Spies speeds to first Losail double

Added on Monday, March 16th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

Ben Spies became the first rider in WSB history to do the double at the Losail International Circuit with two superb rides in the second round of the World Superbikes Championship.

The American rookie dominated both events in Qatar on Saturday to secure his third successive victory in his debut WSB season, following his win at Phillip Island a fortnight ago.

Starting from pole, Spies opened up an unassailable lead six laps from the end of race one after a thrilling battle with Noriyuki Haga and Max Biaggi. The Yamaha rider was stuck in third until lap twelve when his cross-plane R1 out-powered Haga’s Ducati on the main straight and the Texan took the lead six from Biaggi six laps from the end before finishing almost 1.9 seconds ahead of the second-placed Haga.

Race two was a similar story for the trio, with Biaggi’s Aprilia rocketing from the lights to an early lead.

Yet another three-way tussle ensued before Spies took the initiative early on to leave Haga and Biaggi to fight amongst themselves over the podium pecking order and it looked as if the Italian would pinch a second place before Haga pushed hard on the final lap and capitalised on an error from the Aprilia man to take second.

Speaking after the weekend’s events, Spies was still critical of his own performance but nevertheless happy with the result.

“It was an extremely tough first race, I got an OK start and got to the back of Nori and Max after a few laps. All three of us were strong in different parts of the track so it was really interesting. It was very hard to pass them both. It was when Nori was looking up the inside of Max, that I had my chance to get inside of him, and then Max ran a bit wide so I got through. Once I got it done I got my head down and kept it clean, it was good enough to win.

“In the second race Nori set a really good pace first for a few laps so I just tried to keep the same rhythm. Eventually I managed to get past and just kept my head down and tried to open up a gap. It was a hard race, but a better race for me than first one as I could concentrate on riding my lines.

“Hopefully when we go to Valencia we’ll be up there fighting at the front again! A good weekend for the team, they’re not always like that but we’ll take them when they come.”

The result means that Haga and Spies sit pretty at the top with 85 and 75 points respectively, 35 points ahead of third placed Max Neukirchner at this early stage of the season

World Superbikes Round Two: Qatar – Race 1

Pos	Rider	Nat	Team	Time
1	Ben Spies	USA	Yamaha World Superbike	36:06.304
2	Noriyuki Haga	JPN	Xerox Ducati	+ 1.893
3	Max Biaggi	ITA	Aprilia Racing	+ 2.168
4	Shinya Nakano	JPN	Aprilia Racing	+ 12.061
5	Carlos Checa	ESP	Ten Kate Honda	+ 12.597
6	Shane Byrne	GBR	Sterilgarda Ducati	+ 12.971
7	Tom Sykes	GBR	Yamaha World Superbike	+ 13.570
8	Ryuichi Kiyonari	JPN	Ten Kate Honda	+ 19.306
9	Troy Corser	AUS	BMW	+ 19.388
10	Regis Laconi	FRA	DFX Corse Ducati	+ 20.981
11	Leon Haslam	GBR	Stiggy Honda	+ 21.164
12	Jonathan Rea	GBR	Ten Kate Honda	+ 21.994
15	Tommy Hill	GBR	Honda Althea	+ 31.602

World Superbikes Round Two: Qatar – Race 2

Pos	Rider	Nat	Team	Time
1	Ben Spies	USA	Yamaha World Superbike	36:02.126
2	Noriyuki Haga	JPN	Xerox Ducati	+ 1.274
3	Max Biaggi	ITA	Aprilia Racing	+ 1.622
4	Ryuichi Kiyonari	JPN	Ten Kate Honda	+ 1.845
5	Tom Sykes	GBR	Yamaha World Superbike	+ 5.117
6	Max Neukirchner	GER	Alstare Suzuki	+9.512
7	Shinya Nakano	JPN	Aprilia Racing	+ 9.514
8	Jonathan Rea	GBR	Ten Kate Honda	+12.621
9	Troy Corser	AUS	BMW	+ 13.842
10	Ruben Xaus	ESP	BMW	+ 13.884
11	Leon Haslam	GBR	Stiggy Honda	+ 13.888
12	Shane Byrne	GBR	Sterilgarda Ducati	+ 14.913
RET	Tommy Hill	GBR	Honda Althea

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Spies speeds to first Losail double

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Carole Nash