Spies frustrated after strong showing in Qatar
Added on Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
Spies frustrated after strong showing in Qatar
Ben Spies believes that he could, and perhaps should, have had a debut MotoGP podium in Qatar following a strong performance on Sunday.
The Tech 3 Yamaha rider, who had just a handful of rookie appearances to his name prior to his full MotoGP bow in Losail at the weekend, eventually finished fifth but claimed but seemed disappointed with the result, blaming his poor qualifying performance 24 hours prior.
Starting from eleventh on the grid, Spies recovered to put in some of the fastest laps at the race’s mid-point, giving the former WSB champion plenty to be optimistic about for the season ahead.
“I’m happy because I knew we had the bike and I knew I was riding decent. Some things didn’t go my way in qualifying and while it wasn’t really a smooth weekend, it came together in the race,” said Spies.
“I gave 110 per cent every lap and that’s all I can do and at the end I came out with a decent result. They key was that I knew we had a good pace on race tyres. I got a good start and I was quite aggressive in the first couple of laps to try and make up some places and keep contact with the front group.
“My confidence was growing in the middle of the race and I could see Jorge and Valentino and those guys not a million miles in front of me. I wasn’t catching them a lot, but I knew for a few laps in the middle of the race I was definitely the quickest out of the top five. Maybe if I’d have qualified higher I might have been in that fight for the podium at the end.
“But I can’t be too greedy and this is a good start for me and gives me a platform to build on for the rest of the season.”
