Lap Record. ON A DUCATI!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2004/Mar/e/n040303j.htm

Honda's Ben Bostrom On ...
by dean adams
Wednesday, March 03, 2004

Honda's Ben Bostrom, happy to be sliding again.
image by dean adams
Soup chatted with Ben Bostrom on a variety of subjects last night. Here's 155's outlook on ...

The vibe prevalent at Daytona that he is going to have a good 200.

That's good to hear. I feel like we're going to do well but I don't really want to say anything now. It's happened before when we've come here and tested and everything looks good, and then in the race we have the worst luck ever. I feel like if everything goes our way it's going to go really well. But here, you can have one thing go wrong and be out of the race. We'll definitely try to keep the thing up front, set a fast pace and hope that nobody can keep up. But that's normally not the case, there's usually guys that hang in there and make a race out of it.

But, the last time he rode the CBR1000RR here at Daytona he crashed it.

When we came here we had two days to test, and we were sharing a bike, obviously. When I got here I was a little bit sick, and I took about ten laps and then thought maybe I shouldn't ride today. The next day I felt maybe I shouldn't ride again but I did some laps and did a 1:48. They wanted me to do some more laps on the bike to test a tire. Miguel had just done some laps and I looked at his times and I thought, 'Okay, I'm going to do some laps.'. I was going to turn the heat up and then I'd be done for the day. I actually did some pretty good times and I could see that I was catching DiSalvo. I was catching him at about a few seconds a lap and I saw him ahead of me and thought 'This is working out right' ... all I have to do is break really hard in the chicane and I'll catch his draft and I'll be a hero on lap 11'.
I was on the brakes really hard, looking at him and I crashed right on the straightaway. It really hurt. I lost the front on the straight and I have never bounced that hard off the ground in my life. It was a hard crash and I learned my lesson there.

I'm sure I'm going to go in there a few tenths slower now.

Was he ever comfortable on the RC51 Superbike?

The truth is, by the last couple of rounds, I was comfortable on the bike, but I don't mean that me and the bike got along well. My style is to run the thing in deep and turn the thing and take off, and even though I was really comfortable on the bike, to get it to turn I had to lay the thing on its side. Every weekend I would wear through two sets of boots, I had to lean the thing over so far. And for me the bike would never turn right. On a flowing portion of the track it would be fine, the bike was genius. Any sweeper it was great. But in America we have a lot of tight corners and the '51 just didn't like to make those u-turns. This is where the new bike is wonderful.

Me and the RC51, we weren't married together too well. My style was one thing and its style was another.

But, the Ducati he rode in World Superbike was a twin ...

The Ducati was completely different. It had a completely different style. You'd go in there and turn it and then it would not finish the corner. You'd have to run it in there deep, turn it and be smooth. The RC51 you could actually be a little less precise with it and it would work. They were complete opposites, those two bikes. Everybody was like, 'Oh, they're Twins, they have to be similar.' But they're not.

And the CBR1000RR, then?

I love it. You can hammer them. It feels sort of like a Supermoto or dirt bike. You can scream the crap out of the thing, and it wants to turn, all of the cylinders are over the front wheel, so that helps. Plus, the thing is a little loose and I like that. It suits my style. I can run it in, the thing will turn and it's sliding all over the place.

I look forward to hearing the 1000 come off the corner and listening to it sing.

ENDS

wheres the lap times?
its gonns be a good race,just to fuckin bad im not gonna be there..

This I have to try! My 03 is 4 sale!

And the CBR1000RR, then?

I love it. You can hammer them. It feels sort of like a Supermoto or dirt bike. You can scream the crap out of the thing, and it wants to turn, all of the cylinders are over the front wheel, so that helps. Plus, the thing is a little loose and I like that. It suits my style. I can run it in, the thing will turn and it's sliding all over the place.

I look forward to hearing the 1000 come off the corner and listening to it sing.