bost ro m , huh? Ye a h , the turn around has be e n good and I'm happy a bout that. I knew it wa s com ing be c a use once we had the bike setup to m y s pecs, m y transition from go ing downhill sta rt ed cli m bi ng ba c k up wards . Then I cha nged tea ms - a nd it d idn 't ma tte r. I s witc he d teams a nd the c urve wa s go ing up and it ke pt go ing up . The te am I'm on now is good , th ey su ppo rt m e a lot a nd we 're bac k on tra c k. I fee l like myoid se lf a ga in. True or fa lse? The fa ctory team wouldn 't let you us e your own settings - instead req uiring you t o use wh a t t he y felt worked . They we re pushing the ir set up a t the beginning o f th e seaso n . I wa s t ryi ng to ride on [Troy] Co rser's setup an d there is no s im ila rity bet ween his setu p a nd m in e . I tr ied a nd t ried a n d tried , a nd ended up crashing several times . It was bringi ng m y confidence leve l down. I think I'm the on ly gu y who runs this setup ; for s ure I am in Wo rld Supe rb ike . Once I got th at setup , I sta rted gaining confidence a nd the res ults st arted to c om e slowly. I didn't want to throw the thing down the road , so we took it step by step inste a d of go ing out there and twisting it. At what ra ce did you get the s et up you wa nt ed - or a t least s t arted working t ow ard that s et up? We started wo rki ng toward it at Sugo [Japan] and that's whe re my resu lts sta rte d to im prove . I wa s n't to o bad off a t S ugo ; I was pr etty fas t. Th e results didn 't show it beca u s e o f a cr ash and because of m y ba d pi c k on a tire . We 'd started wor king towa rd m y setup with my head ang les , but th en we did n't have anything else dia led in beca use ' there's a little differe nce in ride heigh ts and th e tires a nd th e wa y they wor k. That was d efinite ly whe n we s ta rte d . Then we went to Donington [Eng lan d ] a nd I saw th e res ults getti ng qu ick e r. Inste ad of finish ing 40 , 50 s econ ds beh ind t he le a d e r, we bro ught it d own to 20 . The resu lts definitel y started ge tting better and now I'm ready to win. I can 't wait to ge t that good feeling of winning again . I wan ted to run up front with the boys for the lea d , an d it just kills you when you' re not. Now, I have that feeli ng ag a in. The excite ment of ru nn ing at the fro nt of the pa c k' and thinking , 'One of th ese wins is mi ne .' I jus t ca n't wa it to win one. Did you th ink that firs t win wa s going to come in th e sec ond leg at Valencia? For s ure I did . I thought we were go ing to win th e first on e . We did n't have s uch a good qu a lifying, but I was qu ite quick on the ra ce setup. I went o ut in the first one an d was follow ing Troy [Corser ), thinki ng 'Ah, he 's go ing to start s pinning that th ing up .' But instea d he wa s just so smooth. Th e problem with Corse r is th at once you let him get out fro nt , he ta ke s c ontrol a nd he 's ve ry re laxed. I ne eded to za p him on th e firs t coup le of laps. In the first ra ce, I rea lly push ed too ha rd on th e tire s a nd over th e last severa l la ps I had reall y slow la p times . In the second one , I was a ctua lly at the front so I c ould control the pace, th ink ing not to go so fa st e arl y in the ra ce . I wanted to be co ns iste nt. It was working to p lan , but [No riyu k i] Ha g a wa s rid ing re a lly we ll a nd p ut a good pass on us . It was his race to win, obviously, a nd not min e , so I'll wa it until Laguna. Q A Q A Q A confi dence wa s gone and Bostrom was a shadow of his old sel f - both on a nd off th e bike. On the b ike, he looked tentative. Off the bike , he looked worried. The combination wa sn 't good a nd all of a s udde n the talk began a nd the na ysa ye rs were having a field day. "He wen t to World Super bike too early; He 's the next Mike Hale ." It was a classic c a se of what have yo u don e for me lately , or yo u 're o nly as good as yo ur la st ra ce. Bostrom's re s u lts we ren 't good a nd people were los ing p atience. Unfo rt unately , so me of th o s e lac ki ng pa tience wer e e m p loyed at Duca t i. With just five roun ds of the 2000 World S uperbike Cha m p ionship under h is belt, Bost rom was de moted - sent down to the fa rm te a m in a sw itc h of riders th a t saw Spaniard J ua n Borj a mo v e u p from t h e NCR Ducat i t e a m t o Bostr om 's o ld seat in t he facto ry te a m . And vice By PAUL C ARRUT HERS P HOTOS BY G OLD £, G OOSE e n Bostrom is ba c k - just the way we remembe r h im. S m iling , laid -bac k - and fas t. For a while it did n't look like th e Bostrom Hom ec om ing was go ing to be th is good . Bost ro m he ad ed to Wo rld S u pe rb ike' racing this ye a r full of p iss and vine gar. He'd c o me c lose to be ing th e AMA Supe rbike Cham pion fo r a sec ond tim e in 1999, a nd was the m a n of th e me et ing in the Wo rld Super b ike round at Lagun a Se ca la s t yea r, finish ing second in the first leg a nd winning th e seco nd on e. He went to World Superbike a rmed with facto ry Du c a tis , did fairl y well in pre -s easo n testing , a nd piled up the pos it ive pr ess cl ip pings as journ a lists t he world over wa ffled .on about how great the new , yo un g Americ an wa s going to be . The n the ra cing s ta rte d. And Bostrom wen t from her o to ba ckma rker as he st rugg led with everything fro m setup to the cha nge in tires - from Dun lop to Mich e lin . The more he strugg le d , th e les s fu n h e ha d . The less fun he had, the more he s truggled . The B 14 J ULv 1 2 , 2 0 0 Q' ell c I e n e vv versa . As it tu rns out it wa s a ble ssi ng in d isguise . T hin gs d idn 't turn a ro und qu ic kly, bu t th e y d id turn a round . Bo s tr o m ' s results im p ro ve d a lmost im m e d ia te ly with th e new tea m and in his second s Q A