Eric Bostrom Talks About His Return to AMA Superbike Racing

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Graves Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R1-mounted Eric Bostrom sets up for a turn during practice for the AMA Superbike round at Barber Motorsports Park in April of '07. The 2001 AMA 600 Supersport Champion returned to the track at Mid Ohio in the middle of July with the newly-formed Cycle World/Attack Performance/Yoshimura Suzuki team to contest the AMA Superbike series in some select races for the rest of the 2010 season.
After a stellar mid-pack race at Laguna Seca's Mazda Raceway last weekend, it looks as if the rust is wearing off after having left the series at the end of the '08 season. Bostrom set his fastest lap of the race on lap 18 in the battle for what ended up a seventh place finish, and showed that the fire definitely still burns from within. And having his ability on the track back in the series, coupled with his great personality can only be good for the series, and especially the fans. If he keeps progressing at the rate he has in two events and three races, there may be some racers that think otherwise, though. With a little more work, that gap from seventh to the front is going to get a whole lot narrower.
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If you can't tell by now from reading what I have to say on this stuff, I'm obviously a big fan of the Bostrom Brothers. So when news came down the pike that Eric Bostrom would be returning to the AMA Superbike Championship to run a select few races this year, needless to say, I was stoked. Not only to see him come back to the track but for the series itself, as well.

The two-time premier class runner up had been away in South America since the end of the 2008 season (and away from racing), so to expect great leaps and strides with a newly-formed team (Cycle World/Attack Performance/Yoshimura Suzuki with GSX-R1000 AMA-spec Superbikes at their disposal) would for even the most active of racers been a stretch right out of the box. But then again, to not see some progress or some glimmer of 'races past' shown in a reasonable amount of time would or could surely tarnish the image, history or pedigree-so to speak-of any racer's or fan's expectations and/or accomplishments. Well, after his first two events back ole EBoz is having none of that, and after a VERY impressive mid-pack run at Laguna on Sunday that netted a seventh-place finish, he is showing the fire inside is still alive and the desire to get to the front is definitely still there. And bravo!

Putting together a strong run with a new team and learning the eccentricities of the new-rules machines compared to the fire-breathing dragons of the '08 season has made for a pretty good return so far. And if things keep getting better, Eric COULD very possibly nail down a podium before the end of the season. Possibly. And that would be great not only for him, obviously, but for the fans and the series as well. The man with the boyish smile makes for a great interview and his enthusiasm, just like his older brother Ben's, is unequaled.

The remaining three rounds and six races in the 2010 AMA Superbike Championship are going to be even more interesting, and could lay some hefty groundwork for Eric to work with going into the 2011 season. I think it's not only going to be fun, but it's going to be fun to watch as the action on the track has just stepped up another notch with ole Eboz back in town, and with Brother Ben topping the box last weekend we are going to see some classic Bos Bros action on the track together again. And that is a great thing!

Thanks to the great people at On The Throttle and RoadRacingWorld.com, we get a chance to hear straight from Eric himself exactly what he feels and what he sees in AMA Superbike at this point in time, the new team, and how glad he is to be back. Pretty good stuff.

I'll shut up now and you can go here and hear it for yourself:

http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=41392
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Yamaha Gifts Ex-Eric Bostrom Graves R1 Superbike to Jay Leno

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Chuck Graves is the man behind the Yamaha Graves Motorsports dynasty that has been supreme in pretty much all of the AMA Road Racing classes in the last 7-8 seasons, and is a former west coast road racer who first burst onto the scene in the '80s at Willow Springs Raceway. A former multi-time track and FUSA Champion, Graves started Graves Motorsports in 1990. After more then proving his mettle and ability on the track, the man also proved it in his ability to craft a finely tuned piece of racing equipment into a fire-breathing 180mph+ two-wheeled rocket. And he hasn't slowed down any either.
Hooking up with Yamaha as the unofficial and official factory team for the tuning fork people in the early '00s, the team won multiple championships in AMA 600 Supersport and AMA Superstock as a litmus test. It paid off. Graves and Yamaha came back to the premier AMA Superbike class in 2007. With riders Eric Bostrom on the #32 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike and Jason DiSalvo on the #40 like-machine, the team finished in the 4th spot (DiSalvo) and in the 5th spot (EBoz) in the final 2008 AMA Superbike Championship points standings, scoring 10 top fives and 27 top tens between the two riders. The only riders to finish ahead of them were '08 Champ Ben Spies, then-six time champ Mat Mladin, and Jamie Hacking on the Factory Kawasaki. Not a bad second year back. And in '09 Josh Hayes finished 2nd in the hunt, and Ben Bostrom nabbed 5th. As of this writing, Hayes is in the middle of the hunt for the 2010 AMA Superbike Championship with a four point lead and four race wins.
Since the '08 season, the rules have been de-tuned somewhat and the machines we now see on track are not the fire-breathing dragons of years ago (at least in the U.S. AMA Superbike Series). Bummer. Here are two of those Graves Yamaha R1 AMA Superbikes as they sit in the Graves paddock area at Road America in June of '08 while being readied for the weekend's events. Getting ready to breath fire.
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Whether you are a fan of Jay Leno or not (and I am so deal with it) you at least have to admire his automobile and motorcycle collection, that if you don't know about already, it's time to get out from under the rock. And slowly.

