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At the recent Miller Motorsports Park round in the USA, two more iconic figures from World Superbike's past were inducted into the Hall of Fame, as part of the series' 25th anniversary celebrations. Scott Russell and Ben Bostrom received their honours shortly before the start of the first Superbike race and we caught up with them to find out what SBK racing meant to them back then, and what it means now.

Said 1993 champion Russell (in the photo with Paolo Flammini), the only rider thus far to have taken the title on a Kawasaki; "It feels awesome to get this award. It was years ago I was inducted to the AMA Hall of Fame so another one now...? It could not be better. I am really proud to have been a World Champion in this great series. It was a long time ago but I was the only Kawasaki winner. I may be on shaky ground with that right now because I may be joined by Tom Sykes, the way he is riding."

When asked about the secret of ultimate success for any would-be champion Russell stated, "You have to ride from the heart; you gotta love it. It was always important to have a great team, but now with the electronics it is a different game. But they are on the right track, Tommy is, and it is great to see the Kawasaki guys out there and doing well."

Nowadays, after a career blessed with success and occasionally cursed by serious injury, Russell just feels glad to still be part of it all, even if he only has one ‘home' race per year. "I call all the races for TV in America now. It is a good gig for an old rider like me, to be able to come back and be at the track - that was my life for so long. I am a lucky man." And nowadays the pressure of racing on Sunday is just a memory. "The worst thing that can happen to me in the commentary booth," said Russell, "is that I may fall out of my chair!"

The World Championship itself may have eluded Ben Bostrom, the other most recent Hall of Fame inductee, but his precocious talent saw him win seven races (six in 2001 alone) even though it all sort of passed him by at the time, according to his own comments at least. "It feels great to get this award but it does feel odd to get it while I am still an active rider (in AMA for the Jordan Suzuki squad). I want another shot at SBK, so bad. I would come back in a heartbeat."

Asked what made SBK racing so compelling in 2012 Bostrom said. "All the bikes are so equal. What makes Superbike racing is that you do not know which rider will be the winner. All the riders are riding stellar but at certain tracks some manufacturers' bikes work better than others. I think this year is the most balanced it has ever been. When I was racing Aprilia would win, Suzuki would win, the Ducati, maybe Kawasaki struggled at that time, the Hondas were up there, and it was pretty balanced too but it went away for a while. But it is back and back strong."