Yamaha hosted an event for the media at its Cypress, California headquarters last week where I had the chance to sit down with Ben Bostrom and discuss the upcoming 2009 roadracing championships. Yamaha was the first major manufacturer to announce it would participate in the DMG-run AMA roadracing events next year, including the American Superbike class for highly modified, large displacement machines (including Yamaha’s new R1) and the Daytona Sportbike class for supersport machines. Here’s our interview with Ben Bostrom:
MD: You had a fantastic season in 2008 on the Yamaha R6, winning the Supersport championship. When I think about it I can’t help recalling your season with the L&M Ducati squad in World Superbike in 2001, in which you won six races, five of them in a row.
Ben: I lost that title by two races you know? I still feel bitter about it, because that was the year that Dunlop and Michelin were about equal, then halfway through, Michelin brought out a new tire, and nobody but Colin, or Bayliss, or Ruben got that tire. Plus I broke my shoulder that year and missed three races.
MD: How long ago did you know about this ride for 2009?
Ben: I was in Mexico two weeks ago on vacation, and that’s when it started to come together. As you know, I was with the Graves boys last year, and Keith (McCarty, Yamaha’s race director) called and asked me how I liked working with them. I said great and then he said we’d like you to ride with them again next year. I said cool, I’m a hundred percent on. Then, when he explained the deal with the R1 superbike, I asked if I could still ride the 600. He said we’ll let you.
MD: How do you feel about moving back up to the liter-bike class in 2009?
Ben: It’s a new challenge for me and that’s what I was looking for. But I still get to ride the little bike, and I’m trying to convince them to add more races. I’m going to ride (the 600) in the Daytona 200, and in the Daytona Sportbike events at venues where there isn’t a doubleheader.
MD: The situation has been a little unsettled lately as far as deals for rides and with sponsor involvement, hasn’t it?
Ben: Yeah, the sponsors have been waiting too, and nobody could set budgets or anything. It was tough on them. But we’re super excited now. I’m going to race Mat Mladin again, and I haven’t done that since ’99, when I lost the title to him by four points. I think the bike broke twice. I was disappointed by that, but now I’m back!
MD: Wow, that’s almost a decade ago. You’re a veteran now.
Ben: That’s great, isn’t it?
MD: Sure, and you were actually thinking of retiring before Yamaha convinced you to come back in, weren’t you?
Ben: Yes, at the end of 2006. I was really having a tough time.
MD: Was that when you were having problems with food allergies?
Ben: Yeah, when I was riding the Ducati, I’d ride so hard, and I wanted to win so bad, but I couldn’t see properly, and then I got Epstein-Barre from over-training on the bike, and I was pretty demotivated. It just wasn’t fun anymore. Then Eric said why don’t you come over to Yamaha, you’ll like them and you could try racing the 600s. For some reason the Yamaha guys took pity on me and let me ride the Supersport bike. Suddenly racing was fun again. Last year was the most fun I’d had racing in 10 years.
MD: It certainly looked that way on TV.
Ben: Now I can hardly wait to go racing again. I want to start training right away, but you need to hold off, you know, or you burn out early.
MD: You’ll need to be fit to ride in two classes.
Ben: Yeah, but as much as I’d like to ride both classes (American Superbike and Daytona Sportbike) at every race, that’s four races a weekend at double-headers, and you have to be Superman to do that. I’d like to think I could do it, but…..
MD: Laughs.
Ben: I’ll ride the 600 at three of the events next year, and now I’m trying to convince them to let me ride both bikes at one double-header. It’s kind of a dream of mine.
MD: How do you feel about the Supersport moving away from guys like you, to a sort of an entry-level class status.
Ben: I think that’s the way it should be. I didn’t get it before. When I went over to Europe in 2000, I saw them racing (in Supersport Stock) and thought, what the hell is that class? I didn’t really like watching it, there were so many crashes… then halfway through the season, someone explained that it’s for the kids to start racing. Before you get on a literbike, you’d better try your hand on the 600s.
MD: You think Supersport will now be filled with privateers?
Ben: I think it’ll be where the B-teams go, you know, Erion, Graves, Attack, Emgo and all those guys. Those are some gnarly teams.
MD: Supersport certainly made good watching last year.
Ben: It’s all about racing.
MD: What about your brother Eric? He’s gone farming, right? Is he having some kind of psychological conflict about the value of racing?
Ben: Yeah, he’s off in Brazil. He had the same problem as me. Just not winning unless the other guys broke down or crashed. He says he needs a break. If he misses it, he’ll come back.
MD: You looking forward to being in the team with Josh Hayes?
Ben: Sure, he rides so hungry. You see the Portugal race (World Supersport at Portimao)?
He was amazing.
MD: He certainly ticked off Sofuoglu.
Ben: Yeah, must have been something to get a guy as mild as Kenan Sofuoglo waving his fist around. But that’s the way Josh rides. He’s really aggressive. You know, at the end of the last season, I had to just stay back in third and let Jake (Zemke) and Josh go at it in front. I couldn’t afford to get involved in that for the sake of the championship. Just knowing how Josh rides gives him an advantage, you know.
MD: You think the R1 is going to be really competitive next season?
Ben: Judging by what Ben (Spies) said about riding the (World Superbike) R1, it’s going to be great. I’m super excited about it. But it’s four months.
MD: When can you test the bike?
Ben: Daytona.
MD: You were contemplating doing World Superbike a while back. Were you talking to people over there?
Ben: Yeah, I was negotiating with a couple of teams. It’s tempting, because it’s really cool to ride over there, but I like it better here.
MD: The money’s better here, isn’t it?
Ben: Money helps, I won’t lie about that. But being on a bike that can win is a big part of why I do it.
MD: The variety of venues and cultures in World Superbike must be a lot of fun too.
Ben: Too much, at times. I sometimes feel like I should have put more into it instead of enjoying the experience as much as I did. It’s not that I was young, because I only started racing superbikes at 23, but I was young minded, and there were so many opportunities.
MD: But now everything has come together for next season, and that has to be your focus.
Ben: For sure, and I wish it would start right now.
