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Spies Dominates Both World Superbike Races

May 31, 2009

TOOELE VALLEY, UT —

Ben Spies (No. 19 Yamaha World Superbike) annihilated the opposition in the Utah USA 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 appeared to be firmly in the hands of Ducati after the previous event at Kyalami, South Africa. Noriyuki Haga (No. 41 Ducati Xerox), who crashed heavily in practice, ran the two races in a bruised state, finishing ninth and eighth, respectively. The Japanese rider lost ground to Spies as well as to his teammate Michel Fabrizio (No. 84 Ducati Xerox), who finished third and second. With the season now at its mid-point Haga leads with 265 points, with Spies up to 212 and Fabrizio with 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 (No. 31 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 (No. 7 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 No. 9 Ryuichi Kiyonari and No. 65 Jonathan Rea came home in fourth and fifth positions, respectively. Max Biaggi started from row 4 but worked his way up to sixth position at the flag on his No. 3 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 tire 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 or 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, 21 laps, 38:30.945 (160.527 kph); 2. Checa C. (ESP), Honda CBR1000RR, -9.394 sec.; 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 three-time 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 among Rea, Leon Haslam (No. 91 Stiggy Racing Honda), who crashed out on the final lap, and Biaggi, competitive in the race after problems in qualifying. Kiyonari, Jakub Smrz (No. 96 Guandalini Ducati) and Shinya Nakano (No. 56 Aprilia Racing) all finished ahead of Haga in eighth. It was an encouraging race for Kawasaki, with No. 23 Broc Parkes and No. 2 Jamie Hacking often running inside the top 10, but BMW again had a difficult time of things with No. 111 Ruben Xaus and No. 11 Troy 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 percent, 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 pushed a bit too hard and finished the front tire, 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 tire. 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, 21 laps, 38:25.391 (160.914 kph); 2. Fabrizio M. (ITA), Ducati 1098R, -9.080 sec.; 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.

World Supersport

Kenan Sofuoglu (No. 54 Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) emerged the winner from the thrilling final lap of a race-long battle among four riders and three different makes: Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki. With just one lap to go, the 2007 champion first passed points leader Cal Crutchlow (No. 35 Yamaha World Supersport), and then three turns from the checkered flag made a decisive move on Eugene Laverty (No. 50 Parkalgar Honda), who had led from the start. For the Turkish rider it was the 13^th win of his career, and the 67^th for Honda in Supersport. The Ten Kate Honda rider is now back in contention in the points standings, third with 108 points behind leader Crutchlow (135) and Laverty (126). Kawasaki Provec scored a good fourth place with No. 26 Joan Lascorz, who started from pole. Gianluca Nannelli (No. 69 ParkinGO Triumph) crashed out of the battle for fifth, which eventually went to Fabien Foret (No. 99 Yamaha World Supersport), but No. 24 Garry McCoy held the Triumph flag high with a positive sixth place. Seventh went to 2008 champion Andrew Pitt (No. 1 Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), who started from the final row of the grid.

Results: 1. Sofuoglu K. (TUR), Honda CBR600RR, 18 laps, 34:00.510 (155.831 kph); 2. Laverty E. (IRL), Honda CBR600RR, -0.368 sec.; 3. Crutchlow C. (GBR), Yamaha YZF R6, -0.521; 4. Lascorz J. (ESP), Kawasaki ZX-6R, -1.833; 5. Foret F. (FRA), Yamaha YZF R6, -12.071; 6. McCoy G. (AUS), Triumph Daytona 675, -18.108; 7. Pitt A. (AUS), Honda CBR600RR, -25.912; 8. Pirro M. (ITA), Yamaha YZF R6, -26.867.

Points (after 7 of 14 rounds): 1. Crutchlow. 135; 2. Laverty. 126; 3. Sofuoglu. 108; 4. Pitt, 73; 5. Lascorz, 73; 6. West, 66; 7. Foret, 55; 8. Aitchison, 50; 9. Pirro, 48; 10. McCoy, 39. Manufacturers: 1. Honda, 158; 2. Yamaha, 135; 3. Kawasaki, 84; 4. Triumph, 46; 5. Suzuki, 30.

Larry H. Miller Superbike Challenge

Corona Honda’s Jake Holden of Eatonville, Wash., posted a dominant victory in the inaugural GTO class race for the Larry H. Miller Superbike Challenge. Holden’s No. 59 Honda CBR 1000RR took the checkered flag 8.008 seconds ahead of the No. 25 Suzuki GSX-R1000 of “Aussie” Dave Anthony of Murrieta, Calif., with Robert Jensen (No. 52 Suzuki GSX-R1000) of Chaffee, N.D., third. Taylor Knapp and Russell Wikle completed the top five, with Cory West, Brad Hendry, Shane Turpin, James Randolph and Chris Ulrich rounding out the top 10.

Things will be a little quieter at Miller Motorsports Park next weekend, as the opening round of the 10-round 2009 Utah Kart Championship will take place at the Miller Karting Complex on Saturday, June 6. Tickets are only $5, and kids 12 and under are free.

For ticket information, visit www.MMPTix.com.

For information regarding Miller Motorsports Park, call 435-277-RACE (7223) or visit the track’s website at www.MillerMotorsportsPark.com.

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