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S ometimes when you roll up to the starting line you know that everything's right and today was one of those days. The setting felt so good on the warm-up lap - I really felt like the bike couldn't put a wheel wrong." And he didn't. Yamaha's Eric Bostrom closed in on the championship lead with his fifth win in the last six races, today's success coming in record-setting fashion, late on a sunny Saturday afternoon at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. Erion Honda's Josh Hayes was second, narrowly holding off Yamaha's Jason DiSalvo. The victory moved Bostrom to the top of the all-time FX wins list at 14, and within four points of teammate and cham- pionship leader DiSalvo. With three races to run, DiSalvo has 254 points, with Bostrom and Hayes tied at 250. "It's been a long fight back," Bostrom, who had a rough start to the season said, "but the good thing is, it's really like a no pressure kind of thing, because I already counted myself out of the championship three months ago, so just being where we're at is almost a gift. And I'm not going to be let down if we can't close the gap or maintain or whatever. I'm just happy - really happy riding the bike." Starting from third on the grid, Bostrom used a bold outside move in turn one to take the lead. "I kind of ran it off in there big," Bostrom said. "I really wanted a clear shot up the front because it is really tough to pass around here. And my game plan to get the holeshot was not to be. I mean, these guys [Hayes and DiSalvo], really took off out there. But it was really close. We all went in there just kind of, like, almost staggered. Josh (Hayes) bent it in real fast and so I figured I did have a little bit of an advantage - being on the outside I could probably carry a little more speed. It was definitely at the limit. That first lap certainly helped out a bit," he said. Once in front he set a blistering pace - his first flying lap would be the fastest of the race - and he eased away from the field. The margin of victory was 2.256 seconds. "Any time you can pass Miguel Duhamel at anything, you're doing some- thing right," he said after taking sole con- trol of the all-time wins lead. "He doesn't have a chance to defend himself right now and I'll take it." The win was the fastest ever at Mid- Ohio for the Formula Xtreme class, including when the class displacement was 1000cc. Bostrom won the 16-lap, 38.4-mile race in 23 minutes, 31.850 sec- onds at an average speed of 97.914 mph, eclipsing the previous mark of 97.237 mph set by Ben Spies on a Suzuki GSX- R1000 in 2003. The start of his first year as part of Yamaha's new FX team hadn't been kind to Bostrom. Fourth in the Daytona 200, he slipped to 22nd in Barber, putting him well down the standings. Then began his resurgence. He won at California Speedway, Infineon Raceway, and Road America. Then came in third at Miller Motorsports Park, followed by wins at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and here, at Mid-Ohio. Now the gap is four points. Hayes and DiSalvo had a very enter- taining battle for second, but never con- tended for the win. "Eric (Bostrom) just put the first two or three laps together so good," Hayes said. "Once he did that, it seemed like everything really leveled out a bit. And it took me a little while to find my speed. I never got going as fast as I really thought I would today." Hayes was in front of DiSalvo at the stripe every lap, but not always in the race. On the second to the last lap DiSalvo made a pass on the brakes into turn six. But Hayes came back at him in the esses and held on to take the runner- up spot by .049 seconds. "I knew I had to jump back on him as fast as I could," Hayes said about being passed. He resolved to get back in front at any cost, "and I said, 'You know, no matter what, I'm going deeper.' This championship is going to be about win- ning races. At that point we were doing damage control because Eric was so far gone. The last lap I made a mess, I rode really defensive. I didn't know if he had lost any time." DiSalvo said it had taken him a few laps to get used to being in the draft on the run down the longest straightaway to turn six. "Once I did, I kind of was trying to set him up and get a drive and get the pass done. Just at that point in the race, I think once he got back by me, I lost a little bit of time because I tucked the front pretty good up at the top of the hill. And it took me all the last lap just to catch up, just to even show him a wheel in the last run to the line. So it was a tough one, but you know, we live to fight another day and still looking for that second race win." A pair of fights followed the Hayes- DiSalvo battle to the end. Erion Honda's Aaron Gobert beat Team M4 EMGO Suzuki's Michael Barnes for fourth, by less than .6 seconds. The pair was eight sec- onds behind Hayes and DiSalvo. Matsushima Performance's Danny Eslick was chased to sixth place by RockwallHonda.com's Ryan Andrews; the difference was .132 seconds. CN MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE LEXINGTON, OHIO RESULTS: AUGUST 5, 2006 (ROUND 7) LOCKHART PHILLIPS USA FORMULA XTREME: 1. Eric Bostrom (Yam); 2. Joshua Hayes (Hon); 3. Jason DiSalvo (Yam); 4. Aaron Gobert (Hon); 5. Michael Barnes (Suz); 6. Danny Eslick (Suz); 7. Ryan Andrews (Hon); 8. Blake Young (Suz); 9. Steve Crevier (Bue); 10. Tony Meiring (Suz); 11. Jason Perez (Yam); 12. Opie Caylor (Suz); 13. Armando Ferrer (Kaw); 14. Alastair Seeley (Yam); 15. Tyler McDonald (Yam); 16. Gustavo Laya (Kaw); 17. Michael Hale (Bue); 18. Barrett Long (Yam); 19. Victor Chirinos (Kaw); 20. Chris Siebenhaar (Suz); 21. Eric Spector (Yam); 22. Eric Erling Haugo (Yam); 23. Mark Hatten (Duc); 24. Jessica Lynn Zalusky (Kaw); 25. Joseph Ford (Yam); 26. Myron Bell (Suz); 27. James Kerker (Hon); 28. Michael Morgan (Suz); 29. Ty Howard (Hon); 30. Ryan Elleby (Hon). Time: 23 min., 31.850 sec. Distance: 16 laps, 38.4 miles Average Speed: 97.914 mph Margin of Victory: 2.256 sec. LOCKHART PHILLIPS USA FORMULA XTREME CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 8 of 11 rounds): 1. Jason DiSalvo (254/1win); 2. Eric Bostrom (250/5 wins); 3. Josh Hayes (2501/win); 4. Aaron Gobert (210) 5. Ryan Andrews (174); 6. Tony Meiring (158); 7. Blake Young (137); 8. Opie Caylor (133); 9. Danny Eslick (132); 10. Michael Barnes (129); 11. Ty Howard (123); 12. Ryan Elleby (110); 13. Victor Chirinos (105); 14. Armando Ferrer (81); 15. Brian Stokes (60). UPCOMING ROUNDS: Round 9 - Alton, Virginia, August 19 Round 10 - Braselton, Georgia, September Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, OH Round 8 August 5, 2006 AUGUST 16, 2006 • C Y C L E N E W S 28 Lockhart Phillips Formula Xtreme " E Boz has his eyes set on Formula Xtreme title number two BY HENNY RAY ABRAMS closes in Eric Bostrom is on a roll in Formula Xtreme, winning his fifth in the last six races.