2009 World Superbike Round 7 - Salt Lake City, U.S.A.

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

Double for Spies at "Home" Track

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.  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 behind 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."

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Spies Breaks Superpole Record!

Seven-time Spies Breaks the All-time Superpole Record!

Yamaha World Superbike phenomenon Ben Spies made it seven Superpoles in a row today at the Miller Motorsports Park, he is now the only rider ever in the history of Superbike to take seven consecutive poles in a row.

Spies had spent the first qualifying session and free practice working and fine tuning the set-up of the bike, as the Superpole heats started, it was clear his hard work with the team had paid off as he laid down the fastest lap of each session to comfortably end on pole position for tomorrow's races.

It was a fitting scene as thunder and lightning broke dramatically over the circuit as the 'Texan Terror' showed everyone how it should be done.

Team-mate Tom Sykes had struggled with his set-up during the morning practice and following qualifying session, ending with a 22nd position start on the grid for race day.

After making several changes Sykes went out again for the afternoon free practice session and found the set up he was looking for. Finding another second and a half on his earlier times he was running in tenth for the free session.

Although not an ideal start position the new settings will give him a good race pace and the opportunity to fight through the pack.

Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team (1st, 1'48.344):  "It was a good set of sessions for us, the last few minutes of Superpole there was some drops coming down and I was pretty nervous but we had worked hard in free practice and qualifying on the tires we were on and just went into Superpole and stuck to the plan and everything worked out.

I think we'll have a good race pace for tomorrow, I think there's a few guys who have good pace as well so I think the race is going to be pretty interesting."

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