In sweltering hot conditions, Ben Bostrom used his Graves Motorsports YZF-R6 and superb physical conditioning to annihilate the competition at the fourth round of the 2008 AMA Supersport series in Sonoma, CA. on Sunday, May 18. At his home track and with plenty of his old high-school buddies in attendance, Bostrom shattered the Supersport track record in qualifying, set fastest time in Sunday morning’s warm-up, and then managed the race with authority to take his third win of the year, extending his points lead in the process. After three straight podiums this year, teammate Josh Herrin wasn’t so fortunate this time, finishing sixth after running as high as third in the early going.
Supersport... Infineon Raceway is known as a real rider’s track because its undulating pavement and lack of straight-aways delivers a punishing and relentless workout. Not that it bothered Bostrom, who prepared by riding Supermoto on Monday and then running and cycling over 50 miles on Tuesday. He was suitably confident on the pole when the 31-rider field lined up for the 17-lap race, but got away only fourth and spent the first lap weaving his R6 into the lead. From then on though, “B Boz” used his experience and cool – along with the R6’s terrific power and handling – to gradually build up a lead over first Danny Eslick and then Jake Zemke.
“In the race I set a good pace and cruised it, figuring if Zemke kept up I would dial it up then,” Bostrom explained later. “But I looked around and there was no need to push it – as his tires fell off my bike stayed strong the whole time, so I never increased the pace.” Ben also strongly praised the YZF-R6 for giving him a crucial advantage. “Its strong point is it just lunges off corners like a little Superbike,” he added. “The Graves guys tuned the bike beautifully all weekend. It has so much grunt that you can just cruise the corners to save the tires, then pick it up and the acceleration is just phenomenal. It’s the total package.” |
