AMA Pro Road Racing Sets Test Dates for New Orleans and Return to Homestead-Miami Speedway for 2012 Season

Ben Bostrom on the #11 Zero Gravity/Dunlop/AGV/Kerker-sponsored Honda CBR600F3 is shown during a practice session of the AMA Pro Road Racing 600 Supersport Series at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course in July '97.  The Honda Super Cycle Weekend presented by Dunlop Tire event saw BBoz back on the Zero Gravity Honda team for the second year in the 600 class, and doing double duty in the AMA Superbike Championship Series on the team's RC45. 

Bostrom would go on to become the '98 AMA Superbike Champion after moving up to the American Honda factory team for the '98 season as a team mate to Miguel Duhamel, and he would win the '08 AMA Supersport Championship and the '09 Daytona 200 while riding for the Graves Yamaha team.


Bostrom will be back with the Michael Jordan Motorsports team for the 2012 season in his second season riding for the team, and will be aboard the Jordan Brand's iconic #23 machine in the AMA Superbike Championship.  As best as I can recall, the elder of the Boz Bros will be the only rider racing in the AMA Pro Road Racing Series that raced on the Homestead-Miami course when the series last visited the speedway in south Florida during the '96 season.  AMA Pro Road Racing has set their tests dates for the upcoming 2012 return to Homestead and the newly-added and brand new facility in New Orleans, LA. 

You can read the full press release below.
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AMA Pro Racing Announces Dates for Official AMA Pro Road Racing Tests at Homestead-Miami Speedway and NOLA Motorsports Park

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 24, 2012) - AMA Pro Racing officials announced today the dates for the official AMA Pro Road Racing tests at Homestead-Miami Speedway and NOLA Motorsports Park. In advance of the Big Kahuna Miami (September 21 - 23, 2012), the Series' first return to Homestead Fla.'s Homestead-Miami Speedway since 1996, AMA Pro Road Racing riders will get a chance to shake down their machines on March 20 and 21, 2012.

Avondale, La.'s NOLA Motorsports Park is America's newest racetrack, and before heading there for the Big Kahuna New Orleans (October 5 - 7, 2012) AMA Pro Road Racing will get the chance to put down some of the first rubber on the road course at the official series test, scheduled for June 26 and 27, 2012.

The two-day tests will include track time from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. with a 60-minute lunch break, media availability and will be staffed by AMA Pro Racing competition and timing & scoring personnel. In an effort to keep travel and transportation expenses to a minimum, each test has been scheduled for the Tuesday and Wednesday following an AMA Pro Road Racing event in the same region.

The test at Homestead-Miami Speedway will take place just after the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway, which will be held on March 15 - 17, 2012 as part of the historic Daytona 200 Week. Testing at NOLA Motorsports Park is scheduled following the June 22 - 24, 2012 event at Barber Motorsports Park, which is located roughly 400 miles away in Birmingham, Ala. Additional details about the NOLA Motorsports Park test will be released via competition bulletins in the coming months.

In order to participate in either test, riders must have a valid 2012 AMA Pro Road Racing competition license and be pre-entered in the 2012 race event scheduled at the respective track. Entry forms and competition bulletins detailing each test will be available in the competition section of AMA Pro Racing's website.

Tickets for the Big Kahuna Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway and the Big Kahuna New Orleans at NOLA Motorsports Park can be purchased at http://www.m1powersports.com/.

