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► 2009 Motorcycle Racing News

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

Spies and Haga Split; Haga Re-takes Lead

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 tire 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 tire 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.

Spies now heads into the final two races at the Portimão 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 tire choice which was neither better nor worse, but the front tire 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 Portimão having to win both races so it doesn't really change too much."

Ducati Wins 16th World Superbike Constructor Championship

Magny-Cours (France), Sunday 4th October 2009: this afternoon on the French track of Magny-Cours, Noriyuki Haga took a fantastic Race 2 win on board his Ducati 1198, coming straight after his second place finish in the first race.

With these results, Noriyuki regains the championship lead with an advantage of ten points over Spies (Yamaha).  At the end of this, the penultimate round, and thanks to today’s two podiums, Ducati celebrates winning its sixteenth Constructors title in the World Superbike Championship.

This was not the only success of the day as this morning the Belgian rider Xavier Simeon and the Ducati Xerox Junior Team won both the riders and constructors titles in the Superstock 1000 championship.

Gabriele Del Torchio (President of Ducati)
“Today was a great sporting day for Ducati and the results demonstrate once again that technology, combined with the passion and determination of those who “never give up”, allow us to achieve important goals such as today’s victories.

A big thank you to the entire factory and to everyone in Ducati Corse. Thanks to the Superbike team that gives us our sixteenth World title, and to the Junior Team that, for the third consecutive year, has won the Superstock 1000 Championship, confirming the technological supremacy of the Ducati 1198, a winner right from its debut.

I would like to dedicate these victories to the entire family of Ducatisti, who, with their passion and enthusiasm, support us in our decisions and in our endeavors, whether the outcomes are good or bad.  If we are World Champions, it is thanks to each and every one of them.”

Spies Smashes Best Lap Record With Tenth Superpolee

The ten poles by Spies mean he has now equaled Doug Polen's 1991 record for the number of pole position starts in a season.

Spies also enjoyed a productive earlier qualifying session, continuing to fine tune the set up for tomorrow's two races, he ended in second behind Michel Fabrizio.

Tom Sykes had worked solidly through qualifying, hitting ninth position by midway.  As the session drew to a close he ended with a provisional 13th on the grid in advance of qualifying.

An unfortunate crash in free practice in the afternoon session deprived him of his number one bike, throwing the British rider off balance for the Superpole heats.  Despite the setback Sykes still made it through to the second Superpole session and will start tomorrow's two races from 14th position on the grid.

Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (1st, 1'37.709):  "The Superpole lap was a great lap, we've spent the weekend and the qualifying sessions working more on race tires and fuel loads and really looking to make sure the bike is ready come Sunday.

Superpole was the first time we really got down to banging out a lap and it was a good one.  It's good to see Johnny is up there again, it's pretty much the same four guys as last time so it should be a good race.

I don't think anybody is going to be getting away and I think it will be settled in the last few laps. I'm pretty confident with the bike so I'm happy going into Sunday."

Circuit Name: Magny Cours Circuit Length: 4411 m Opened 1961 Lap Record: 1'40.601 (Lorenzo Lanzi, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'37.709 (Ben Spies, 2009)

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