Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

tum, the 'bars will cros s and you' ve lost the front end - all because you couldn't feel it was going to do that. That's what happened t o me with Infostrada , trying to foll ow the Corser route li k e they wanted." T his left Bostrom down among th e privateers, struggling to score poi nts in the early part of his deb ut World Superbike §j!JUi]@[lD@(fj[JiJ [J{]@[J@ sea son. "It was terr ible it got to the point I wasn 't looking forward to getting on the bike at all . Th e fun had gone out of racin g, but I figure, hey , life is short, ma k e sure you enjoy every m om ent of it - and I wasn't doing that . I was trying so hard to get around the probl ems, spend ing every m om ent with th e bik es, th inki ng about ho w to han dle th e situatio n. I love rid ing , so I wanted to get out the re so bad but I kept thinking, if I push j ust a little too hard on th e front, I'm go ing to cr ash. I hit rock bottom at Phillip Island - I got a single poi nt, and rode my wheels off to get it. That decided m e - I said, 'Okay, I'm go ing to run m y American bik e at Sugo, and though I got ta ken out at the fi rst tum in one race and mad e a wrong tir e choi ce in th e oth er, I figured Ducati cou ld see my lap times in practi ce were good, and I was starting to get ba ck on the pace. But then, th ey decided to put m e in this other team , and for Hockenheim I was way off the pace aga in, because it was a new tea m , new setup and a new bik e. Well, a different one, at least - becau se th is was Corser's last year's bike , so it was 7 hp do w n on the 2 000 o ne I' d been riding, plus it doesn't k eep pulling so well on top end, which affects the speed on a fast ci rc uit lik e that. Th ey both jump off th e bottom prett y well out of a tum - but this one I'm ridin g now is the old triple-injector one, which kinda flattens out at high er revs, whereas the single- injector one ju st kee ps pull ing ." O kay , but the next three races were at Misano, Valencia and Laguna Seca, twisty ci rc uits wh ere t op -end speed was not a factor, and where the m ore down home atmosphere of the NCR team would allow Ben to set the bik e up exactl y ho w he li ked it. "I was a bit depressed at firs t wh en they swappe d me with Bo rja ," he admits. "It was a bit li ke being sent to the back of the class to stan d in a co me r - but I'm not a quitter, and I stu ck at it, trying to prove I could do wha t I kn ew I was capable of. Racing with the se NCR guys is a lot more like it was back in the USA . Th ere's a real nice atmosphere in the team, they figure racing is supposed to be fun as well as something to do well in, and they're willing to try anything I li ke without a series of board meetings to decide it. You can progress a lot faster this way, plus they have so much experience of how to set up and work on Ducatis , and my race engineer that came over with me from Ducati was j ust great. He rides a bike himself, so he could really relate to what I needed . So, we got to Misano with th e setup I was used to, and it all gell ed , ev en with the older bike . We started getting the r~sults at last, even though we didn't have nearly as many tires as we needed - Michelin was still getting up to speed on having to supply another rider, because it takes a month for them to adjust their production schedule to do so, so I didn't hav e any qualifiers, for example, and we had a much smaller choice of tires to race with. But we got sixth in the first race, and made the rostrum with third in the second one , in spite of bein g, at that stage , still a privateer effort . It kinda proved I'd been ri ght all along, onl y I didn 't have th e co nfidence to insist on it to the factory eng ineers, I guess." Th at Mi sano breakthrough heralded the start of the golden m id -season perio d for th e Californian and hi s semi -work s NC R sq uad, and alth ough hi s end- of- seaso n performances wer e less noteworthy (part ly fo r either m echa nical or tire proble ms), Bo strom ha d don e eno ugh to convince Du cati that he sho uld be a part of the Itali an facto ry 's efforts to wrest back the ch am pionshi p in 200 1. That pu t an end to t he rumors tha t he'd been headhunted by Ap rilia to ride in a two prong ed attack on the '0 1 title race alongside Troy Corser: "I did have m ore th an one factory offer for Worl d Superb ike ," > Former AMA Superb ik e Champion Ben Bostrom's debut year in the Worl d Superbike Series was a roller -coaster introduc tio n to world level Superbike warfare, yielding m ixed results in what had been pla nned as his first of several seasons as a m em ber of the Ducati factory team. But , like many of the Hollywood film scri pts sh ot i n the Southern California scen ery south of Los A ngeles, where Bostrom shares a 27acre homest ead with brother E ric (" O ther people around > here have avocado farms - we just have land, so we can build stuff like our quarter-mil e flat -track, or pac ks of doub les for our BMX bikes"), thi s parti cular story seems set for a hap py ending. In the wak e of a disappointing start to th e ye ar wh ich saw the 26 -y ear ol d No rthe rn Cali forn ia nati ve str uggle to score points aboa rd his