AMA Pro Racing is the premier professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines. Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com. For additional information contact:   AMA Pro Racing Communications, (386) 492-1014, communications@amaproracing.com

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Ben Bostrom & Michael Jordan Motorsports Test at Jennings

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Ben Bostrom pulls the #1 Vance & Hines/Parts Unlimited/Castrol/Dunlop-sponsored Ducati 996 off the track and into the pits during the July '99 running of the Honda Super Cycle Weekend presented by Dunlop Tire AMA Superbike final at Mid Ohio. Bostrom, who had clinched the '98 AMA Superbike Championship as a member of Team Honda, had done so without scoring a victory in the premier class, winning the title based on his extremely consistent season alongside team mate and '95 AMA Superbike Champion Miguel Duhamel. Signing with the powerhouse Vance & Hines Ducati team for the '99 season, BBoz was leading the Mid Ohio event on the way to what surely would have been his first career victory, when a leaking oil seal took him out of contention. He did, however, go on to win his first premier class event later in the summer at Branierd with the team.
After riding for the Graves Yamaha team for several years in the AMA Superstock Series and Supersport Series, and winning the '09 Daytona 200 to go along with his '08 AMA Supersport Championship, Bostrom rode for the factory supported Pat Clark Yamaha team in the 2010 AMA Superbike Championship, and won his first premier series event at Laguna Seca since the 2004 season. The elder of the Bostrom Brothers then signed in the off season to ride Suzuki GSX-R1000s (for the first time in his career) with the Michael Jordan Motorsports team for the upcoming 2011 AMA Superbike Championship.
The team has been testing at the Jennings GP track in Northern Florida the last several days, and BBoz and newly signed team mate Roger Lee Hayden have been able to shakedown the 2009 version of the one liter Suzukis before taking delivery of the 2011 models sometime close to the upcoming holidays. Testing concludes today at Jennings, and the team was said a couple of weeks ago to be tire testing at Daytona with Dunlop in the next few days in preparation for the upcoming Daytona season opener in March 2011.
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The 'new look' Michael Jordan Motorsports team of '98 AMA Superbike Champion Ben Bostrom and '07 AMA 600 Supersport Champion Roger Lee Hayden has been in North Florida the last couple of days testing the '09 model Suzuki GSX-R1000s in preparation for the upcoming 2011 AMA Superbike Championship Season. Expectations are that the team will be able to take delivery on the '11 model Suzukis sometime before the end of the year, and have the new models ready to go for the second round of Dunlop Tire testing at Daytona in mid-January. The team was thought to be among the few teams invited to participate in tire testing this month at Daytona, which was originally slated to start on December 19.

With both team members getting acclimated to their new surroundings (RLH was off in World Superbike in '10 riding for the under funded Team Pedercini Kawasaki, while BBoz rode for the factory supported Pat Clark Yamaha team here in the States) the shake down tests in Jennings, FL. were meant more for the new signees to 'come to grips' so to speak with the big Suzukis. Using the '09 models (Suzuki didn't import 2010 models to the U.S. due to the torrid shape of the U.S. economy, let alone motorcycle industry) the new teamsters put in as much time on the track as was allowed, due to the colder then normal weather inundating Northern Florida (and the rest of the U.S. as well!)
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Henny Ray Abrams was on hand during the testing and he filed this report late last night on Cycle News.com. Read on:

http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/road-racing/2010/12/15/jordan-suzuki-team-hits-the-track
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This is the link to the official Jordan team site, but right now the only real updates they have are some Twitter updates. Check it out:

http://www.23race.com/
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Ben Bostrom Set For AMA Superbike for 2010

Former '98 AMA Superbike and '08 AMA SuperSport Champion Ben Bostrom has been confirmed to ride a Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha R1 in the 2010 AMA Superbike Series.

With all of the late announcements due to not only the economy but the past dealings with

the AMA/DMG folks, it's good to see a rider of Ben's caliber-and personality-back in the

paddock again for the upcoming season. Although the fields could be slim this year due to

the 'downsizing' of not only the series and the payouts, hopefully with the major changes

announced with the AMA between the holidays the series will still have the chance of being turned around from the debacle of the '09 season. But that is another story for another time...

This is about Ben, and being able to see what is now one of the 'elder' statesmen in the series

returning for the 2010 season can only be good. Besides raising the level of competition on the

track, he brings a level head in terms of safety and sheer ability. Not to mention a great

personality to go along with. And returning on a Yamaha, albeit a satellite effort, should help

to keep Ben up towards the front of the field. Bravo and it will be good to see him back!

