DAYTONA BEACH, FL, DEC 5: Yamaha’s Ben Bostrom finished the first day of the Dunlop Daytona tire test with the fastest time in both Daytona SportBike sessions and an encouraging run on the all-new and barely finished R1 American Superbike.
Bostrom shared his championship-winning Graves Motorsports Yamaha R6 with Tommy Aquino, the 16-year-old from Saugus, California who replaced him when Bostrom was promoted to the factory team. The visit was Aquino’s first to Daytona and he got the bulk of the seat time. But when Bostrom had the controls he made the most of them, speeding to the fastest time on the full 3.51-mile road course, a track the Daytona SportBikes were running for the first time. (The previous road course was slightly shortened when the International Horseshoe was altered).
“I don’t know how we raced Superbikes on that thing, honestly,” Bostrom, who had a horrific accident on the east banking several years ago, said. “It’s kind of fun.”
AMA Pro Racing hasn’t run on both bankings since 2004, the final year before the 200 was downgraded to a Formula Xtreme race. The track has changed slightly, Bostrom said; entering the final left prior to the West Banking, there used to be one little dip and now there’s two huge ones where you bottom the front twice before you even start the corner. The big difference is that the 2009 Daytona 200 will be run at night and this was the first foray into the darkness.
The consensus was that the run from the chicane to turn one was fine, but that other parts were spotty, including the bit from the dogleg into the West Horseshoe, along the back straight, and onto the banking.
“I told them they’ve got to point the lights there, because they’ve blacktopped it, so it’s really dark,” Bostrom said of the final left before the West Banking. “There’s nothing reflective. You go in there and you can’t see the bumps and it’s blacktopped.
“And the other spots on the back straight. The boys go, whoa, they got to figure it out. We ride about six or seven feet off the wall because it casts a shadow that if there’s anyone there, you wouldn’t even know. You can’t see. So they got to figure out a few things. But in general they’ve done an amazing job. I can’t believe it.”
What Bostrom and many others noticed was the lack of peripheral vision. The tarmac is lit, but the surrounding area is bathed in darkness.
“It’s weird looking for brake markers now, you’ve got to look for them,” Bostrom said. “The thing that scared me the most when I went out is the sheen on the track. Went out there and took the first two laps really slow. I was like, there must be more grip than it looks like. It’s really strange. I was just blown away by the sheen. I had no idea.
“I did three laps and then I came in and I said, ‘You guys, that’s pretty gnarly. And they said, ‘You’re going fast,’ and I said, ‘Well, it’s gnarly though.’ And we made a shock change and I went back out and I was fine.
“It was weird. That fourth lap, I was completely fine, but I knew I was only going to do one lap so we could try something for the Daytona bike. I said, man, four laps, we’re ready. Really strange. The brain comes up to speed really quick.”
Even quicker in the morning when he did four laps with a class best for the day of 1:50.630 mins., a time that was a few tenths quicker than he went in the evening. “But this time I started on a bike with like 15 laps on the tire, you know, had old tires on there. That was just trying to see. I did that in three laps. I’m sure we could’ve done 50-flat if we wanted.”
Unlike his R1, which is all-new, the R6 is identical to this year’s title winner.
“There’s nothing different,” Bostrom said, though that the newly mandated unleaded fuel makes it slower. “I don’t really feel it, because I don’t remember the bike from Laguna. And when I got on the bike-I’ve just been riding bicycles around-I got on the bike and I said, ‘Man, that thing’s really fast.’ And they said ‘It’s not supposed to be. It’s the other way around, Ben.’ But I guess because you don’t have to pedal power the thing, it’s pretty quick. But after getting off the Superbike, I said, ‘Oh yeah.’”
The Superbike is very much a work in progress. Parts continued to arrive right until they took to the track; the Marchesini wheels arrived on Friday morning. And there’s only one in very raw form, which Bostrom doesn’t want to crash.
“It’s going to be rocking,” Bostrom said. “It’s got the coolest motor ever. Right now I’m just riding it very gently, at 75%. It’s my only bike. It’s got to last three days. And the pitch isn’t right and we’re trying to get the fuel mapping right. But the motor is amazing.
“There’s something really strange. When you get on the gas on the Superbike and you go half throttle and the thing starts burning the back tire and you give it more gas, you burn the tire worse. But on this one, you can just open the thing up half throttle and you spin the tire. I remember the first time I did it, I was like, I’m just going to smoke this tire off, because we’re not running TC (traction control) or anything. And I hammered into it and the thing never went (sideways) and just started accelerating. Really strange feeling.”
Most noticeable, other than the black Sharkskinz bodywork, is the distinctive sound. Though it’s an inline four, it sounds a lot like a Ducati V-twin.
“It’s totally like that,” Bostrom said. “I remember the first time getting on the Ducati was here, at this track. And it was like sitting on this bike with kind of a high center of gravity and the strangest motor ever, because I’m coming off a (Honda) RC-45, which revved to the moon. And then I got on this (R1), and they go ‘What is it like?’ and I said, ‘I’ve ridden this bike before.’ And that was a great bike as well, but this one’s even better, but this one steers.”
How well it’s going to steer once the motor and traction control is sorted is a cause of concern. The stock forks may not react as well as the Ohlins on the 2008 R1. Bostrom thought they would be a problem from time to time.
“They look really small,” he said. “I looked down at them. But so far we’re not going fast enough, we’re going quite slow, so they haven’t caused any issues.”
Combined Friday Times:
1. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha) 1:50.630
2. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki) 1:51.012
3. Jake Zemke (Honda) 1:51.340
4. Cory West (Suzuki) 1:51.368
5. Josh Herrin/Josh Hayes (Yamaha) 1:52.140
6. Blake Young (Suzuki) 1:52.358
7. Michael Barnes (Buell) 1:52.587
8. Dane Westby (Yamaha) 1:52.653
9. Shawn Higbee (Buell) 1:53.205
10. Chris Peris (Honda) 1:54.583
