Bostrom Leads ‘Em To Superpole
Paul Carruthers | March 5, 2009
Ben Bostrom led the way today at Daytona International Speedway in qualifying for the Daytona SportBike class, the Yamaha man leading the way as the top 10 riders from this morning’s session qualified to move on to tonight’s Superpole session.Bostorm lapped at 1:49.093 on the Graves Motorsports Yamaha and that was good enough to put him some .2 of a second faster than Buell-mounted Danny Eslick, the Bruce Rossmeyers/RMR-backed Oklahoman continuing to impress in his debut race on the big twin.Team M4 Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas was third fastest, the final rider to circulate in the 1:49s. Yamaha’s Dane Westby ended up fourth, ahead of a several factory stars. Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke, Cardenas’ teammate Jason DiSalvo, Erion’s Chris Perris and the factory Yamahas of Josh Herrin and Josh Hayes were next. The 10th and final rider to make it to tonight’s Superpole session is Monster Attack Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking. Hacking is a second and a half slower than Bostrom thus far.”I’ll prefer when we’re on the track alone,” Bostrom said prior to taking part in the American Superbike qualifying session that is currently underway. “I don’t like the draft and I don’t like running into everybody – you catch them rather quickly. It’s going to be tough after riding the Superbike. You ride the little bike in the morning and then you’re supposed to just show up and bust a lap, but I can’t wait – I’m looking forward to it.”Bostrom, meanwhile, will be the only rider in the SportBike field with Superpole experience, the former factory Ducati rider learning that part of the trade during his World Superbike days.”You just go out there and put your head down for one lap,” Bostrom said. “All these guys know how to do that. I watched them out there this morning. I saw them take out their brains and set ’em over here and just twist it.”One thing that has Bostrom and the others concerned is getting enough heat into the tires for the one-lap flier that will take place tonight.”The tires will be a little bit cold, especially at night,” Bostrom said. “It’s going to be scary. I crashed last night on the first lap. Nobody knows, but I’m all scuffed up. You go around with the pace car and it’s so cold on the right-hand side. I was going half speed and I lost the front and fell. Superpole is going to be a bit gnarly because the right side is going to be completely new and cold and you’re supposed to do this big lap. It will be a different Superpole than what I’m used to, but I’m really looking forward to it. I love riding both these bikes.”
Paul Carruthers | Editor
Paul Carruthers took over as the editor of Cycle News in 1993 after serving as associate editor since starting his career at the publication in 1985. Carruthers has covered every facet of the sport in his near-28-year tenure at America's Daily Motorcycle News Source.
