Bostrom wins his fifth

From amasuperbike.com

Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Ben Bostrom underlined his position as the preeminent force in the 2008 Pro Honda Oils Supersport Championship, utterly dominating the Laguna Seca contest after starting from pole on Saturday.

The Californian broke free early and pulled clear to a convincing 7.888-second margin of victory in the 17-lap contest. Bostrom added the Supersport win to his earlier triumphs at Monterey in World Superbike, AMA Superbike, and Formula Xtreme.

Bostrom is working to rebuild his title lead that took a serious hit when he finished 21st following a troublesome race in Utah. But his five wins and four poles in seven rounds have allowed him to construct a 10-point advantage over his closest competitor, Erion Honda's Jake Zemke, who finished second for the fourth time on the season today.

"The bike was just incredible," Bostrom said. "I knew we had the best bike after we tested here recently. I knew what the bike was capable of. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was hoping I didn't get the holeshot because I knew that would be the end of the race, and we got the holeshot.

"We kind of split and that's not really usual in the Supersport class. It's usually the best race of the weekend but that one didn't pan out. I'm sure the race at Mid-Ohio is going to be on."

Runner-up Zemke said, "There isn't much to tell -- Ben just rode off into the sunset and that was all she wrote. I got up into second right when the first lap ended and I was trying to put my head down. I was close enough to Ben that he shouldn't have been able to pull away but his pace was just too quick."

Zemke had another nine seconds worth of real estate behind him, but the fight for third-place gave the massive crowd something to keep them interested until the checkered flag.

A three-way fight for the final spot on the podium developed featuring Attack Kawasaki's Steve Rapp (whose teammate Chaz Davies crashed early when the two came together), Matsushima Suzuki's Danny Eslick, and Safety First Suzuki's Bobby Fong.

Previously scrapping for fourth, their battle became all the more important when Zemke's teammate, Josh Hayes, was forced in for a ride through penalty, dropping him out of third.

Rapp held the spot over the race's second half but Eslick reclaimed third momentarily as they navigated turn 11 for the final time. Sideways-riding Eslick got in the corner extremely deep but Rapp smoothly rode through with a cleaner line and got the better drive on exit.

The experienced Kawasaki ace just managed to steal back the position at the flag, nipping past by 0.017 seconds at the flag.

Fong picked up an impressive fifth right in their shadow, while Hayes charged all the way back up to sixth.

Team M4 EMGO Suzuki's Martin Cardenas picked up seventh in his return to Supersport duty with the Graves-supported trio of Tommy Aquino, Michael Beck, and Josh Herrin rounding out the top 10.

Results
1. Ben Bostrom Yamaha YZF-R6 17
2. Jake Zemke Honda CBR600RR +7.888
3. Steve Rapp Kawasaki ZX-6R +16.892
4. Danny Eslick Suzuki GSX-R600 +16.909
5. Bobby Fong Suzuki GSX-R600 +17.151
6. Joshua Hayes Honda CBR600RR +21.703
7. Martin Cardenas Suzuki GSX-R600 +25.589
8. Tommy Aquino Yamaha YZF-R6 +25.893
9. Michael Beck Yamaha YZF-R6 +26.660
10. Josh Herrin Yamaha YZF-R6 +31.649
11. Blake Young Suzuki GSX-R600 +38.220
12. Ricky Corey Yamaha YZF-R6 +39.186
13. Nicky Moore Kawasaki ZX-6R +42.582
14. Gabor Rizmayer Suzuki GSX-R600 +51.564
15. Chaz Davies Kawasaki ZX-6R +51.728
16. Fredrik Watz Yamaha YZF-R6 +52.254
17. Fernando Amantini Kawasaki ZX-6R +53.896
18. Tony Meiring Yamaha YZF-R6 +55.047
19. Shea Fouchek Honda CBR600RR +59.227
20. Josh Galster Kawasaki ZX-6R 17
21. Eric Pinson Yamaha YZF-R6 16
22. Liko Miles Suzuki GSX-R600 16
23. Matt Eccleston Yamaha YZF-R6 16
24. Oscar Covarrubias Yamaha YZF-R6 16
25. Chris Siebenhaar Suzuki GSX-R600 16
26. David Glenn Suzuki GSX-R600 16
27. Chad Lewin Suzuki GSX-R600 14
28. Garrett Carter Suzuki GSX-R600 8
29. C. R. Gittere Suzuki GSX-R600 8
30. Cory West Suzuki GSX-R600 3
31. Aaron Gobert Honda CBR600RR 17-DQ
RACE TIME: 24:44.192
WINNER'S AVG. SPEED: 92.283 mph