TRS Recap – Monza Superbike Race 1 (High Spies Drama) | World SBK
- From: TRS Media | Published: May 10th, 2009 - 2:15 pm
Round Five of the World Superbike Championship – Race One from Monza – May 10th, 2009
This race had to be restarted as there was a huge crash on the first lap. We will report on the wreck later once we have confirmed everyone’s stasis.
Ben Spies for the fifth straight time started the race from the pole but it would be the championship leader Noriyuki Haga who would get the hole shot Followed by Michele Fabrizio then Spies. Lap one Ruben Xaus runs off on his BMW and Troy Corser has a nasty crash in the Parabolica. Xaus would return but Corser’s race was over.
Early in the second lap Fabrizio would push past Haga to take the lead but Ben Spies is the fastest man on the track laying down a 1:46.126 on the first flying lap. Meanwhile, Max Biaggi and Yukio Kagayama were having a big time battle over fourth. Kagayama in fourth until the fourth lap when Biaggi sticks his nose under the Suzuki to take fourth going into the hairpin. At the front in the same hairpin Fabrizio makes a mistake; Haga and Spies go by dropping him from first to third. Spies is now in the lead at Monza and seems to be in control for the moment.
The Aprilia of Biaggi is visibly fast as historically it’s the Suzukis that seem so fast in a straight line, but today Biaggi is able to pull the Suzuki even though the Suzuki is in his draft at the same time closing the gap of the Ducati.
On the eighth lap Ben Spies breaks Haga’s lap record running a 1:45.446. Crushed it is more like it. Just before half way the running order is Spies, Haga, Fabrizio, Biaggi, Kagayama, Sykes, Rea, Kiyonari, Parks and Laconi to round out the top ten.
Spies’ lap record is short-lived as Fabrizio runs a 1:45.336 the very next lap to reset the lap record yet again. On the same lap some aggression from Xaus who had recovered from his off-track excursion and made one pass to get around Laconi and Parks to move into eighth.
With seven to go Jonathan Rea slides past Tom Sykes to take over sixth place and Ryuichi Kiyonari is giving Sykes a good look over now. The Ducatis have started to close on Spies’ Yamaha at the front again and are really having a huge battle with each other. With five laps to go Kiyonari pulls out the stops and goes around Sykes and Rea to move into sixth. It’s BSB all over again.
With just three to go Fabrizio goes under Spies in the Parabolica. There was no mistaking it… Fabrizio gives Spies a big wave as he goes by! Can’t help but think he might regret that some day. Sure enough, going into the chicane Spies pulls off a Rossi-like pass, inside leg dangling and all and blows by Fabrizio, taking Haga with him. Fabrizio hasn’t given up yet though and on the entrance to Ascari he pushes Haga out of the way to regain second, for sure no team orders at Ducati today.
It’s the last lap and Spies has pulled a small gap, the race is for second and it’s a hell of a race… five minutes of silence.
What can I say? I’ve been sitting here in front of the keyboard with my jaw dangling, my eyes not believing what I just saw. Truthfully I don’t even want to tell you what happened in some kind of twisted attempt to make you suffer as I am. Spies suffered a mechanical, ran out of gas who knows (Yamaha’s not saying) but the bike stopped. I’ll call it, he ran out of gas and finally and painfully rolled across the finish line in fifteenth place, one point.
Max Biaggi crossed the finish line in fourth but would be penalized 20 seconds for straight-lining the chicane so the podium would be Fabrizio in first, Haga second and Kiyonari third. Loen Haslam, while not a contender in this race, also suffered the same fate as Spies on the final lap, running out of gas. It was an amazing race with a less than amazing finish, worth watching if you get the chance. As of the end of race one at Monza Haga has increased his points lead to 79 over Ben Spies in the Championship.
We’ll have race 2, the images and all the team releases up asap…. I think i need a drink!