Thanks to the great folks at http://www.cyclenews.com/ and http://www.roadracingworld.com/ for the links to the official team releases below!

http://cyclenews.com/articles/road-racing/2010/01/18/bostrom-s-team-all-set

http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=39127

While reading up on the official releases, the shots for today's updates are various shots of

Ben Bostrom over the course of the last 13 years or so.

From the top we have Ben leading on the #1 Vance and Hines Ducati over his team mate

Anthony Gobert on the #95 early in the superbike final at Mid Ohio in July of '99. Ben won

the '98 AMA Superbike Championship while riding for Team Honda, hence the #1 plate instead

of his more recognizable 11/155 number plate as he has or had raced with for over a decade and

a half now.

Next up is a shot of Ben on the #155 Parts Unlimited Ducati chasing his team mate #100 Neil

Hodgson during race one of the Road America weekend in 2006. This was shot in the turn 7 area as they also battle with the #22 Team Kawasaki effort of Tommy Hayden and the #20

Team Yoshimura Suzuki effort of Aaron Yates.

Then we see Ben qualifying his Graves Motorsports Yamaha R1 Superstock machine for the '07

event at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama.

One of Ben's very first superbike rides is next as he catches some air during practice for the '97

AMA Mid Ohio Superbike event while riding the Honda RC-45 of Team Zero Gravity. His

ride this weekend and the rest of the year helped him garner the Team Honda ride for '98.

And last but not least we see Ben on the Team Honda CBR1000RR during race one of the Mid

Ohio AMA Superbike event of 2004.

Congrats to Ben Bostrom for the new ride and we look forward to seeing you on the track again

here in the States for 2010!

And thanks to you for coming by and sharing your time with Stu's Shots. You rock!!

Yamaha To Re-Structure It's AMA Road Racing Program With Graves Motorsports for 2010...

This probably comes as old news to most of you reading this since this actually hit

the wires on Tuesday October 27th, but Team Yamaha will be officially 'outsourcing'

all of their racing efforts in the U.S. for the 2010 season to Graves Motorsports.

With Graves having a major hand in getting Yamaha back into the Superbike class again in

the '09 season after a several year layoff, it's not like the 'handing over of the reins'

to Chuck and his company is going to be a stretch. More than anything, it sets a precedent

as to what and who we may or may not see 'officially' or 'directly' in the AMA Road Racing series

in the way of direct or even indirect factory involvement for next season. And though this may

come as a direct result of the state of the global economy, if you follow the series any at all you

can't not think what part of this was change was due to the handling of the series by the

AMA/DMG folks. And me being the conspiracy theorist-type, well, I see major rumblings

happening in the sport as a result of the strife and almost endless problems that seem to

occur in '09 as a result of their lack of what many deem to be 'proper oversight' in going

about running a professional motorcycle racing series. But that's just me, you'll have to form

your own opinion as to what kind of mess they created since taking over the helm of the

largest and most high-profile road racing series on this continent and doing what many feel is

just shy of driving it into a brick wall....

While you are pondering that thought, and since that is another story altogether, we will focus on

the quality machinery and utmost in quality riders that Chuck Graves and Yamaha have put

together over the last few years and what kind of record they have attained in doing so. And we

can take a look at a couple of those fine pieces of equipment that they have put on the track in

the process.

To those of you familiar with the AMA scene, the #155 bikes above are probably very familiar

as they are a couple of the most recent versions of the steeds as produced by Graves for none

other then Mr. Ben Bostrom, '98 AMA Superbike Champion, '08 AMA SuperSport Champion,

and among other things the winner of the '09 edition of the Daytona 200. Having been around

the bike scene since all but dropping out of the womb, B-Boz has raced just about every form

of motorcycles--and in some case bicycles--for quite some time now. After coming into the

Superbike series back in '97 with the Zero Gravity Honda team on the fire-breathing Honda

RC-45's, he joined the official Honda Racing U.S. team in '98, and promptly won the title.

