Benjamin Bostrom (born May 7, 1974) is an American former professional

motorcycle racer Motorcycle racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) is the motorcycle sport of racing motorcycles. Major varieties include motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Oth ...

. From 1995 to 2011 he competed in the

AMA Superbike Championship AMA Superbike Championship is an American motorcycle racing series that has been run every year beginning in 1976. For most of its existence it has been considered the premier motorcycle road racing series in the United States. It is sanctioned ...

, the

World Superbike Championship Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette-class road racing series based on heavily modified production motorcycles, also known as superbike racing. The championship was founded i ...

and the MotoGP world championship..

Motorcycle racing career

The son of Dave Bostrom and nephew of Paul Bostrom, both successful dirt track racers, Bostrom began his motorcycle racing career in the same fashion by winning the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) 600 Dirt Track National Championship in 1993. He switched to road racing in 1995. Bostrom captured the AMA Superbike national championship as a

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

rider in 1998, without winning a race. A year later Bostrom, astride a Ducati and still racing full-time in the AMA series, won a

Laguna Seca Raceway Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 near both Salinas and ...

World Superbike race (and finished second in another) as a wild card entry. Bostrom first raced full-time in the

Superbike World Championship Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette-class road racing series based on heavily modified production motorcycles, also known as superbike racing. The championship was founded i ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

on a factory Ducati. In 2001 he won an unexpected 6 races, including 5 in a row on a factory L&M Ducati, to finish third overall. Bostrom did not win a race in 2002, and scored weaker results as the season progressed. For 2003 Bostrom returned to the domestic series for American Honda on an RC51, staying there in 2004 on the brand new

Honda Fireblade The Honda Fireblade is a family of sport motorcycles manufactured by Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has bee ...

CBR1000RR. He finished 4th in AMA Superbike in both years. He made a return to international racing for 2005, with the Renegade Honda team in the World Superbike Championship, but was not successful. He qualified slowest of the 28 international entries in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

at the first round, but scored a few top ten finishes during the season to come 14th overall. Bostrom returned to Ducati as

Neil Hodgson Neil Stuart Hodgson (born 20 November 1973) is a British former motorcycle racer, who won the 2000 British Superbike Championship, and the 2003 Superbike World Championship titles. He then went on to have a moderately successful four years in t ...

's teammate for the 2006 AMA Superbike Championship. Ducati withdrew from the AMA Superbike Championship at the end of 2006, leaving Bostrom to join the

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

/Graves Motorsports team in 2007 for a rebuilding year, riding in the AMA Superstock Championship, where he finished second in points, though unable to score a win. In 2008, Ben Bostrom switched from Superstock to Supersport and led the Graves Motorsports

team to an AMA championship in the 600cc class. At

Virginia International Raceway Virginia International Raceway (commonly known as "VIR") is a race track located in Alton, Virginia, near Danville. It is less than a half-mile from the North Carolina/Virginia border just outside Milton, North Carolina, on the banks of the Da ...

that year, Bostrom finished 2nd and gave his trophy to Sam Koup (the Grandson of racer Larry Koup), and distributed his champagne bottle and hats to others. Bostrom went on to win the 2008 Supersport Championship for under the Graves Motorsports banner. This was the last year of the AMA series before ownership transferred to the Daytona Motorsports Group, and the 600cc class was renamed AMA Daytona Sportbike. For 2009, Bostrom raced a 1000cc Yamaha YZF-R1 in the American Superbike class. He also moonlighted in select 600cc events, including the season opener,

Daytona 200 The Daytona 200 is an annual motorcycle road racing competition held in early spring at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The race was founded in 1937 when it was sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Associati ...

, in which he took 1st place. In addition to Superbike, Bostrom races Supermoto- a multi-discipline format involving off-road, flat track and road-racing in one event. Bostrom won the 2003

AMA Supermoto Championship The AMA Supermoto Championship was an AMA Pro Racing-sanctioned Supermoto motorcycle racing series that ran from 2003 through 2009. AMA Pro Racing was a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Motorcyclist Association. An amateur national champi ...

and the gold medal at the inaugural

X-Games The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island ...

Supermoto competition. The X-Games race (whose field included European Supermoto Champion Eddy Seel and seven-time Supercross champ, Jeremy McGrath) saw Bostrom win after nearly tipping over five laps from the finish. Ben also dabbles in journalism with an article entitled "Boz Bros Chronicles" which is featured in 2Wheel Tuner Magazine each month as well as Sportbikeclub.com. In 2014 Bostrom was part of a winning team in the

Race Across America The Race Across America, or RAAM, is an ultra-distance road cycling race held across the United States that started in 1982 as the Great American Bike Race. RAAM is one of the longest annual endurance events in the world. All entrants must prove ...

, cycling alongside

Dave Mirra David Michael Mirra (April 4, 1974 – February 4, 2016) was an American BMX rider who also competed in rallycross racing. He set the record for most medals in BMX Freestyle at the X Games (later tied by Scotty Cranmer) and earned at least one ...

, Micky Dymond and Dave Zabriskie. His brother,

Eric Bostrom Eric Bostrom (born November 19, 1976 in San Francisco, California) is an American professional motorcycle racer and brother of Ben Bostrom, who also races motorcycles professionally. He is currently racing in the AMA Superbike series for Attack ...

, is also a professional motorcycle racer.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

By class

Races by year

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

AMA Pro Racing

References

External links

BozBros.com
- Official Bostrom Brothers site
www.gravesport.com
- Official Graves Motorsports site {{DEFAULTSORT:Bostrom, Ben 1974 births Living people American motorcycle racers Superbike World Championship riders AMA Superbike Championship riders AMA Supersport Championship riders LCR Team MotoGP riders MotoGP World Championship riders