Bostrom destroys race bike.

Renegade Koji Honda rider Ben Bostrom fell early in the first qualifying session of the first round of the 2005 World Superbike championship, as he tried to get to grips with a new bike, a new track and new tyres with the pressure mounting for him to make progress up the time sheets.

Since taking to the Losail track last weekend at the official WSBK test, Bostrom and his Renegade team have been languishing at the bottom of the time sheets.

This put pressure on the American to make an impression during the first qualifying session, however, his eagerness cost him dearly as a fall after only four laps destroyed his one and only race bike. Bostrom suffered bruising and mild concussion but is said to be fine.

"Ben unfortunately went down early in the session, destroyed the bike, and for that reason we missed the remaining part of the session and we now have got a mountain to climb," said team boss Mark Griffiths to Crash.net's Louise Cain at the track.

"We've come here having only finished the bikes at the 11th hour. Ben hadn't even seen the bike when he arrived in Qatar so of course no preseason testing has been done by us. For that reason we've paid the price a little bit, we've had a lot of problems and been under the pressure of time," he added.

The Renegade team do not believe Bostrom's accident was all down to him, the tyres and the lack of testing. Griffiths hinted at a possible problem with the rear shock linkage of Bostrom's Fireblade, but did not give any further details.

The team do have a spare machine for their rider but due to being so pushed for time to complete one bike before the start of the season, they were unable to complete two. Therefore the bike Bostrom will be using for the remainder of the weekend will be a non-race ready machine.