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Ben Bostrom Victorious in AMA Supersport
Category: Racing News
Date: 02 May 2008
Time: 14:13:15 -0400
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It would be hard to imagine a more thrilling AMA Supersport battle than the one that raged between Graves Motorsports’ Ben Bostrom and Josh Herrin, and rival Jake Zemke, at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. on Sunday, April 27. Or a better outcome for Yamaha when, after multiple lead changes, Bostrom took his second win of the season by just .08 sec. over Zemke with Herrin also making the podium in third. Better still, the YZF-R6 teammates are now 1-2 in the points standings after three rounds of the 2008 season. Also over the weekend, in the Superbike class Eric Bostrom locked in fifth- and sixth-place finishes while Jason DiSalvo finished eighth on Saturday and fifth on Sunday aboard their Yamaha Factory Racing YZF-R1s. The weekend started fortuitously for Herrin, who garnered his first career AMA Supersport pole on Saturday, destroying the track record in the process. He and Bostrom jumped to the early lead in the race before a crash involving Martin Cardenas and Tommy Hayden temporary stopped the event. At the restart Zemke took the lead followed closely by Herrin and Bostrom. And then the fun began. The three frontrunners traded positions frequently throughout the 16-lap event – with every rider looking to gain the upper hand. But Herrin ran wide in a turn late in the going, leaving “B Boz” and Zemke to wage the final battle. Bostrom seized his chance at the start of the last lap, using his R6’s power to zap past Zemke on the straightaway and then leading the rest of the way. “At first I considered following Jake on the last lap because the R6 has an incredible motor and I knew I could slipstream past him at the flag,” Bostrom said later. “But when the opportunity presented itself earlier I took it, and I thought, ‘Now I am going to control the infield.’ So I slowed the pace down and then put in a fast last few corners and got away. I had a really balanced bike, and when you believe in your bike you ride like you believe you can.” Road racing team manager Tom Halverson added, “Ben and Josh are both focused on the championship and driving each other up to the front. Today Josh was smart – after running wide he took his licks and hung back for third instead of throwing it on the ground.”
2008 AMA Supersport Points 4/27/08
Pos. Rider Points
1 Ben Bostrom – Yamaha 107
2 Josh Herrin – Yamaha 99
3 Jake Zemke 85
4 Blake Young 77
5 Steve Rapp 72
2008 AMA Superbike Points 4/27/08
Pos. Rider Points
1 Mat Mladin 178
2 Ben Spies 158
3 Tommy Hayden 143
4 Jason DiSalvo – Yamaha 137
5 Neil Hodgson 130