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Spies takes another race victory in drama-filled Magny Cours
Haga creeps ahead in the points
It
was yet another tough race weekend for Yamaha World Superbike rider Ben
Spies at Magny Cours today. The penultimate round of the 2009
championship saw Spies take one race victory, and then hang on
desperately for points with a front tyre that struggled to perform in
race two.
The American rider took the lead from the start of the first race,
hotly pursued by championship rival Noriyuki Haga. Spies held onto the
lead until the last lap, where Haga managed to pass. His lead was short
lived however as Spies retook the front position a few seconds later to
cross the line and claim his 13th win of the season. Race two saw him
off the line into third chasing Biaggi and Haga into the first corner.
It soon became apparent that Spies was finding it hard to lay down
power in the corners, as his front tyre hampered his attack. Rea made a
pass at the end of the first lap dropping Ben to fourth, a position he
managed to hold until the line, despite dropping nearly a second a lap
from the front group over the last few laps of the race.
Tom Sykes endured a disastrous race day; the second lap of the first
race saw the rider over brake slightly, causing a huge crash sending
his bike catapulting down the track, narrowly missing him. Sykes was
uninjured barring a small break to his right little finger, so rejoined
for race two. Unfortunately on the second lap of the second race, a
yellow flag caused rider Carlos Checa a moment of indecision, resulting
in him running too hot into Sykes at the hairpin and taking him out.
Fortunately he has just a bruised shoulder but will be fit for the
Portimao races.
Spies now heads into the final two races at the Portimao circuit with
426 points, trailing championship leader Haga on 436 by ten points. A
double win in Portugal will secure the title for the all-time greatest
rookie in the series. Team mate Tom Sykes remains in eighth position
heading to the last round, on 176 points and trailing seventh placed
rider Checa by 24 points.
Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (1st, 4th)
“The whole first race had some good parts and bad ones. We made
some small mistakes, costing us a tenth here and a tenth there letting
the riders come back and not really taking advantage of the lead. I
made a mistake on the last lap and let Nori through, so I had to get on
the outside and get back past. Honestly I’m just super disappointed
with the second race. We made a rear tyre choice which was neither
better nor worse, but the front tyre we had on in the second race was
hard to go at a pace with. I was consistently half a second off what we
were doing in practice. I’m honestly surprised we didn’t finish in
tenth with the way the bike felt. Even if we had won today we would
still go to Portimao having to win both races so it doesn’t really
change too much.”
Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (DNF, DNF)
“race one I made a bit of a mistake, I went for the brake lever and
it was just a touch further out than I normally have it so my initial
brake pressure was really strong and I knew that, but I had a split
second and I lost the front and couldn’t save it. It was a massive
crash and I was lucky to get away with it. For race two we changed the
rear tyre, which I wasn’t convinced was the right one but we went with
anyway, unfortunately I was proved right and was struggling with it.
Before I could do anything, going into the hairpin Carlos Checa made a
big mistake and I got caught up in that and landed badly, pulling the
muscles in my shoulder. Luckily nothing broken, so a weekend to forget,
and I’m looking forward to something better in Portimao.”
Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
“We won the first race, and we were thinking we would catch up some
more points to Nori in the second. Something went wrong, unfortunately
outside of our control, and there was nothing Ben could do to ride
round it. We are going to Portimao with just one target, to win both
races, which I think is possible. Tom had a really bad weekend with
three crashes, I’m sorry for him as he was trying really hard to get
results and unfortunately for him everything went wrong. We will see
what happens in Portugal.”
Race 1 - Laps
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time
1 Ben Spies USA 37'57.110
2 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 0'00.181
3 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 0'05.009
4 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 0'16.347
5 Leon Haslam Honda GBR 0'22.622
6 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 0'24.948
7 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 0'27.114
8 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 0'27.578
9 Troy Corser BMW AUS 0'28.486
10 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'28.716
11 Ruben Xaus BMW ESP 0'52.680
12 Matteo Baiocco Kawasaki ITA 1'01.372
13 Luca Scassa Kawasaki ITA 1'05.123
14 David Salom Kawasaki ESP 1'05.483
15 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'05.672
Race 2 - Laps
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time
1 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 38'00.282
2 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 0'01.480
3 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 0'06.024
4 Ben Spies USA 0'18.135
5 Leon Haslam Honda GBR 0'21.236
6 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 0'23.647
7 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 0'23.701
8 Karl Muggeridge Suzuki AUS 0'24.838
9 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 0'31.455
10 Troy Corser BMW AUS 0'32.507
11 Fonsi Nieto Ducati ESP 0'37.594
12 Ruben Xaus BMW ESP 0'44.727
13 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 0'49.782
14 Matteo Baiocco Kawasaki ITA 0'50.345
15 Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 0'56.209
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