AMA: Bostrom hopes to get back to winning ways at Brainerd
25 July 2000
PICKERINGTON, Ohio -- Two years ago Eric Bostrom found himself racing an
American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Superbike for the first time. Honda
factory ace Miguel Duhamel was out for the season after suffering a devastating
crash at Loudon, N.H., and Bostrom was called in from the Erion Honda Racing
squad to fill in for the injured Canadian. Bostrom raised a few eyebrows when he
took fifth in his very first Superbike race at Mid-Ohio that year, but no one
could have predicted what happened two weeks later. Bostrom, in just his second
AMA Superbike appearance, won the AMA Superbike National at Brainerd (Minn.)
International Raceway. It was one of the most surprising victories in the
history of the series. This weekend (July 28-30) Bostrom, who now rides for
Kawasaki, hopes to find that spark once again when he comes to BIR for round 10
of the 12-round AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championships.
A lot of things have happened to the 23-year-old Bostrom since winning his
first Superbike race. He went on to win another round of the series in 1998
(beating his older brother Ben to the top of an AMA Superbike podium by a year)
and instantly was hailed as the next great rider of Superbike racing in America.
Honda believed in him enough that it signed him to the factory Superbike team,
taking the ride of his older brother who had won the championship for Honda in
'98. Before the start of 1999, Eric was fast in pre-season testing and things
never looked better for the former dirt track racing champion.
Then things went a little haywire.
Bostrom suffered a horrific looking crash during practice for the Daytona
200. So spectacular was the crash that a photo of the accident was featured in
Sports Illustrated. Bostrom was injured in the crashed and missed the first two
rounds of the series and when he came back he wasn't at 100 percent and he
suffered through a miserable 1999 campaign, where he finished seventh in the
standings and never found his way to the podium.
Bostrom's confidence was at all-time low. Honda dropped him in favor of
Nicky Hayden and then he found out his brother was hired by Ducati to race in
the World Superbike Championships. Not only would the younger Bostrom have a
long and rugged road to make it back to the top of his game, but now he would
have to go it alone without Ben, who was not only his brother, but was also his
best friend, his roommate and training partner.
"Those were pretty dark days," remembers Eric. "I was definitely happy for
Ben, but at the same time it looked like my career was heading in the opposite
direction. I knew deep inside that I still had the ability to be a contender on
a Superbike, but I had to have someone else who believed in me as well."
Bostrom found an entire company of believers in Kawasaki. Team Green signed
Bostrom for the 2000 season and it's proven to be a wonderful pairing. Bostrom
has earned four Superbike podium finishes so far (with a second at Loudon, N.H.,
his best to date) and is fourth in the standings, firmly in the championship
chase. The picture is even better in Pro Honda Oils 600 SuperSport where Bostrom
won at Road Atlanta and is in a tight battle for the title just 5 points behind
Kurtis Roberts.
A Bostrom has won at Brainerd for the last two years -- Eric winning in
1998 and brother Ben winning in 1999 on the Vance & Hines Ducati -- and Eric
hopes to keep that streak alive. Of course, in order to do that he will have to
contend with the 'Big Three' ? Mat Mladin, Nicky Hayden and Aaron Yates. This
trio of riders have won all nine AMA Superbike races leading up to this Sunday's
race, and not surprisingly, are the top three in the series standings.
Defending Superbike champ Mladin, who rides the No. 2 Yoshimura Suzuki
GSXR750, has always done well at Brainerd finishing on the podium three of the
four times he's raced there, but he's looking for his first win on the circuit.
This is Nicky Hayden's first full year on a Superbike. Last August he took
eighth at BIR in one of his 'Superbike orientation' rides. Brainerd has never
been one of the better tracks for Yates - his best Superbike finish there was
seventh in 1996.
Honda's Miguel Duhamel joins Bostrom as the only other former Brainerd AMA
Superbike winner. Doug Chandler won a World Superbike race at the circuit in
1990.
One other interesting note is that John Kocinski, the former World
Superbike and 250cc Grand Prix World Champion who now rides for the Vance &
Hines Ducati team, won his very first national race ? an AMA 250 Grand Prix
final - at Brainerd, way back in 1985.
In other racing action during the Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship
weekend at Brainerd ? Valvoline EMGO Suzuki teammates John Hopkins and Grant
Lopez continue to do battle in the Lockhart Phillips USA 750 SuperSport Series.
Only 5 points separate Hopkins from Lopez, who won the race at Brainerd last
year.
Chuck Sorensen and Rich Oliver have each won the MBNA 250 Grand Prix at BIR
three times. The rubber match will take place Sunday as Oliver continues to try
to chip away at Sorensen's lead in the series.
Kurtis Roberts will try to keep his perfect 2000 eSportbike.com Formula
Xtreme season going. Roberts is unbeaten yet this season in Formula Xtreme and
leads the Pro Honda Oils 600 SuperSport Series coming into this weekend.
And finally, Mike Smith got a late start in the Buell Pro Thunder Series
this year, but rapidly made up for missing Daytona by winning three of the four
Pro Thunder races he's entered this season. The former factory Superbike star
hopes to continue his winning ways at Brainerd.
For tickets to the AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship races at
The Colonels Brainerd International Raceway, call (810) 249-5530. Sunday's Chevy
Trucks U.S. Superbike races will be broadcast live on Speedvision, at 4pm EST.
Check local listings, as broadcast times may vary.