Vance and Hines signed him for the '99 season, and he wore the #1 plate that year while

teamed with Anthony 'The Go Show' Gobert. Moving on to the World Superbike scene for a

few years, we were lucky enough that Ben came back to the states to run in the AMA series again for Team Ducati and then again, Team Honda, up through and including the '06 season.

Then Ben went to work for Chuck Graves in '07 running the Yamaha R1 in the AMA Super Stock

series, and going on to a 2nd overall finish that year in the championship.

But for Ben, 2008 was the turning point where things all came together, and as he put it once,

he started having fun again. And fun he did have, winning a boatload of races while running in

the AMA Super Sport class based on the 'old' 600cc platform, and winning the title in the

process.

The machinery shown above is a small look at the bikes that Ben ran in the '07 and '08

seasons. The shots of the bikes in the garage were taken at Mid Ohio during the '07 round,

and are of the Yamaha R1 Super Stock bike, while the on-track shots of Ben leading #36

Martin Cardenas and #4 Josh Hayes at Mid Ohio in '08 while romping to the win that day,

and of course the championship later in the year. And the shot of the #1 bike is the bike

he won the '08 AMA Super Sport Championship with. Or at least a good version of it as on

display at the Indy round of the MotoGP race back in August. It was one of many great

bikes they had on display that w/e.

I have to take the time to thank the following people for giving us the links below of the official

news about Yamaha turning things over to Mr. Graves and Co. for 2010.....and maybe beyond...

http://www.roadracingworld.com/, http://www.superbikeplanet.com/ and of course, http://www.speedtv.com/. Thanks to all you great folks for the hard work and efforts you put in to help us all keep up with the goings on around the mad world of motorcycle road racing. We couldn't make it with out you!

Thanks for coming by and taking the time to check things out here! And I hope you can come back again now, ya hear?!

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=38556

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Oct/091027m.htm

http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ama-sbk-graves-takes-over-yamaha-effort/

Ben Bostrom Rides the 24 Hours of Moab.......

Dean Adams and his super people over at his bitchin' site, www.SuperBikePlanet.com posted

a great article today about '98 AMA SuperBike Champion and '08 AMA SuperSport Champion

Ben Bostrom.

For those of you like myself who have been fans of Double B since the days of the

old 883 class in AMA Road Racing will know what kind of champ, rider and super personality

the man is. What many may NOT know is that in his 'spare' time--like when he isn't winning

Superbike or SuperSport races, most recently the '09 AMA Daytona 200 victory in March--

that he rides off road bicycles. Now myself, I'm pretty ignorant to that cool sport, but if you DO

want to know more you can check with my buddy Tim Powers through his Indiana Climber blog

link on my left side column. But what I DO know, is this is at least the 2nd year BBoz has raced

in this particular race--the Moab 24. And this year the man placed 2nd in class and 68th overall

along with his team mate. Oh, and then there is the matter of keeping his eyes pried open for

the 41 some hours he was up last w/e in doing so. In the link below you can read about it and

check out the results from the official site as well as provided in the story. Thanks Dean--and

great job Benny! Get down man!

So, needless to say, I don't have any pics of Ben on his racing bicycle, but I DO have a few shots

here of him racing his Team Honda CBR1000RR Superbike at Road America in '04, and a shot

of him on his Team Graves Yamaha 600 SuperSport bike in route to the win at Mid Ohio to

eventually clinch the championship last year.

The single shots of Ben on the CBR are during practice for the w/e's Superbike double races,

and the group shot with Ben in the 4th spot was taken in the 2nd race of the w/e as he chases

his brother Eric, on the #32 Ducati, Team Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin on the #1 GSXR1000, Miguel Duhamel on the other Team Honda CBR1000RR, and followed up with Jake Zemke on

the Team Erion Honda CBR1000RR #98.

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Oct/091015godsunit.htm