2009 World Superbike Round 3 - Valencia
Photo and text sources include Ducati Corse, World
Superbike and Yamaha Racing.
Haga Doubles in Valencia
Valencia (Spain), Sunday 5th April: The Ducati
Xerox Team celebrated in Valencia today as the two
factory riders Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio took
four of the day’s six podium places.
Noriyuki Haga and his Ducati 1198 dominated
proceedings in both of today’s races, to win both in
convincing style, while Michel Fabrizio also enjoyed two
fantastic races, finishing in second and third place
today at the Ricardo Tormo circuit.
In the first race of the day, Haga not only dominated
from the offset but also smashed the lap record that has
stood since Neil Hodgson’s Ducati days in 2003.
Fabrizio did not get as good a start as his team-mate
but nonetheless battled his way through the field, as he
has often done in the past, to move up from eighth to
third before having to contend with a determined
Neukirchner in order to secure the eventual second place
finish.
Meanwhile, it was a mixed day for the Yamaha World
Superbike Team in Valencia. Race one saw Ben Spies
fall going into turn one on the ninth lap as he moved in
to take Neukirchner (Suzuki) for second position.
Team-mate Tom Sykes faired better, having started in
16th position following an unlucky tire decision in
Superpole yesterday, he steadily worked his way through
the field to finish seventh with an impressive display
of consistent race pace.
Race two saw Spies touch with Haga (Ducati) on the
opening laps, bending his brake lever in the process.
Undaunted, he stayed on the pace, and although unable to
catch Haga he put in consistent fast laps to finish in
second position, taking valuable championship points
away with him.
With today’s results, Haga extends his championship
lead to 135 points and holds a 40 point advantage over
second-placed Spies, while Fabrizio’s valuable snatch of
points here today moves him up to fourth place in the
rider classification, with Neukirchner just ahead of
him. Ducati continues to lead the manufacturers
championship with 135 points.
Noriyuki Haga (Race 1 – 1st, Race 2 – 1st):
“We did a great job today and took two great results.
It is very satisfying to take fifty points and increase
my advantage in the classification. Unfortunately
I didn’t make the best start in Race 1 but I made up
time and once I got to the front I was able to build up
a bit of an advantage.
We didn’t change much for the second race and I was
again very comfortable on my 1198. I’ve had good feeling
with my bike all weekend and I said yesterday that my
plan was to win both races so I’m very happy to have
done that! I thank my team, who have been fantastic,
Ducati and Xerox and I now look forward to Assen!”
Michel Fabrizio (Race 1 – 2nd, Race 2 – 3rd):
“We did a lot better than I expected too as Valencia
is not my favorite track. I hoped for two top five
finishes so we exceeded my expectations and I am of
course very happy with the results. When I saw
Nori get away from us in Race 1 I knew it would be hard
to catch him but as we have been going well all weekend
I was pleased that the work paid off and that it saw me
to the podium.
At a certain point in Race 2 I realized that I
wouldn’t be able to fight with Ben for second but I
stayed focused and held off Laconi who was pushing hard.
A good day; I thank my team who have worked so hard all
weekend.”
Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (DNF,
2nd): "Race one was unfortunate for me, I was
pushing really hard to make up for an electrical issue
going into the corner and crashed. We tried as
hard as we could in race two to make it up.
For the first couple of laps I had a couple of small
problems and just didn't quite get rolling and by the
time we got into second position I would have needed to
be right on the back of Nori to challenge for it as he
was riding at a very good pace. I guess I just didn't
have the speed today. We'll come back at Assen and
try to step it up. "
|
2009 World Superbike-
Spain, Valencia
Race Results - April 5, 2009 |
| Circuit Length: 4005 |
| Lap Record: 1'35.007
(Neil Hodgson, 23/04/2003) |
| Fastest Lap Ever:
1'33.270 (Ben Spies, 05/04/2009) |
| Last Years Winner:
Ayrton Badovini |
| Race 1 |
| Pos. Rider Manu. Nat.
