Bostrom Takes Two at VIR
8/21/2006
Alton, VA (August 18-20, 2006) — Eric Bostrom continued his winning ways in Formula Xtreme during the ninth round of the AMA Superbike Championships. Bostrom's winning didn't stop there as he also won an exciting Superstock battle. Meanwhile, current Superbike point's leader, Ben Spies fractured his right hand during qualifying but gutted out two solid performances to help save his points lead.
The first race of the weekend saw an epic battle between Eric Bostrom and Josh Hayes as Bostrom grabbed the early lead only to have Hayes take over on lap three. For the remainder of the race, Bostrom was glued to the back of Hayes and waited patiently before making his move on the last lap. After the race, a jubilant Bostrom said, "There have been quite a few races where we set the pace but this was not one of them. Josh was on it from the beginning and turning just a tick or two quicker than me every lap and it was dragging me along." With Bostrom's sixth win in the last seven races, he has now taken over the points lead with 286 while Jason DiSalvo and Hayes trail with 284 and 283 respectively.
Saturday's Superbike race saw an injured Ben Spies jump out to the lead off the start with Mat Mladin and the rest of the pack in tow. Shortly there after, Mladin had regained the lead while Spies and Neil Hodgson ran 2-3. After the fourth lap of the race, the podium was essentially locked up as the top three positions never changed. "There was no way I could run with him. I don't even know if I could have done it if the hand wasn't hurting. We did what we had to do and this finish for me is really good under the circumstances. Hopefully it won't be so sore tomorrow. We'll keep icing it and come back tomorrow and try and do the same thing again and heal up for Atlanta."
Backing up his Formula Xtreme win from the day before, Eric Bostrom fended off a late charge from Jaime Hacking to win his first career Superstock victory. Bostrom looked to make it a runaway race as he grabbed the holeshot and began opening up a gap until Hacking made his way into second and closed the gap relatively easy. Getting around Bostrom was a different story for Hacking. With a few close calls while to trying new lines and almost high-siding, Hacking settled in for second and followed Bostrom across the line in second. "Jamie was coming for about the last five laps," Bostrom said after the race. "He's been the guy to beat all year. We've been trying so hard -- I wanted this one so bad for my team."
Coming into Sunday's Superbike race, Spies continued nursing the fractured hand but went out and gave yet another gutsy performance to salvage as many points as possible. On the opening lap, Mladin and Spies went into the first corner side by side; Mladin was pushed out and forced back to eighth. Spies rode in third until lap five when Mladin had made his way through the pack and past the current point's leader. The real battle was up front between Mladin, Miguel Duhamel and Aaron Yates. Mladin was able to pull off another win with Yates and Duhamel rounding out the podium. Spies finished an admirable fourth place.
Formula Xtreme Results:
- Eric Bostrom - Parts Unlimited
- Josh Hayes - Parts Unlimited
- Jason Disalvo
- Aaron Gobert - Parts Unlimited
- Michael Barnes
Superstock Results:
- Eric Bostrom - Parts Unlimited
- Jamie Hacking
- Jason Disalvo
- Aaron Yates
- Josh Hayes - Parts Unlimited
Saturday Superbike Results:
- Mat Mladin
- Ben Spies - Parts Unlimited
- Neil Hodgson - Parts Unlimited
- Miguel Duhamel
- Aaron Yates
- Jake Zemke - Parts Unlimited
Sunday Superbike Results:
- Mat Mladin
- Aaron Yates
- Miguel Duhamel
- Ben Spies - Parts Unlimited
- Jake Zemke - Parts Unlimited
- Ben Bostrom - Parts Unlimited