Superstock... For the third time in four races this season, Ben Bostrom put his new Yamaha YZF-R1 race bike on the podium in the highly competitive AMA Superstock class. His third-place finish at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA on Sunday, May 20 moves the Graves Motorsports rider to within one point of taking over second in the standings from Aaron Yates as the long road-racing series gathers momentum.
Bostrom’s weekend started beautifully as he set the pace in the Friday’s practice session. But the front tire on his R1 didn’t provide the expected grip and he dropped the bike on his best qualifying lap on Saturday, forcing him to start from the second row in Sunday’s race. At the green flag he quickly worked his way up to fourth behind eventual winner Ben Spies, Yates and Geoff May. Bostrom advanced to third when Yates fell three laps from the end, but lappers thwarted his attempts to pass May for second. Finally Bostrom used all the braking potential of his Yamaha to squeeze under May in the last turn of the race, but he couldn’t quite get the slingshot he needed out of the corner and had to settle for third.
“The last three laps I was right on him but we hit traffic and I couldn’t attack,” Bostrom said. “Then he started changed his lines and I thought, ‘Regardless of where he brakes I’m going by in Turn 11.’ I got by but he got a nice high-low drive on me and did a very good job of defending.” Yamaha Road Race Team Manager Tom Halverson added, “It’s nice to see the Graves bike on the box again and keeping in the championship points chase.”
Superstock Results |
| 1 |
Ben Spies |
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| 2 |
Geoff May |
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| 3 |
Ben Bostrom - YAM |
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| 4 |
Danny Eslick |
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| 5 |
Blake Young |
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| 6 |
Chris Ulrich |
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| 7 |
Aaron Yates |
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| 8 |
Scott Jensen |
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| 9 |
Robertino Pietri |
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| 10 |
Jason Curtis |
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Standings after round 4 of 11 |
| 1 |
Ben Spies |
141 |
| 2 |
Aaron Yates |
118 |
| 3 |
Ben Bostrom - YAM |
117 |
| 4 |
Geoff May |
111 |
| 5 |
Danny Eslick |
104 |
| 6 |
Blake Young |
97 |
| 7 |
Chris Ulrich |
92 |
| 8 |
Scott Jensen |
90 |
| 9 |
Jake Holden |
64 |
| 10 |
Robertino Pietri |
61 |
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