| Monday, 01 June 2009 02:35 (worldsbk.com) |
Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike) annihilated the opposition in the Utah US Round of the Hannspree FIM Superbike World Championship at Miller Motorsports Park, picking up his second double win of the year in his rookie SBK season. In front of 47,300 spectators the Texan again reopened the title battle in a championship that following Kyalami appeared to be firmly in the hands of Ducati. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox), who crashed heavily in practice, ran the two races in a bruised state, finishing ninth and eighth. The Japanese rider lost ground to Spies as well as to his team-mate Michel Fabrizio, who finished third and second. With the season now at its mid-point Haga leads on 265 points, with Spies up to 212 and Fabrizio on 201.
Race 1
Spies dominated the first race to cut the gap at the top of the table, as Haga could only finish in ninth place, losing 18 points in the process. The race was interrupted on lap 7 after a crash involving Australian Karl Muggeridge (Celani Suzuki), who only came away with a few bruises. Spies powered away again in the second part to win by a comfortable margin on aggregate times. Behind Spies finished Spain's Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), last year's double winner, and third place went to Fabrizio who was slowed by two poor starts. It was a good day for Ten Kate Honda as Ryuichi Kiyonari and Jonathan Rea came home in fourth and fifth position respectively. Max Biaggi started from row 4 but worked his way up to sixth position at the flag on his Aprilia RSV4 machine.
Ben Spies: "We've been working on our starts a bit and this is a long straightaway and I really needed to get a good one here. After the restart it was tough because I really wanted to win on the road and couldn't take too many risks to keep Carlos at bay. I just wanted to cross the line first even though I had a six-second cushion."
Carlos Checa: "From the beginning Ben was too strong today. I didn't have so much grip in the first part but then we adjusted the tyre pressure and it was better in the second. The Honda is working well here, we have a good base from last year and we used that benefit to get at a certain level and get a good result. We needed this result because it has not been so good for us since the start of the year."
Michel Fabrizio: "It's a pity about the second start, I felt a bit like a ping-pong ball, because I was under attack from all sides by three of four other guys. Luckily, I managed to stay upright. Afterwards I managed to run at my own pace and get onto the podium for a good result."
Results: 1. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 38'30.945 (160,527 kph); 2. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 9.394; 3. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 12.742; 4. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 14.276; 5. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 14.915; 6. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 15.461; 7. Hacking J. (USA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 22.901; 8. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 25.425; 9. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 25.870; 10. Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 26.093; 11. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 26.181; 12. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 29.275; 13. Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 38.365; 14. Lavilla G. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 39.454; 15. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 39.513; 16. Nieto F. (ESP) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 48.889
Race 2
The second race was similar to the first, with the three-times AMA Superbike champion Spies taking the lead at the first turn and never relinquishing it. Fabrizio this time got off to an excellent start and was second at the first corner, the Italian managing to keep Spies in his sights for over half the race before settling for the runner-up slot. Checa crashed out on lap 4, leaving the battle for the final podium place to be fought out between Rea, Leon Haslam (Stiggy Racing Honda), who crashed out on the final lap, and Biaggi, competitive in the race after problems in qualifying. Kiyonari, Jakub Smrz (Guandalini Ducati) and Shinya Nakano (Aprilia Racing) all finished ahead of Haga in eighth. It was an encouraging race for Kawasaki, with Parkes and Hacking often running inside the top 10, but BMW again had a difficult time of things with Xaus and Corser finishing outside the top 15.
Ben Spies: "That was a tough race, I almost feel like I robbed Michel because he rode fantastic. I tried to set a good pace but a pace that was comfortable and every time he took a tenth out I had to put a tenth back to keep him at bay. Then in the last six laps I pulled the pin and held it to the end. It's good to get a double win here, unfortunately we know Haga's not 100% but you've got to capitalize on the weekend and we made up some points."
Michel Fabrizio: "It was a good weekend, I tried every way possible until five or six laps from the end to give some problems to Ben but in my attempt to catch up to him I pusher a bit too hard and finished the front tyre so there was nothing I could do."
Jonathan Rea: "The guys have put a great bike under me this weekend, we've done some good development, but I've never had to race as slow as I could for third place because I had a few problems with the front and the front tyre. Ben and Michel put on a great run at the front, I couldn't go with them. I could see a big gaggle of riders behind me, and thought I'd keep something in reserve until the end but I couldn't see what happened with Leon's crash. Anyway it was my second podium in two rounds so I'm very happy.
Results: 1. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 38'25.391 (160,914 kph);2. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 9.080; 3. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 14.357; 4. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 15.636; 5. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 17.156; 6. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 17.546; 7. Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 19.659; 8. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 23.455; 9. Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 30.489; 10. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 31.775; 11. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 33.246; 12. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 36.758; 13. Nieto F. (ESP) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 36.887; 14. Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 37.290; 15. Zemke J. (USA) Honda CBR1000RR 42.639; 16. Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 42.777
Points (after 7 of 14 rounds): 1. Haga 265; 2. Spies 212; 3. Fabrizio 201; 4. Rea 133; 5. Biaggi 126; 6. Haslam 122; 7. Sykes 113; 8. Kyonari 96; 9. Checa 93; 10. Smrz 82. Manufacturers: 1. Ducati 311; 2. Yamaha 253; 3. Honda 206; 4. Aprilia 129; 5. Suzuki 113; 6. Bmw 60; 7. Kawasaki 41
Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (1st, 1st) "We've been working on our starts a little bit and with such a long straight we needed one. The first race was pretty comfortable for me, it's a great track if you can get out in front and get into a rhythm. It was a tough race in race two, I almost feel like I robbed Michel of a win he rode so well. I tried to set a good pace but also a pace that was comfortable. In the last six laps I just pulled the pin and gave it everything we could. The pace was extremely fast and it was a great race. It's great to get a double win here, unfortunately we all know Haga is not 100% but you got to capitalize on the weekends when you can. I think Misano is going to be another track the R1 is going to excel it so we're going to go over there with an open mind and see what we can get away with." |
Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (13th, 9th) "We still had some issues with the bike today and obviously the starting position didn't help matters much. We got off the line fairly well in race one but got boxed in on turn one and lost position a bit. A difficult first race but the red flag helped me re start further up the grid and I managed to run some consistent race times. For race two we made a bit more of a change and found another half a second which was good and had a good start. In the first lap I came from 22nd to 14th which was pretty good. Overall it's been quite a difficult weekend with a couple of things but the team and I have sat down and put our heads together and we've made a drastic improvement to the set up and the way we work, we're going to be stronger as a team and I'm confident I can now repay the team and deliver the goods."
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