wor ks V-twin desm o, let alo ne ac hieve the and made a deal to race one more season w ith him again in sam e co nsistentl y good result s as form er Wo rld Cham pio n 2000 • I figured I needed to rac k up so me more ex peri enc e in Tr oy Corser, the man whom in a shoc king post -'.99 seaso n AMA before looking to do th e World Series, co nsidering I move he wa s recru it ed by Du c ati Corse man age ment to only had my first prop er road race season in 1996 . Al ready replace . In fact , afte r ju st four rounds, Bostrom was ordered in '98, I' d had offers to go Wor ld Sup erbike raci ng in '99, and by Du ca ti Corse man ag em en t t o swa p seats with fo rmer seve~al tea m s had tried to hi re m e aft er winning at Laguna , 500cc GP racer Ju an Borj a, who 'd sta rted his own deb ut seabu t I d turne d the m all dow n. My agr eement w ith Duc ati son in the Sup erbi ke class by rid ing for th e NCR sem i- wo rks Corse was that I'd do one m ore year in America, th en go to sate lli te team m an ag ed by an other ex -GP racer , St ef an o Wo rld Superbi ke in 20 01. A nyw ay , I was pissed about losing Caracch i. Th e m ov e turn ed out to be an insp ired one , as th e [AMA Superbik e] ti tle, and wanted it back . Bo strom swiftly found his feet in the small but expe rt NCR " But then I was dri ving home fro m that last race in Col(?s in Nepot i and Caracchi Racing) setup, wh ich already had orado , along the 1-15 through the Rockies, down t o Las ri d de n to t he rescu e of an Am eri can ra c er in th e Wo rld Vegas and th rough the desert to LA , wh ich has to be th e best Superb ike series once befo re. Tha t was back in 1991 , when drive in th e whole world . I was j ust leavi ng Vega s when I got Caracchi 's fath er Rino and partner Giorgi o Nepotl provided th is call fr om Tardozzi , es kinq -me t o co me and rid e for the struc ture for Era ldo Ferracci to run the one-bi k e sern lDucati in Europe, inst ead o f Corser. I said I had to think works Duca ti team wh ich , in a qu ixotic cam pai gn against th e about it • but th e next day he calls again and says, 'T his is ful l-on factory squads, too k Doug Polen to his first world title. the way it has to be.' So, that's how I came to Europe." Just two races after switching to NCR, Bo strom was sud How difficult was it adapting to life in the works Ducati denly challenging for victory on foreign soil just as he had team? the year before at home, visiting the World Superbike ros"Th e biggest thing to come to terms with was how many tru"? for.the first time with third place at Misano, then fighting more people there were everywhere. In the USA, I basically Nonyuk. Haga and Troy Corser for the lead in both races at had to deal with just three guys, who made it all work for me Valencia , before winding up second each time. In the next to be able to ' do it out on the tra ck. Then when I got to round on home ground at Laguna Seca , once again, he was Ducati, all of a sudd en I had to deal with 10 different people one of the contenders for victory, before being passed in the on anything I wanted changed. It seemed a lot harder to get last tum by Corser in the first race and Haga in the second, somethong done • but I guess it' s their way of doing things, to wind up third both times. Still, in every race , Bostrom was more like Formula One . It took me some time to come to the only Ducati rider to challenge the two -bike Aprilia/Yama terms with that - and looking back , I should have been more ha road show . Go lden days for American racing's golden boy assertive in the beginning, because they wanted me to run - and it was entirely thanks to these results, where in each Corser's settings on the bike inst ead of my own - which after case Ben out-scored factory riders Borja and Troy Bayliss, all I had done pretty well with in the USA. That was my misthat Ducati was able to narrowly clinch the World Superbike take - I guess I got a bit over-aw ed being here in Europe, in Manufacturers title at season 's end. . the factory race team, but the n I figure they were at fault too How ever, ba ck in Europe again, Bostrom falte red once • for not letting me do it my way ." more, producing a disappointing series of results in the final Was it a problem switch ing to Mi ch elin tir es after a sho rt rounds of th e c ham p ionsh ip that seemed to threaten his but sweet road racing career excl usively on Dunlops - even rest oration to the fac tory Du cati team for th e 2001 season. though th e fact he stuc k at it , and proved he could race to But, perhaps recognizing that th ey 'd made life unne cessarily rostrum finishes with the French rubber, makes Bostrom a difficult for the rookie World Superb ik e rid er , Ducati has co nbetter all- roun d rider and a m or e attra ctive prospect for any firmed Bo strom as one of the three riders in its 2001 facto ry sq uad, alo ngside Bay li ss and Supe rbi ke newcomer Ruben - race team? "I figure all ti res are round and black, so it's up to you to Xaus . What's m or e, tho ugh it's yet to be publicly confi rm ed, m ake th em wor k . Mi chelin really went out of the ir way to th ere' s stro ng grounds for believing Ben will run in a separate help .m e • th~t wasn 't the pr oblem : it was setup. I was very one- bike operation from the Infostrada fact ory setup , with a fa st on the first couple o f dry weather t ests las t w inter , rumore d new main sponsor fro m ou tsi de th e motor cy cl e becaus e I was sti ll headstron g, I sti ll knew how to ride. But industry , but still usi ng th e sa me n ew 99 6 R T est astr etta then when yo u c rash on the fro nt too man y ti me s, you start work s racer as only Baylis s and Xaus will al so do. Bo strom' s, gett ing slower and slower, and that' s what happened to m e how ever, will m ost likely be fitted with th e Dunlop tires which I mu st have wadded up seven or eight bikes, and m y co nfi he's used to racin g with fro m hi s da ys in AMA Sup erbike, dence just ebbed away . I like the bike set up pr ett y flat , with and wh ich suit his ridi ng sty le bett er th an th e Mich elins he' s ?nly a litt le bit of angle at the back but the fro nt pulled right had to try to co me to terms with in 2000. on,. With a really steep head angle. This makes the b ike very Next yea r therefore loo ks set to give a new lease of life to twitchy, so wh en I brake you can see the thi ng j ust slidi ng all the m an whose showbiz-style presence in the Wor ld Supe rover the place. I k no w it looks spectacular to the crowd , but bike pa ddoc k is eagerly appreciated by his m any Eu ropean that's not why I do it - it's to be ab le to tum real qu ic k . In th e fans , no t all of them female. Wh ile there's a school of thou ght m iddle of th e co mer, when I want to turn , soon as I cr ack the hea ded by none other than Carl Foga rt y , who was bri efly throttle off, it goes · whoosh, that way ! It doesn't follow itse lf Bostrom's t eammate befo re crashi ng out of rac ing full time so well on the gas, but off the th rottle it' ll turn so fast - wait in only the du o's second eve nt to geth er and has publicly until you ride it you rself , and yo u' ll see. But then , I also like questioned wheth er Bo strom is all sho w and no go, Ben 's to sli de the back, whi ch I guess co mes from my dirt track d esign er. Ev el Kn ievel and co w bo y rac e leathers, p al at ial days, which m eans I hav e to ride the front and feel how it' s m otorh oine with ran ch -typ e decor, cla ssic chrom e collection doing. But when I rode Corser's setu p , it was very hoo ked of a half dozen 19 57 -'64 American cars with a hum un gous up , and I co uldn't feel when the bik e was goi ng to let go - it Hum m er and 16 motorcycles to ke ep th em com pany , and was very scary. My b ike's alway s very loose - so when it 's spectacular riding styl e in which the whee ls of the bike rarely !oose, I j~st t!'row it in and do n't worry abo ut the rear diggi ng seem to be in line with each other, have brought undoubted on and hlg hsld ong m e when I roll it on, I try not to slide the c harisma in their w ak e. O n top of th is, Bostr om's af fable fro nt beca use it'll lose yo u ti m e, but sometimes I do in spite m ann er in taking great care to personally atte nd to every one of hav ing t he fro nt end fis hed in on a 23 .5 -d egree head of the dozens of race fans who surroun d him eac h tim e he angl e, and 27 -m ill offsets to reduce the tra il. Corser's 'setup exits the NCR pit door and want to be ph ot og raph ed with him has the front end kicked out at 24 .5 , whi ch m eans th e bar s or get his autograph, spending time with each of them with no sense of urgency or fulfil lm ent of duty , but as a cool dude are really stable once you 'r e lock ed into a co mer - it's like just happ y to hang out with a bun ch of friend s, ha s mad e him you 're running on a rail , wh ich m eans it'll ca rry a long co rne r one of the m ost popul ar m embers of th e Wor ld Superbi ke v ery well and fo llow itsel f n ic el y , eve n though you can't cha nge direction hardly at all. On my bike, though, the bars ci rc us: a tru e Am eri ca n Hero . Now , in 2 0 01 , he has th e move aro und a lot from sid e to side in a tum. so I can get it chance to tum him self into a world -level winn er once again, too. Not bad co nside ring he didn't even ex pect to get th is far exec uted real qu ickly and on the gas early - it's j ust a different set of priorities. thi s fasL " But to do thi s, I hav e to feel the fro nt, otherw ise if you "I had no idea about goi ng to World Sup erb ike j ust yet," he says, "I'd sat down with Terry Vance before that last race decide you want t o tighten yo ur li ne once yo u' re into th e ad mits Bostrom . "but I've m ade an investment in terms of ti me in getting to learn how to ride the Duca ti and how thi ngs work here, so I figure it's best to keep on do wn that road. I also had o ffers to go 50 0 cc racing, but m y goal is to be World Supe rbike Cha mpion - that's m y pr iori ty in raci ng, above anything else. The rest can wait - I want that numberone plate on my bike again , first ." NOT E: Group ph oto show s Bos trom (rig ht) tal king to Stefano Car acchi (left) , hi s fathe r Rino Caracchi (second from r ig h t) and G io r g i o N epot i ( seco n d f r o m left ) - th e founders/ own ers of NCR, who wor ked alongside Era ldo Ferracci in Doug Pol en's first championship year. cue. e n e vv s N O V EMB ER 22,2000 19

• Cover