Total Time |
| 1 Noriyuki Haga Ducati
JPN 36'44.766 |
| 2 Michel Fabrizio
Ducati ITA 0'03.677 |
| 3 Max Neukirchner
Suzuki GER 0'03.959 |
| 4 Regis Laconi Ducati
FRA 0'04.210 |
| 5 Leon Haslam Honda
GBR 0'13.824 |
| 6 Yukio Kagayama
Suzuki JPN 0'14.562 |
| 7 Tom Sykes Yamaha GBR
0'15.155 |
| 8 Max Biaggi Aprilia
ITA 0'16.316 |
| 9 Shane Byrne Ducati
GBR 0'20.361 |
| 10 Broc Parkes
Kawasaki AUS 0'23.878 |
| 11 John Hopkins Honda
USA 0'30.902 |
| 12 Ryuichi Kiyonari
Honda JPN 0'31.298 |
| 13 Ruben Xaus BMW ESP
0'32.660 |
| 14 Makoto Tamada
Kawasaki JPN 0'42.156 |
| 15 Tommy Hill Honda
GBR 0'43.040 |
| |
| Race 2 |
| Pos. Rider Manu. Nat.
Total Time |
| 1 Noriyuki Haga Ducati
JPN 36'46.927 |
| 2 Ben Spies Yamaha USA
0'05.105 |
| 3 Michel Fabrizio
Ducati ITA 0'06.386 |
| 4 Regis Laconi Ducati
FRA 0'06.573 |
| 5 Leon Haslam Honda
GBR 0'14.075 |
| 6 Carlos Checa Honda
ESP 0'17.333 |
| 7 Max Neukirchner
Suzuki GER 0'19.207 |
| 8 Max Biaggi Aprilia
ITA 0'20.697 |
| 9 Ryuichi Kiyonari
Honda JPN 0'21.015 |
| 10 Tom Sykes Yamaha
GBR 0'22.581 |
| 11 Shane Byrne Ducati
GBR 0'22.604 |
| 12 John Hopkins Honda
USA 0'23.952 |
| 13 Jonathan Rea Honda
GBR 0'29.082 |
| 14 Jakub Smrz Ducati
CZE 0'29.277 |
| 15 Troy Corser BMW AUS
0'32.384 |
| 20 David Checa Yamaha
ESP 0'49.904 |
| |
| Best Lap |
| Noriyuki Haga Ducati
JPN 1'34.862 |
| |
| Rider Standings |
| 1. Noriyuki Haga
Ducati JPN 135 |
| 2. Ben Spies Yamaha
USA 95 |
| 3. Max Neukirchner
Suzuki GER 65 |
| 4. Michel Fabrizio
Ducati ITA 60 |
| 5. Leon Haslam Honda
GBR 58 |
| 6. Regis Laconi Ducati
FRA 56 |
| 7. Max Biaggi Aprilia
ITA 54 |
| 8. Tom Sykes Yamaha
GBR 47 |
| 9. Yukio Kagayama
Suzuki JPN 35 |
| 10. Jonathan Rea Honda
GBR 33 |
| 11. Ryuichi Kiyonari
Honda JPN 32 |
| 12. Carlos Checa Honda
ESP 31 |
| 13. Shinya Nakano
Aprilia JPN 27 |
| 14. Shane Byrne Ducati
GBR 26 |
| 15. Troy Corser BMW
AUS 23 |
| |
| Manufacturer
Standings |
| 1. Ducati 135 |
| 2. Yamaha 110 |
| 3. Honda 73 |
| 4. Suzuki 65 |
| 5. Aprilia 57 |
| 6. BMW 31 |
| 7. Kawasaki 8 |
Spies Takes Another
Superpole
April 4, 2009 - Ben Spies
(Yamaha World Superbike) powered to his third Superpole
position in three races at the Valencia track, the 24
year-old Texan once again proving to be the master of
the new format.
Spies, who had to switch to
his second R1 machine for the second Superpole after his
first one developed a technical fault, set a
record-breaking time of 1 minute 33.270 seconds, over
half-a-second quicker than Max Neukirchner's best mark
from last year.
Next to Spies on the front
row will be a trio of Ducati 1098 machines, headed by
the surprising Regis Laconi, who last won on this track
back in 1999 with a Yamaha 500.
The two factory Ducati Xerox
riders Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio are in third
and fourth place respectively.
