Yoshimura Suzuki continues to dominate the American Motorcyclist Association’s Superbike class, but watch out, here comes San Franciscan Eric Bostrom on a factory Yamaha.
Ben Spies, the defending series champ and current points leader, and Mat Mladin, the six-time AMA Superbike champ, sit atop the standings after five races with 173 and 164 points, respectively, as the AMA makes its annual trek to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma for the track’s major-event season opener May 18-20, the Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown presented by Supercuts.
Bostrom, who was born in San Francisco but calls Nevada home now, is currently only seventh in the points. But the laid-back veteran of the Superbike wars is coming off a pair of third-place finishes last weekend at California Speedway.
“Our goal is to catch Ben and Mat,” Bostrom said after his two top-three finishes in Fontana. “We know what our job is. Our work is cut out for us. It’s a big job. They’re both laying down a blistering pace. My pace was basically a second better than [Saturday], for the better part of the race. Then at the end there, we had a little trouble and they went even quicker. So we’ll just keep trying. The good news is we made a lot of progress from [Saturday] and the bad news is they did too.”
BOWYER AT INFINEON: NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Clint Bowyer will take part in a one-day test session Wednesday at Infineon Raceway. Despite a 35th-place finish last weekend at Talladega, Richard Childress Racing’s Bowyer is 11th in NASCAR’s premier series. Bowyer competed in his first event at Infineon Raceway during his rookie season in 2006, taking 16th place.
Bowyer, who will test a NASCAR Grand National Division West Series car at Infineon this month, will return to the Sonoma Valley for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 on June 22-24.
TOP THE COPS: The Top the Cops program is under way at Infineon Raceway as high school students get the rare chance to race against Bay Area law enforcement agencies on its quarter-mile drag strip on Wednesday nights.
The program enters its 12th year as the raceway continues to provide a safe, legal and controlled environment in which teens can satisfy their need for speed. Top the Cops runs almost every Wednesday at the raceway through August. The cost to participate is $15 for students with their high school identification card. The program runs in conjunction with the track’s Wednesday Night Drags.
Participating law enforcement agencies are: Brentwood Police Department, Town of Windsor Police Department, Vacaville Police Department, Fremont Police Department, Sonoma Police Department, Twin Cities Police Department, Fairfield Police Department, Napa Police Department, Newark Police Department, Novato Police Department, Martinez Police Department and Sonoma County Sheriffs Department. For more information, visit www.infineonraceway.com.
HARVEY, McMURRAY FINED
NASCAR fined Kevin Harvick and Jamie McMurray $25,000 each for making contact during a caution at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday. Both drivers were also placed on probation until Oct. 3. NASCAR was not aware of any incidents between the drivers until they reviewed videotape of the last few laps of the race.
THIS WEEK’S PIT STOPS
NEXTEL CUP
WHAT: Crown Royal 400
WHERE: Richmond, Va.
WHEN: Saturday, 4 p.m.
BUSCH
WHAT: Circuit City 250
WHERE: Richmond, Va.
WHEN: Friday, 4:30 p.m.
NHRA
WHAT: O’Reilly Midwest Nat’ls
WHERE: Madison, Ill.
WHEN: Sunday, 9 a.m.
IRL
WHAT: Indianapolis 500
WHERE: Indianapolis
WHEN: May 27
CHAMP CAR
WHAT: G.I. Joe’s Grand Prix
WHERE: Portland, Ore.
WHEN: June 10
FORMULA ONE
WHAT: Spanish Grand Prix
WHERE: Barcelona
WHEN: May 13
