Ben Bostrom Tops Laguna Supersport
Cycle News Staff | July 19, 2008
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca has always been a kind place to the Bostrom brothers, and this weekend was again more of the same – at least for Ben. Graves Yamaha’s Ben Bostrom grabbed the AMA 600cc Supersport holeshot at the seventh round of the season and never looked back. By lap three he had over two seconds in hand from Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke and by the end of the 17-lap final it was a staggering 7.88 seconds, taking his fifth win of the season. Add to that his point for pole position and homeboy Bostrom had yet another perfect weekend in Monterey, California. Zemke had a lonely race for second. His teammate Josh Hayes dropped back on the fourth lap, leaving Zemke to ride around all by himself, quite a ways up on the battle for third – nearly 10 seconds in front of the next group at the end. The final podium position was the most hotly contested on the track, with Matsushima Performance Suzuki’s Danny Eslick, Attack Kawasaki’s Steve Rapp and Bobby Fong of the Safety First Suzuki squad going at it for the duration of the race. Eslick held the spot into the final corner on the last lap, only to have Rapp get a better drive and get him on the run to the line in a classic Laguna Seca move, besting him by a scant 0.016 seconds. Hayes worked his way back up to finish sixth, in front of M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas and Tommy Aquino on a Graves-supported Yamaha. Michael Beck was ninth on a similar Graves-supported Yamaha, with Josh Herrin struggling to barely crack the top-10 on his factory Graves Yamaha. 1. Ben Bostom (Yamaha) 2. Jake Zemke (Honda) 3. Steve Rapp (Kawasaki) 4. Danny Eslick (Suzuki) 5. Bobby Fong (Suzuki) 6. Josh Hayes (Honda) 7. Martin Cardenas (Suzuki) 8. Tommy Aquino (Yamaha) 9. Michael Beck (Yamaha) 10. Josh Herrin (Yamaha)