Ben Spies (Yamaha World
Superbike): "I was a bit worried about having
to change bikes, we had an OK second Superpole but
coming in we had a problem with the bike and had to
revert back to the other one. It had a bit of a
different set-up and I didn't get to try it in the
morning practice, but luckily the change worked out
well."
Regis Laconi (Ducati DFX):
"I'm very happy because the bike is working really good
on this track and we are ready. I won my first
race in GP ten years ago and it's just a pleasure to be
up here one more time. A big thanks to DFX and
Ducati for giving me a great bike. I have had a couple
of difficult years but I am happy now that I am back on
a Ducati"
Noriyuki Haga (Ducati
Xerox): "I'm very happy for the front row. In
the weekend I find a good solution for the race and I've
already decided for the tire. And I am feeling
confident, so tomorrow I will try to do my best and win
twice and that is my target"
The second row sees a double
pairing, with Suzuki ahead of Honda. Yukio
Kagayama took fifth from Max Neukirchner, while Jonathan
Rea was seventh ahead of Carlos Checa.
The Spanish rider just
managed to avoid being eliminated in Superpole 2,
setting his best time despite a fall. Broc Parkes again
put in a positive performance for Kawasaki, setting 13th
quickest time on his ZX-10R machine, just ahead of the
BMW of Troy Corser, who had been expecting to go better
in Superpole after a positive qualifying session.
Once again the first
knock-out phase saw some illustrious victims with Tom
Sykes (Yamaha World Superbike) and Max Biaggi (Aprilia),
one of the quickest riders throughout the day, not
making the cut.
The other Aprilia rider
Shinya Nakano missed the Superpole after breaking his
left collarbone in a crash in the morning. He was
operated on today with the aim of being ready for the
next round at Assen.
|
2009 World
Superbike Round 3 - Valencia - Qualifying
Superpole |
|
1 19 Spies B. (USA)
Yamaha YZF R1 1'33.270 |
|
2 55 Laconi R. (FRA)
Ducati 1098R 1'33.955 |
|
3 41 Haga N. (JPN)
Ducati 1098R 1'34.082 |
|
4 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA)
Ducati 1098R 1'34.259 |
|
5 71 Kagayama Y.
(JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'34.755 |
|
6 76 Neukirchner M.
(GER) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'34.903 |
|
7 65 Rea J. (GBR)
Honda CBR1000RR 1'35.056 |
|
8 7 Checa C. (ESP)
Honda CBR1000RR 1'35.346 |
|
9 9 Kiyonari R.
(JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1'34.536 |
|
10 91 Haslam L. (GBR)
Honda CBR1000RR 1'34.655 |
|
11 96 Smrz J. (CZE)
Ducati 1098R 1'34.684 |
|
12 67 Byrne S. (GBR)
Ducati 1098R 1'34.742 |
|
13 23 Parkes B.
(AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'34.823 |
|
14 11 Corser T.
(AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1'34.863 |
|
15 24 Roberts B.
(AUS) Ducati 1098R 1'35.082 |
|
16 121 Hopkins J.
(USA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'35.251 |
|
17 66 Sykes T. (GBR)
Yamaha YZF R1 1'35.203 |
|
18 3 Biaggi M. (ITA)
Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'35.204 |
|
19 111 Xaus R. (ESP)
BMW S1000 RR 1'35.806 |
|
20 56 Nakano S.
(JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'35.416 |
|
21 25 Salom D. (ESP)
Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'35.718 |
|
22 33 Hill T. (GBR)
Honda CBR1000RR 1'35.890 |
|
23 31 Muggeridge K.
(AUS) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'35.909 |
|
24 100 Tamada M.
(JPN) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'36.030 |
|
25 99 Scassa L. (ITA)
Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'36.119 |
|
26 94 Checa D. (ESP)
Yamaha YZF R1 1'36.581 |
|
27 86 Badovini A. (ITA)
Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'36.745 |
|
28 77 Iannuzzo V. (ITA)
Honda CBR1000RR 1'36.813 |
|
29 15 Baiocco M. (ITA)
Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'36.826 |
|
30 88 Resch R. (AUT)
Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'37.820 |
