Ben Spies takes another race victory in drama filled Magny Cours

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."
 
Circuit Length: 4411
Temp: 19
Crowd: 81000
Weather: Cloudy
Lap Record: 1'40.601 (Lorenzo Lanzi, 01/01/2005)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1'37.709 (Ben Spies, 04/10/2009)
Last Years Winner: Troy Bayliss 
 
2009 WSB France - Magny-Cours 04/10/2009 Race 1

1 Ben Spies Yamaha 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

Race 2
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 Yamaha 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
17 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'00.391

Best Lap Ben Spies Yamaha USA 1'37.709

Rider Standings 04/10/2009

1. Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 436
2. Ben Spies Yamaha USA 426
3. Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 346
4. Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 293
5. Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 279
6. Leon Haslam Honda GBR 241
7. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 200
8. Tom Sykes Yamaha GBR 176
9. Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 166
10. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 161
11. Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda JPN 141
12. Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 123
13. Troy Corser BMW AUS 89
14. Shinya Nakano Aprilia JPN 86
15. Regis Laconi Ducati FRA 77
25. Leon Camier Yamaha GBR 13
29. James Ellison Yamaha GBR 8
39. David Checa Yamaha ESP 1

Manufacturer Standings 04/10/2009

1. Ducati 534
2. Yamaha 469
3. Honda 395
4. Aprilia 303
5. Suzuki 167
6. BMW 126
7. Kawasaki 69


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