Ben Bostrom, the 2008 AMA Supersport Champion, the 1998 AMA Superbike Champion and a seven-time World Superbike race winner, is returning to the Superbike calls in 2009. He’ll do it with Yamaha, the company he says rejuvenated his career and his love for racing. Shortly after Bostrom was introduced during Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A.’s 2009 racing media day last week, Roadracingworld.com spoke to him about returning to AMA Superbike racing, the new rules, rejuvenation, mountain bike racing and more. Roadracingworld.com: What are your thoughts on coming back to AMA Superbike? Ben Bostrom: Back to both. Roadracingworld.com: Back to both? You’re racing the YZF-R6, too? BB: Some, unless I convince them [to let him race the full Daytona SportBike schedule]. I keep trying to convince them. Roadracingworld.com: I guess you could go win the first one at Daytona and use that to convince them to keep going. BB: That’s my plan. Roadracingworld.com: Will you be allowed to run #1 in Daytona SportBike? BB: I was told that a month ago, but they [AMA Pro Racing] could change the rules. Roadracingworld.com: When did you know your future plans were set here with Yamaha? BB: I would like to think it was last season when Yamaha took me in. I wasn’t kidding. I was gonna retire. They gave me a chance to try a Superstock bike. I was like, ‘Shit! I love this racing again.’ They got me back in love with racing. Last year I rode the 600. I told the guys, ‘I’m here to stay, so get used to me.’ They were like, ‘Cool!’ I told them I don’t care what class I ride next year. I just want to go out there and race no matter who the guys are and race to win, because I like that. I have no more thoughts of retirement like I had the year before. When I show up at the track now it’s not like I hope I get third today. I only think, ‘It’s going to be a win. It’s going to be a hell of a battle, and then it’s going to be a win.’ That’s my thought process. But I really appreciate Yamaha taking me in and giving me the opportunity to ride a Superbike. [Ben] Spies has done a fantastic job on it [2009 Yamaha YZF-R1]. I’ll be cheering him on all year. It’s funny. After the whole Moab [24-hour mountain bike race] I’ve become pretty close with the guy. I really dig him as a character. I think, as a person, he’s a really solid, number-one guy. He’s got a big heart, and he legitimately cares about you. It’s pretty cool. So I’m going to kick ass on that thing and try to do the same job he’s doing over there now. Try to scare the boys in testing a little bit. I’ve got a great teammate in Josh Hayes. It’s been a long time coming to get that guy a factory ride. He always gives 110% every single year, but he’s always seems to be on the B-team. Now he’s on the A-team and gets a shot to prove himself. It’s fantastic. It’s great to see [Tommy] Aquino get moved onto a bike [Graves Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R6] I know should win every race. It’s an amazing machine. Plus, the boys at Graves are number one, as well. We’ll see how [Josh] Herrin does. He has a new teammate, so that’s pretty cool. Roadracingworld.com: So you’re coming back to Superbike, but it’s going to be a new Superbike class, American Superbike, with spec tires and limited quantity of tires. Do you see that as being significant? BB: What I think it’s going to do is dumb down the decision making, which makes it easier for new guys coming in to the class. Before, you take any of the guys who race Superbike and they’ve raced Superbike for the last five years or more. They ask the tire guy the tire number. They know the tire numbers. They ask the Dunlop guy, ‘What’s the modification?’ And they go, ‘Well, it’s like this tire. We changed the carcass on the side of the tire.’ Right then, they know. So they go, ‘Oh, yeah. I’ve done a few races on that tire.’ They know it. So they can make the more educated decision on what tire to go with. Whereas when a younger guy comes in, he goes, ‘Well, I’ve never raced that tire before.’ So they don’t know what to do. Now it’s just basically a Hard, Medium and Soft, right. There’s probably only going to be one choice, seriously. ‘Are we going to go Hard or Medium this weekend?’ Because that’s all you’ve got. It makes it a lot easier. Kind of like when you’re a young kid in dirt tracking. You just get your ass handed to you by Springer [Jay Springsteen] and the boys. And you think, ‘I think I’m sometimes riding that good. I’m on the same tire, but they just pull away a few 10ths a lap.’ But with their knowledge they know which eccentrics to put on, swingarm angles and cuts in the tire all the knowledge they’ve kept in their back pocket for 20 years. But I think [spec tires are] going to make it easier for new guys. Roadracingworld.com: The latest version of the rules I saw mandated stock forks and more stock parts than in the past in Superbike. Any concerns about that? BB: No. The only issue I have is stock forks make the front chatter. The aftermarket forks seem to eliminate a lot of the chatter. As long as everyone has chatter I don’t give a sh-t, you know? So you can’t go 100 mph through that corner. You can only go 95 mph. You can risk 98 mph but you might crash. It’s just how much front hopping can you take for how long? I think it’s great. I like the new rules. Anything they can do to keep the class a little more like the streetbike and keep it more accessible for the privateer who comes into it. He’s like, ‘Damn, dude. I have the bike that guy has.’ Because legitimately there’s some really talented guys coming up, but they’ll never be at the front unless they have a factory bike. And that’s still going to be the case, regardless. But if they are a few positions closer or only a second a lap off you can pretty much pick the guy out right there. ‘You know what? That guy’s going to make it.’ I like to believe everything is going to be closer. Roadracingworld.com: What about the rule to go with 17-inch wheels and tires in American Superbike, which AMA Pro Racing came from the tire companies? BB: I don’t like that rule, because I don’t like 17-inch wheels. Roadracingworld.com: But what if everybody’s on them? BB: If everybody’s on them, I know, but I still don’t like them. It may reduce the chatter in the front end, because the 16.5 has a little more side bite so it twists up the bike a bit more. It’s really fun. I’ve raced on stock rims for the last couple of years, and I know the tires. Roadracingworld.com: You said you’re anxious to continue with the new fitness and nutrition program you used in 2008. So you’re going to cut your body weight for Superbike like you did last year for Supersport? BB: Yeah, because I plan to ride both classes at Daytona. Right now I’m at my natural weight. My legs are probably heavier than my arms from all the cycling I’ve been doing. Roadracingworld.com: With all of your recent mountain bike racing success have you had any Pro mountain bike teams try to sign you away from Yamaha? BB: No, but I did get some offers to race with some teams, which is pretty cool. But I tell you when you’re pedaling that mountain bike you realize, ‘God damn, I have good job!’ Everyone was like, ‘Man, wasn’t that so fun?’ ‘Yeah, it was”¦for like three hours.’ Roadracingworld.com: You did pretty well in the 24-Hours of Moab mountain bike race. You finished fourth in the Solo class. BB: It was 24 hours plus a lap. I keep telling people it was 25 hours and 47 minutes if you’re my ass stuck on the bike. Roadracingworld.com: So what, you started a lap just before the 24 hour mark, so you had to do another entire, 15-mile lap? BB: Yeah, and I probably wouldn’t have finished if Spies hadn’t brought me food. Seriously, I was starving on that last lap without any food. I had time-trailed the lap before because I wanted to catch up to third and put myself on the podium. But they had already decided the podium the lap before, which is kind of whack. Roadracingworld.com: You and your brother Eric have been in the same paddock for the last few seasons, and you support each other and feed off each other. Now, Eric has taken a break and is not going to be there. Do you think that’s going to have any effect on your season or maybe just take some fun out of it? BB: No. Last year we couldn’t talk to each other anyway because the 600 and Superbike were so different. We just kind of cheered each other on. It’s going to be kind of weird not having him there to talk to at night, but I figure we have better times to come hanging out with each other in Brazil and places like that. So that will be pretty damn cool. I used to live in Europe and he was here. No he’s down there and I’m here. So it’s like old times. Roadracingworld.com: So you have no temptation to pack up and go to Brazil to be a fruit farmer? BB: No, I love the racing too much right now. I told my brother, ‘I’m hooked.’ I’m kind of antsy today because my legs are just ready to smash pedals for tomorrow [in the 12 Hours of Temecula mountain bike race] because I’ve been tapering for the last few days. But even with how bad I want to pedal my bicycle I can’t stop thinking of how bad I want to go racing again.