TRS Recap – Monza Superbike Race 2 (Haga’s turn) | World SBK
- From: TRS Media | Published: May 10th, 2009 - 5:39 pm
FIM World Superbike Championship – Race Two from Monza – May 10, 2009
Spies is of course, on the pole but as the lights go out it’s Haga with the hole shot followed by Spies but a couple corners in Haga has some kind of trouble and the parachute comes out – he goes back to about seventeenth place.
Spies is in the lead now and Fabrizio takes Kagayama for second a turn later Rea jumps Kagayama to move into third. Behind that battle Checa and Biaggi are dicing and Biaggi is able to get a leg up on Checa.
The second lap is even worse for Kagayama. First he has a big moment and almost throws it down the way. Then he looks up to see that he’s received a penalty for his start and has to serve a drive through penalty.
Haga’s day isn’t getting any better either and as he battles to move back to the front does throw it away in grand style going into the Parabolica. Four Laps into it Spies has pulled out a 1.4 second lead over the Kiyonari/ Fabrizio fight for second. Jake Zemke gets a drive through for reasons unknown while Spies sets a fast lap with a 1:45.546. This whole weekend has pretty much been a nightmare for Zemke. I don’t think the drive through will make much difference.
Seven laps into race two it’s Spies from Fabrizio, Kiyonari, Rea, Biaggi, Sykes, Laconi, Xaus and Haslam to round out the top ten. One lap later Kiyo goes around Fabrizio to take second. A lap after that, Spies has built up a 4.7 second gap.
The race for second continues to be an intense one as Rea joins the fray to make it a three man battle. Biaggi should have been in it as well but has had two or three moments and has fallen off the pace a bit. Biaggi’s still in fifth but is falling into the clutches of Sykes.
In the battle for second Kiyo slides under Fabrizio to take second again and on the other side of that pack Leon Haslam makes a big move to jump up to seventh running a 1:45.641; as fast as the leader. Not to be left out, Xaus makes a move for eighth and that battle is raging. You can cover Xaus, Checa, Smrz and Laconi with a blanket they are going at it in spectacular fashion.
With two to go now Spies is obviously on cruz control at the front I would assume trying to conserve fuel. Xaus gets mugged on the front straight by Checa and Smrz. He’s now in tenth but Checa over shoots the chicane (again) and Xaus holds on to keep ninth. A couple corners later Xaus got back by Smrz and he was back into eighth.
That’s the race for the most part; Spies gaining valuable points on Haga – the gap is now fifty four points. It’s a confusing situation for me because Haga is for sure my perennial favorite World Superbike rider and has been for years. Ben Spies has been a favorite of mine since he showed up on the AMA scene in 2003 or 2004. I guess for me it will be enough to see it close but if not for Spies it would be Haga all the way. See what I mean.
