Benjamin Bostrom (born May 7, 1974) is an American former professional motorcycle racer. From 1995 to 2011, he competed in the AMA Superbike Championship, the World Superbike Championship 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 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 World Superbike race (and finished second in another) as a wild card entry.

Bostrom first raced full-time in the Superbike World Championship in 2000 on a factory Ducati. In 2001, he won an unexpected six races, including five 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 CBR1000RR. He finished fourth 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 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'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/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, Bostrom switched from Superstock to Supersport and led the Graves Motorsports Yamaha team to an AMA championship in the 600cc class. At Virginia International Raceway that year, Bostrom finished second 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, in which he took first 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 and the gold medal at the inaugural X-Games 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 2011, Bostrom made his MotoGP class début as a wildcard rider during the 2011 United States motorcycle Grand Prix in a Honda-backed LCR Team and thus became the oldest rookie to début in MotoGP class era at 37 years old (similar to Toshio Suzuki's feat at 1993 Japanese Grand Prix in Formula One).

In 2014, Bostrom was part of a winning team in the Race Across America, cycling alongside Dave Mirra, Micky Dymond and Dave Zabriskie.

His brother, Eric Bostrom, is also a professional motorcycle racer.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season YearClassMotorcycleTeamNumberRaceWinPodiumPoleFLapPtsPlcdWCh MotoGP Honda RC212V LCR Honda MotoGP 23 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC – Total 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

By class ClassSeasons1st GP1st Pod1st WinRaceWinPodiumsPoleFLapPtsWCh MotoGP 2011 2011 United States 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 2011 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Pts 2011 MotoGP Honda QAT SPA POR FRA CAT GBR NED ITA GER USARet CZE INP RSM ARA JPN AUS MAL VAL NC 0

AMA Pro Racing

Year Class Team Bike DAY FON RAT INF RAM M-O LAG VIR N-J BAR Pts PosR1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R1R2R1R2R1R22010SBKPat Clark Motorsports Yamaha R118386 4Ret 2 2 7 6 2 4 1 2 23Ret2955th Year Class Team Bike DAY FON RAT BAR INF RAM LAG M-O HRT VIR N-J Pts PosR1R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2 2009SBKGraves Motorsports Yamaha R167588339235542219334233335th

Year Class Team BikeDAYBARFONINFMILRAMLAGM-OVIRRATLAG Pts Pos 2008SSGraves Motorsports Yamaha R6 1 2 1 1 21 1 1 1 2 3 2 361 1st

Year Class Team BikeDAYBARFONINFRAMMILLAGM-OVIRRATLAG Pts Pos 2007SStkGraves Motorsports Yamaha R1 2 3 4 3 4 2N/AC 4 2 3 264 2nd

Year Class Team BikeDAY BAR FON INF RAM MIL LAG M-O VIR RATM-O Pts PosR1R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R1R2R1R2R1R2R1 2006SBK Parts Unlimited Ducati Ducati 999R7967767873DNF720261162074 3919th

Year Class Team Bike DAY FON INF BARPPK RAMBRDLAG M-O RAT VIR Pts PosR1R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R1R2R1R1R1R2R1R2R1R22004SBKParts Unlimited Honda Honda CBR1000RRDNFDNF545DNF55455142 3 3 3 3 4224th

YearClassTeam12345678PosPtsR1R2R1R2R1R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R1R22011SuperBikeSuzukiDAY4DAY5INF19INF6UTA8RAM7RAM10BAR2BAR5MOH14MOH6LAG5NJE2NJE5 5th 209

AMA Formula Xtreme Championship By year Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pos Pts2004Formula XtremeHondaDAY2FONINFBARPPKRAMBRDLAG1M-ORATVIR 19th 70

References

External links BozBros.com - Official Bostrom Brothers site www.gravesport.com - Official Graves Motorsports site