A resurgent Ben Bostrom claimed his fifth win of the 2008 AMA Supersport season and extended his championship points lead on Saturday, July 19 at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, Calif. In fact the Graves Motorsports YZF-R6 rider had the weekend go entirely his way after earning his fourth pole of the year on Friday, leading the Saturday morning warm-up and then winning the 17-lap Supersport race flag to flag in the afternoon. “B Boz” now leads rival Jake Zemke by 10 points in the standings while teammate Josh Herrin, who finished 10th in the race, remains fifth in the points.
Supersport... If there’s any doubt how fast the production Yamaha R6 Supersport race bikes are, one look at the lap times proved it, as Bostrom qualified at 1 min. 26.23 sec. – just 5.5 seconds behind the MotoGP pole time! Bostrom put that capability to great use when the green starting lights flashed by grabbing the holeshot and opening up a comfortable gap over Zemke, his nearest pursuer, after just a few laps. After that, Bostrom was able to manage the race his way – riding in control while still extending his advantage to nearly eight seconds at the finish. With four rounds left to go, Bostrom has now developed huge confidence in his team, his machine and also himself.
“I knew from practice that we were a second quicker than everyone, so I put on the hardest tires possible and went out and just rode around,” he explained modestly. “The R6 was so fast and the balance of the bike was so perfect, I felt like I was on a little Superbike. Graves Motorsports is a great team and I just can’t say enough about them.” Yamaha road race team manager Tom Halverson added, “I was proud that Ben could bring home a victory at a Yamaha-sponsored event, and it was a great buildup for Valentino winning the MotoGP race.”
Supersport - Results, Saturday |
| 1 |
Ben Bostrom - YAM |
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| 2 |
Jake Zemke |
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| 3 |
Steve Rapp |
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| 4 |
Danny Eslick |
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| 5 |
Bobby Fong |
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| 6 |
Josh Hayes |
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| 7 |
Martin Cardenas |
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| 8 |
Tommy Aquino - YAM |
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| 9 |
Michael Beck - YAM |
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| 10 |
Josh Herrin - YAM |
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Standings after round 7 of 11 |
| 1 |
Ben Bostrom - YAM |
229 |
| 2 |
Jake Zemke |
219 |
| 3 |
Josh Hayes |
177 |
| 4 |
Blake Young |
175 |
| 5 |
Josh Herrin - YAM |
174 |
| 6 |
Chaz Davies |
154 |
| 7 |
Danny Eslick |
146 |
| 8 |
Aaron Gobert |
145 |
| 9 |
Cory West |
139 |
| 10 |
Michael Beck - YAM |
124 |
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Supersport - Qualifying, Friday |
| 1 |
Ben Bostrom - YAM |
1:26.230 |
| 2 |
Jake Zemke |
1:26.516 |
| 3 |
Chaz Davies |
1:27.317 |
| 4 |
Josh Hayes |
1:27.410 |
| 5 |
Bobby Fong |
1:27.476 |
| 6 |
Steve Rapp |
1:27.508 |
| 7 |
Garrett Carter |
1:27.802 |
| 8 |
Danny Eslick |
1:27.809 |
| 9 |
Aaron Gobert |
1:27.839 |
| 10 |
Tommy Aquino - YAM |
1:27.986 |
| 11 |
Michael Beck - YAM |
1:28.142 |
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Superbike...
Superbike - Results, Sunday |
| 1 |
Mat Mladin |
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| 2 |
Ben Spies |
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| 3 |
Aaron Yates |
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| 4 |
Jamie Hacking |
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| 5 |
Tommy Hayden |
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| 6 |
Roger Lee Hayden |
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| 7 |
Neil Hodgson |
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| 8 |
Jason DiSalvo - YAM |
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| 9 |
Eric Bostrom - YAM |
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| 10 |
Miguel Duhamel |
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Standings after round 7 of 11 |
| 1 |
Ben Spies |
411 |
| 2 |
Mat Mladin |
375 |
| 3 |
Jamie Hacking |
319 |
| 4 |
Neil Hodgson |
317 |
| 5 |
Jason DiSalvo - YAM |
288 |
| 6 |
Eric Bostrom - YAM |
276 |
| 7 |
Aaron Yates |
263 |
| 8 |
Miguel Duhamel |
259 |
| 9 |
Geoff May |
218 |
| 10 |
Scott Jensen |
204 |
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Superbike - Qualifying, Sunday |
| 1 |
Ben Spies |
1:23.128 |
| 2 |
Mat Mladin |
1:23.145 |
| 3 |
Eric Bostrom - YAM |
1:23.848 |
| 4 |
Tommy Hayden |
1:24.244 |
| 5 |
Jamie Hacking |
1:24.247 |
| 6 |
Roger Lee Hayden |
1:24.388 |
| 7 |
Jason DiSalvo - YAM |
1:24.429 |
| 8 |
Neil Hodgson |
1:24.637 |
| 9 |
Aaron Yates |
1:24.703 |
| 10 |
Geoff May |
1:25.162 |
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