Yamaha’s Eric Bostrom led his team to victory while his brother Ben finished a heroic fourth in class in the grueling Suzuki 24 Hours of Moab mountain bike race in Moab, Utah.
Eric was the fastest of the 5-Person Coed “Munch N’ Punch” team that won its class in the race, held on the 14.91-mile course in the mountains near Moab.
The team, which included Ben’s crew chief Ollie Hutchinson, along with team captain Anthony Aker, Tom Githens, and Kasey Cannon, covered 283.29 miles by completing 19 laps.
Munch N’ Punch, which was 10th overall out of 365 entries, was sponsored by the Newbury Park Bike Shop, Moab Dognuts & Coffee, and Summers Eve.
Eric Bostrom’s best lap was a one hour, seven minutes, 18 seconds, good for the 20th fastest lap overall. Each team member completed four laps except Cannon, who rode three.
But the more impressive performance was turned in by Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s Ben Bostrom. Riding more than 24 hours by himself, Bostrom finished fourth in the Men’s Solo class, despite running into mechanical problems in the middle of the night that cost him over an hour. Without those problems he would have finished third.
Bostrom ran two laps with no lights on his lone Cannondale bicycle-most of the top solo riders have two bikes-and lost time from 4-5:00 a.m. while swapping out lights.
Still, he completed 16 laps and covered 238.56 miles, with a best lap of 1:10:28.
The 2008 AMA Supersport champion was sponsored by NPOL, Senor Kelly, Nik, Jack, & Olivier, Cannondale, Edge Composites, Red Bull, Boz Bros, and Mechanix Wear.
Three-time AMA Superbike Champion Ben Spies also rode, but just for fun. The Rockstar Makita Suzuki star and soon-to-be Yamaha World Superbike rider headed the Professional Rookies team that finished 18th in the 5-Person Men’s class.
Spies was joined by his manager, Doug Gonda, and Brandon Bowen, Geoffrey Lemon, and Pat Stephens. The team was sponsored by Specialized Bicycles, Speez Racing, and Protac USA.
Spies was by far the fastest rider on the team, turning in a respectable lap of 1:20:31 on the first of his two laps. Three team members completed two laps, Stephens rode three and Lemon one.
“We have the biggest bus in town” was the team’s anecdote.
