Spies and Fabrizio steal spoils
Added on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Spies and Fabrizio steal spoils
A duo of thrilling World Superbike races today crowned Ben Spies as the 2009 Champion, while he and Michel Fabrizio shared the victories.
Starting from the prestigious pole position spot for the first race, after another successful Superpole session, Spies had an immensely strong getaway as the lights went out to launch him immediately into the lead. His pace astounded his rivals as they appeared to be unable to match his pace.
Max Biaggi and Shane Byrne settled into second and third behind the Texan, while Spies’ main title opponent, Noriyuki Haga battled up to seventh from tenth on the opening lap. Eager to make ground and enhance his ten point advantage over Spies in the championship standings, Haga was really pushing.
With Spies extending his lead at the front, Haga was soon piling the pressure onto the rear of Leon Haslam’s Honda. Determined to progress as far up the order as possible, the Japanese rider was taking time out of his rivals lap after lap, until a fall from his Ducati machine meant his race was run. This would also mean the second race of the day would determine the 2009 Champion, giving Haga some real work to do next time around.
With the first retirement of the race being Haga, the departures soon began to set in; Jakub Smrz followed Haga into retirement when he tumbled into the gravel. The next victim was Sylvain Guintoli, who suffered a suspected mechanical failure at half-way distance. Having previously enjoyed a thrilling tussle with Haga, Leon Haslam followed his rivals onto the side lines when he slipped from his Honda CBR1000RR.
Back up at the front, Biaggi and Jonathan Rea had managed to work their way passed Byrne to hold second and third, respectively. After enjoying what became a race long squabble, Biaggi ran wide, which demoted the Italian star to third, while Rea was elevated to a strong second place.
Towards the closing stages of the twenty-two lap race, a plume of smoke appeared down the pit straight, followed by a change of surface flag being shown by marshals into the first corner. Roland Resch’s Suzuki suffered a big blow-up on the penultimate lap, causing everyone to approach the circuit with caution.
As the race came to a close, Spies transformed his pole position into a race win, also strengthening his championship chances. Rea took the chequered flag an impressive second, while Biaggi was forced to settle for third.
Byrne crossed the line in fourth, while Michel Fabrizio took fifth. 2009 British Superbike Champion, Leon Camier, enjoyed another WSB outing, finishing in a solid sixth place. The remainder of the top featured Carlos Checa, Ruben Xaus, Matthieu Lagrive, and Matteo Baiocco.
With all attention focused on the title battle for the second and final race, tensions were running high throughout the grid and the paddock, as the final race of the 2009 season got underway.
As the lights diminished it was Shane Byrne who this time got the better start, as he stormed away, heading the field into the first corner. Behind Rea followed into second, while Spies was putting the pressure on the Irishman, who in turn was receiving immense pressure from Haga.
The second race had most of the attention focused on the front of the field, which seemed to hold many of the race long scraps. On the fourth lap Rea managed to squeeze his way passed Byrne for the lead, with the Brit fight really hotting up in front of the sun soaked crowd. Determined not to lose his early advancement, Byrne gave Rea a tough fight, however after switching places a number of times it was Rea who initially came out on top, with Byrne just managing to stay ahead of Fabrizio.
It soon became a three-way fight for the lead, with Fabrizio really piling the pressure onto the British duo ahead of him. As the race entered the closing stages Fabrizio firstly fought his through into second; as the riders entered their final lap current leader Rea ran wide, allowing Fabrizio into the lead.
Despite holding the prominent position at the front for much of the race, Rea was unable to regain the lead, while Fabrizio swept passed the chequered flag in style to take the final victory of the season. Behind, it was Haga who did as much as he could for his championship chances to finish second, while Rea was pushed back to third.
Byrne eventually finished fourth, with Spies fifth and Biaggi sixth. Camier, Smrz, Troy Corser and Guintoli completed the top ten.
Despite finishing fifth in the second race, Spies’ performance in race one, together with this fifth place, was enough to secure him the championship title in the final outing of 2009. It was also the perfect end to his current WSB career as he leaves the series next season to head to MotoGP.
Race two winner Fabrizio said: “Both Jonathan and I showed that we’re going to be up at the front next year and we’re going to do a lot of these battles. I really wanted that win, Johnny made a mistake here at the last curve, maybe a gear slipped or something, and for me it was all OK. Just as well because otherwise it would have been difficult to overtake him.”
Meanwhile, 2009 World Superbike Champion Spies, said: “First I’ve got to thank Yamaha for giving me everything I needed to win. It was really good, we did what we had to do and it was difficult to do that because the pace was quite fast and I saw that there were a couple of people behind me. I knew that if Nori won I had to be sixth, so I tried to stay out of trouble. It was spectacular, I can’t thank Yamaha enough and everyone who’s been behind me for my first year here. It’ll sink in in the next couple of days.”
Cal Crutchlow secured the 2009 Supersport championship title, after doing enough in the final race of the season to become champion. A fourth place finish was enough for the British rider to take the championship crown in his debut year in the series.
