It was a last-minute decision, but Ben Bostrom has decided to not race in the final round of AMA Superbike at Barber Motorsports Park this weekend.
The Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha R1 rider highsided during race 2 at New Jersey Motorsports Park, the penultimate round of AMA Pro Racing. During the crash, he broke his fourth and fifth ribs. Bostrom reported he'd be able to race, but after a recent canyon ride in his native California, he realized he couldn't hang off the bike due to pain.
Bostrom will finish the 2010 AMA Superbike Championship with 295 points, in fourth-place unless Foremost Insurance Ducati rider Larry Pegram is victorious; Pegram is 19 points behind Bostrom.
This wasn't the first injury of the year for Bostrom. During practice at Mid Ohio, Bostrom tweaked his right thumb in a turn-one crash. He was later operated on, and even while riding with a painful, healing thumb, he managed a win at Laguna Seca, and three consecutive podiums up to his race-2 crash Jersey.
If Bostrom was competing this week, and kept his consistent podium finishes, he may have been a tiny factor in deciding the 2010 AMA SBK Champion. The current leader, Team Graves Yamaha rider Josh Hayes, has a 22-point lead over Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider Tommy Hayden.
The two are the only ones with a shot at the title, and if Bostrom was having good results, he may have made it more interesting to see who will be crowned for 2010. But then again, with the two almost 100 points ahead of the grid, maybe Bostrom wouldn't have been a factor at all...this we'll never know.
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