Ben Bostrom earns podium finish at Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Yamaha’s Ben Bostrom captured his fourth podium of the season aboard his 2009 YZF-R1 in a rain-soaked Superbike race at Road America at Elkhart Lake, Wis. on Saturday, June 6. He charged to the front of the pack early in wet conditions, and then sparred with several other riders during the 13-lap contest before settling into a strong third-place finish. Then under better conditions on Sunday, “BBoz” took his R1 to a solid fifth-place finish to add to his points in the American Superbike championship, where he climbs to third place with six of 11 rounds completed. After leading the first practice on Friday, teammate Josh Hayes rode aggressively and set some of the quickest race laps, but crashed out on both Saturday and Sunday.

Superpole qualifying on Friday saw Hayes in third and Bostrom in fifth aboard the new crossplane crankshaft R1. Then on Saturday, the Yamaha duo gave the bike its rain-race debut. Full of confidence and with his machine shod with rain tires, Bostrom dove into the lead under braking for the first turn on lap one, although he soon relinquished the position to Larry Pegram, eventual race winner Mat Mladin, and second-place finisher Michael Laverty. Fortunately Pegram eventually dropped through the order somewhat, and Bostrom was able to reclaim third spot during the middle of the race. The rain, combined with cold temperatures only in the 40s, made the conditions extremely difficult, and the R1’s rider-friendly YCC-T throttle-control system definitely helped Bostrom achieve such a strong result.

Lorenzo, Rossi 1-2 in Grand Prix of Japan

After it looked like the Grand Prix of Japan would be a complete washout, the sun broke through the dark clouds and streamed onto the Motegi circuit as the Fiat Yamaha team enjoyed a clean sweep of the top two spots on Sunday, April 26. With qualifying having been cancelled Saturday due to the heavy rain, both riders started the race from the front row of the grid according to their times from Friday's free practice. Following a stunning race, Jorge Lorenzo took the glory of standing on the top step of the podium, after coming through a brilliant scrap with his teammate Valentino Rossi, who finished a close second.

Lorenzo started from third on the grid and briefly lost a position, but was soon back up to his starting spot as the lead pack completed the first lap. With a superior pace to Dani Pedrosa, who occupied second place behind Rossi in the early going, it seemed as though Lorenzo was being held up, and sure enough on lap three the Yamaha rider edged into second. Once there, he had the unenviable task of closing a two-second gap on his teammate, but he gradually edged nearer. Then the two enjoyed a good head-to-head fight, swapping positions at the V-corner before Lorenzo finally found a way past Rossi. From that point there was no looking back, and as Rossi was now entangled in a battle with Pedrosa, Lorenzo sealed a glorious second victory in his young MotoGP career.

"It was a difficult race because I didn't really get a very good start,” Lorenzo admitted later. “After that I began to catch up the pace. I passed Valentino and opened up a little gap, about a second and a half, and he was following me very hard. I had to ride the best I can to get the victory." Rossi added, "It was a great race, long, very difficult and also physical. I got a really good start from the front row, but there was a part of the race that I wasn't quite able to ride like I wanted. In the last part of the race I was able to step up my pace and pick my lines, setting some good lap times. Second place is not a victory but it's still twenty points for the championship. I think the championship will become very interesting now because we have four riders ready to battle for wins at the end."