Anyway, Yamaha USA gifted an ex-Eric Bostrom '08 Graves Motorsports R1 Superbike to Jay Leno last night in part of the celebrations leading up to the Laguna Seca MotoGP event this weekend. Of course, all the BIG stars were there....KR, Sr., Eddie Lawson, Ben Spies, Colin Edwards......oh, and of course, Jay Leno. Sounds like a wayyyyyyyyyy cool time. Besides getting to put an ex-AMA (and REAL fire-breathing) Superbike in your garage and collection.

Read it and weep here thanks to the release and the great people over at Dean Adams' bitchin SuperBikePlanet.com:

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2010/Jul/100721leno.htm
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And you can check out some pics from the guest list, thanks to Dean Adams, right here:

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/image/archive/leno/1/

And here:

http://superbikeplanet.com/image/archive/leno/2/

And here, too:

http://superbikeplanet.com/image/archive/leno/3/
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And before you have to crawl back under that rock again, go here....Jay's garage:

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/
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Get Up Close With AMA Road Racing's Graves Yamaha R1

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One of Jason DiSalvo's Graves Motorsports Yamaha R1 AMA Superstock mounts gets some attention in the paddock at Road America in June of '06. Chuck Graves and company have handled the semi and full-on Yamaha factory teams efforts for some time now, with a very steep winning curve as a result of their years of dedication to the make and to the sport itself. 2006 had Jason DiSalvo running the #40, Eric Bostrom running the #32, and Jamie Hacking running the #2 machines for the team in AMA Superstock, AMA Formula Xtreme and the 600 Supersport classes. Hacking rewarded the team with 7 wins in Supersport and 6 in the Superstock, not to mention a championship in both classes. DiSalvo added several wins and 2-3rd place finishes in the points in Superstock and Formula Xtreme, while Bostrom added more wins and a 6th place in Superstock and a 2nd in Formula Xtreme. Can you say solid?!
By the time Yamaha gave Graves the go ahead to jump back to the premier Superbike class for the '08 season, the ground work had been very tidily laid on the R1 race model. Their second year back, and new team member Josh Hayes wins seven races and is runner up to 7-time champ Mat Mladin in the series points standings. Needless to say, the evolution of the R1 has been a piece of art along the way. This picture helps to illustrate the beauty of a full-on race-spec motorcycle.
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How about a quick spin on Josh Hayes' Graves Motorsports Yamaha R1 AMA-spec Superbike? Well, I can help with that thanks to Steve Atlas and crew over at Motorcycle-USA.com that took this '09 model for a spin some months back. I have to warn you though. It's just a short spin................
Check it out:
http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/709/Motorcycle-Video/Hayes-Yamaha-YZF-R1-Superbike-Review.aspx
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Josh Herrin Takes R6 and Team Graves Yamaha to Daytona 200 Victory

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Josh Herrin #46-now running #8 for 2010-in action during the AMA SuperSport race at Barber Motorsports Park in April of 2007. Running for the same Team Graves Motorsports Yamaha team, the youngster spanked the competition last night in winning the 69th edition of the Daytona 200. Nearly flawless pit stops by his great team helped to seal the deal.

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Josh Herrin on the #8 Team Graves Motorsports Yamaha R6 won the Daytona 200 endurance race last night by using nearly flawless pit stops and good traffic strategy to take the top spot on the podium for the 69th running of what was once the classic North American motorcycle race.
Dane Westby on the #2 Project 1 Atlanta Yamaha R6 finished second a little over 7.9 seconds back, and perennial iron man Steve Rapp on the #15 Team Latus Motors Racing Ducati 848 finished a solid third a little over 24.4 seconds back of Herrin. Rapp won this event in '07 while running for the Attack Kawasaki Squad, and has been riding in AMA competition for over 14 seasons now and did a fine job of bringing it home.
You can check out the official results and the official press conference below to get the full meal deal on this eventful race.

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Provisional results of the Daytona 200 courtesy of John Ulrich's group of hard working pro's over at http://www.roadracingworld.com/. Their coverage and updates over the course of the week have been outstanding:
http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=39653


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Daytona 200 press conference thanks to Dean's crew at http://www.superbikeplanet.com/ who according to their Facebook.com page were 'asked to leave the pitlane' the other day. In spite of the DMG's outlook on these great folks, they tell it like it is:
http://superbikeplanet.com/2010/Mar/100306b.htm

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Congratulations are in order not only for Josh for such a fine ride last night, but especially to all the riders and participants, and a special tip of the hat goes out to the DMG folks for starting off the season on a very high note and making it known that they are willing to help, learn and listen to everyone to ensure the series has a good year and no problems to follow such as the 2009 debacle in running the show. Bravo!
I also added the link in yesterday's post for the second superbike race press conference. The general feeling was good in Daytona after the way the series was handled last year. Ben Bostrom had a very nice comment about it all so if you get the chance to check it out, do so. Bravo again!
Thanks for following along with us for the road racing and flat track running of the races from Daytona this week. It's been a blast and although I plan to revert back to my normal writing and posting intervals, I wanted to try and follow the new year as quickly and as closely for all that I could. It's been a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to a new year, let alone a new outlook from the offices and managers of the AMA and DMG people. Other then the AMA Flat Track Live Timing and Scoring clusterf..k that we are confident they will have worked out by the next round, it has been a great week. Thanks again for taking your time to come by, see my old stuff and put up with me on a rant....or an occasional non-rant, even. God Bless to all and take care!
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