2009 World Superbike Round 4 - Assen

Photo and text sources include Ducati Corse, World Superbike and Yamaha Racing.

Haga Breaks 9-Year Assen Curse

The Dutch crowds were witness to two spectacular Superbike races today at the historic TT circuit.

Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) and American Ben Spies battled in Race 1 to one of the most exciting last laps ever, with Spies just eking out a win.

Spies crashed out of Race 2 early, and Haga followed up with a brilliant victory in Race 2, his second win at this track after the first, achieved nine years back in the year 2000.

Haga was able to choose his moment carefully to pass Spies during the twelfth lap of Race 1.  He subsequently held on to the lead ahead of Spies and Englishman Haslam until the very last lap when the American executed a well-timed pass that left Nitro-Nori with no time to retaliate, meaning that man in red Haga just missed on victory by a tenth of a second.

But in Race 2 Noriyuki got off to a flying start and went straight to the head of the pack, a fraction of a second behind Spies, who passed the leader’s baton on to Haga during the second lap when he highsided in spectacular fashion and was thus forced to retire from the race.  Spies' Yamaha went flying off the track and over the guard rail, fortunately not clipping anyone along the way.

Haga then ran a lonely race up front, with team-mate Fabrizio and Honda rider Haslam fighting behind him for the second and third positions. 

Unfortunately, Fabrizio, who held off fourth-placed Smrz for the majority of the race, began to have problems getting his 1198 into gear during the final laps and eventually this meant that he just lost out on third, having to settle for a fourth place finish.

Noriyuki’s performance today means that he has further increased his championship lead, with 180 points and a 60 point advantage over second-placed Spies.  The manufactures championship continues to be led by Ducati with 180 points, ahead of Yamaha with 145.

Noriyuki Haga (Race 1 – 2nd, Race 2 - winner):  "It’s been a great day for us and after nine years I have finally won again at Assen; I am very happy.  In Race 1 I was a little disappointed to just lose out on the win on the very last lap but it was a great race.  I set off strong but Spies and Haslam rode so hard today.

First I had to push hard to catch Spies which was quite difficult as my bike was still not working perfectly and then to hold the lead was not easy either as the two of them were breathing down my neck.

We changed the setting of the bike slightly for Race 2 and I was extremely comfortable on it.  I’m sorry that Ben fell as I think we would have had another good battle but for me and my team it’s been a very good day.  I thank my engineer, my team, Ducati and the sponsors and now we head to Monza for the next challenge.”

Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team (Race 1 - 1st, Race 2 - DNF):  "We got the win in race one and everything was pretty good with that.  It took me a while to find a good race pace but as the tires started to go off I found it and we managed to make some moves, it was pretty exciting at the end, really fantastic racing with both Haslam and Haga.

Race two I was feeling good, the bike, even only a lap and a half in, felt better than with the tires in race one. I was pushing and got out wide in turn one and touched the Astroturf piece and high-sided.

It's a shame as I felt really good and the bike felt right.  You never know if you can win the race but I felt we could have had a faster race than the first.  We'll build on it though, we had a good test in Monza so we're set up for there and I haven't hurt myself today so it's ok."

---

Spies on Pole One More Time

The Yamaha World Superbike Team head to Assen for round four of the World Championship fresh from testing in Monza last week and looking to build on the mixed success of round three in Valencia.

Assen is another new circuit for the Yamaha riders to learn in their debut year in World Superbike, however this hasn't stopped them putting in strong performances so far, with Ben Spies currently second in the championship with three race wins already under his belt.

The Assen circuit itself has undergone big changes from its early days as an open-road circuit, the present day incarnation offering much more in terms of spectator access to watch the action as it unfolds on track.

Assen is traditionally a good circuit for four cylinder bikes and the new 2009 YZF-R1 is already proving to be a formidable machine under the control of Sykes and Spies.

Outside of World Superbike the new 2009 Yamaha YZF-R1 has kept the victories rolling in, extending the Moto GP derived machine's dominating winning streak to include the Le Mans 24HR du Moto and a number of European national Superbike wins including British Superbike, French Superbike and the Dutch series.

Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team:  "I'm feeling good and looking forward to getting back in the swing of things.  I left Valencia not too happy but feel better after we had a good test at Monza.  I think we found a little something there which is good.  It's great to go to another track we don't know and learn the circuit, see how we get on and still be up front on Sunday. It should be a fun weekend."

Assen: Technically Speaking
by Tom Houseworth, Ben Spies' Crew Chief

"Assen is a new track for me and Ben and the bike is completely different this year with the crossplane crankshaft, fly by wire throttle and, new to myself and Ben, variable intakes.

We will approach the first session with a base setting that should allow Ben to learn the track quickly and allow us to collect useful set up data for the later sessions.

The chassis is quite good, with bike one we will use a base setting form the Monza test to get started.  Bike 2 will have a slightly different setting we came up with from looking at previous suspension data and Bens tendencies at this type of track.

The data and rider feeling will tell us which way to go after the first session; hopefully we have done our homework and are close with one of the bikes! Going to a new track presents some unique challenges for us.

We must learn the track quickly, evaluate the bike set up and get the set up close as quickly as possible.  This is important as we need to start looking at race tires and that can be difficult if you're in and out of the pit box chasing set up.  The quicker we start evaluating race rubber the better chance we have in the race."

"Once race setup and race tires are chosen then we fine tune the mapping and the traction control as needed, watching the track and air temp closely.  Everything has to come together as one to have a good race and be near the front!"

 wBW Home  |  Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy  |  Site Info - Contact Info  |