Miller Yamaha | Race Report
- From: 'the Wire' | Published: June 1st, 2009 - 1:49 pm
RACE REPORT – 31/05/2009
Home run for sensational Spies as he does the double It was a fitting result on race day for the Texan Terror Ben Spies at the Miller circuit as the Yamaha rider made it clear his home race belonged to him and him only. Spies led both races form the go with arguably his best race starts of the season ensuring he took the holeshot and had a clear circuit to work his magic on. Having extended a 4.2 second lead in the first race it was red flagged six laps in when Karl Muggeridge crashed out. The race was re started and run on aggregate timing to ensure any advantages from the first start where not lost. From the second start Spies led again with a convincing start over second place Checa to take his first win of the day.
Race two saw another incredible start from Spies, keeping his pole position at the front of the pack. Followed closely by Michel Fabrizio, Spies ran a perfect set of 21 laps in the front to take his second win of the day to the delight of the home crowd. Team-mate Tom Sykes had an equally impressive race day. Following a bad qualification seeing him start from 22nd on the grid, Sykes had a lot of work to do. Race one saw him put his head down and work consistently up the pack, at the end of the race after aggregate he came home in 13th place. Race two saw an incredible start, Sykes put his talent out for all to see, picking off one rider after another to get down to ninth position.By this time the front pack had got too far away and Sykes ran out on his own for the remainder of the race to keep his top ten finish.
Spies leaves Miller in second place in the championship on 212 points, 53 points behind leader Haga. Sykes heads to Misano in seventh with 113 points, nine points behing sixth placed Haslam.
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.”
