Ben Bostrom was born in 1974 in Redding, California into a family of moto nuts. Ben’s father was Dave Bostrom, whose brother was Paul Bostrom, both of whom were successful dirt racers. Like his father and uncle, Ben sharpened his skills aboard an MXer, winning the 1993 AMA National dirt championship before making the switch to tarmac in 1995. In his fourth season (1998), a 24-year-old Bostrom would win his first AMA Superbike Championship aboard a Honda in a season in which he never actually won a single race. Bostrom further proved himself on the world stage the next year when he won the Laguna Seca round of WSBK as well as finishing second in another round as a wildcard entry.
At the start of the new millennium, the California native would sign a contract to race a factory Ducati in the WSBK Championship. He hit his stride in 2001, clinching six wins (five of which were won in a row) and finishing third overall. In the 2002 season, heunfortunately displayed a less-than-stellar performance, resulting in him returning to the domestic American series for 2003 where he would race aboard an RC51 before switching to the new Fireblade for the Parts Unlimited team in 2004, finishing in fourth overall both years. In 2005 he returned to the world stage with Renegade Honda but had little success, finishing 14th overall.
Around this same time, Ben would get back in touch with his brapper-roots, competing on MXers on dirt and in supermoto form, as well as doing a little flat track here and there. Bostrom would win the AMA Supermoto Championship in 2003 as well as the Gold Medal at the X-Games that year at their inaugural SuperMoto competition, beating out other legendary riders like Jeremy McGrath and Eddy Steel. The rev-aissance-man also wrote a bit of moto-journalism around this same time, with articles featured in 2Wheel Tuner Magazine and Sportbikeclub.com.
The following year he would return to the domestic series and his old sponsor with a Parts Unlimited Ducati 999R alongside teammate Neil Hodgson. The next year Ducati would withdraw from the AMA SBK Championship, leading Bostrom to spend the next three seasons with Graves Motorsports Yamaha. In 2007 he rode a Superstock R1 alongside his brother Eric – who was his teammate that year – nabbing six podiums and finishing second overall. The next year he would step down to an R6 in the Supersport class where he finished every race except for one on the podium, winning six races and finishing first overall by a landslide. He spent the next two years aboard an R1 in the Superbike class, leaving Graves in 2010 for Pat Clark Motorsports, finishing both those seasons in fifth.
Ben also spent some time in 2009 continuing to race 600’s, competing in a handful of Supersport events including the Daytona 200 which Bostrom would win. In 2011, Bostrom would have the honor of competing in the US round of MotoGP that season aboard an LCR Honda at Bostrom’s home track of Laguna Seca, though he would unfortunately crash out and go home with a DNF. The American motorcycle racer has hung-up his track leathers but continues to compete on two-wheels, taking part in cycling competitions and Ironman World championship events alongside his brother Eric Bostrom and BMX mega-legend Dave Mirra. Bostrom was given the honor of being selected as the Grand Marshall for the famous Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in 2016.
One of the two 2007 Yamaha R1’s that Bostrom piloted in the AMA Superstock Championship is currently for sale and despite it being a decade old, it is one undeniably competent superbike with this example measuring 186hp on Graves’ dyno. Graves builds some of the finest race bikes in the US, and this ex-pro Graves-built racer is a great example of this. The 2007 Graves Yamaha team had four Superstock R1’s, two were Ben’s and two were Eric’s. (Each had an A and B bike). The two A-bike’s were supposedly destroyed while Jay Leno is said to have bought one of the two remaining B-bike examples (Eric’s) while Ben held onto his example for a while before it ended up in the possession of the current owner.
As the current owner/seller puts it: “The bike looks like it came right off the AMA circuit. It’s stamped with a five-digit VIN consisting of Ben’s number; 155, and 02; indicating the B-bike.” This example was actually built by Chuck Graves himself which is a pretty big deal. In addition to being expertly set-up, this R1 racer underwent a full tear-down to the frame and a complete motor refresh by Graves in March of 2015. It has seen less than 20-race-laps since its recent refurbishing. Though this is a Superstock build, it still boasts a myriad of substantial upgrades – all of which are top-shelf components – over a stock ’07 R1.
Upgrades to this Superstock Yammy include a handmade 6.3-gallon aluminum endurance fuel-tank (supposedly valued at $7,000), brand new “SuperSport transmission”, front (25mm) and rear Ohlins suspenders (sprung for 195lb rider), Marchesini wheels, Brembo master cylinder, Vortex clip-ons, and Graves rearsets. The R1 is also fully safety wired, flashed for 91/U44 (though it will run on pump gas), and it sports two fans attached to the radiator that run on an independent switch. The sale of this bike also includes a second handmade (reportedly) $7K aluminum tank, and a myriad of other spare parts such as sprockets, levers, bar ends, and the like.
This Chuck Graves-built and tuned example has never been a street bike and has never been titled. It does however have its aforementioned special VIN, and the sale includes a signed photo of Ben racing the bike along with a replica of the helmet he wore at the start of the season. The seller also says this example has been recently serviced and runs “like it did when Ben raced it”. The 2015 Yamaha R1M’s dyno results were 183.61hp, which should give a sense of how impressive of an example this 186hp 2007 R1 Ex-Bostrom racer is.
Ben has clearly done pretty well for himself, as indicated by an LA Times piece about him putting his lavish $2.5M three-level Malibu house – which included a custom workshop and some seriously cool display bikes – up for rent in 2014 with a five-figure monthly rent. Interestingly, there is a book entitled ‘The Bostrom Conspiracy’ that, in the author’s words: “uncovers the past 30 years within the Bostrom racing family and reveals an empire made from crime and deception. Furthermore, the book discusses how one of the most important race bikes ever made is now owned and concealed by one of the biggest criminals in motorcycling.” According to trusted and dependable sources – like RoadRacingWorld – this book is supposedly poorly researched and not very factually accurate, though I can’t deny the whole thing is intriguing to me.
You can find this Ex-Ben Bostrom 2007 Yamaha R1 AMA Superstock racer for sale here on Craigslist in Woodstock, Georgia with a price of $14,000.