Mixed fortunes for Yamaha riders Spies and Sykes in Kyalami

The first race saw Yamaha rider Ben Spies drop back to fourth from the pole position start as they left the line. He recovered quickly and took second position back as they turned into the first corner, diving up the inside of Biaggi to tuck up behind championship rival Noriyuki Haga. Halfway round the first lap he was passed by Michele Fabrizio and settled into third position behind the two Ducatis as they battled for the lead for the majority of the race. With seven laps to go, Spies dived passed Fabrizio on the last corner coming on to the start finish straight to take second. As the lap unfolded Fabrizio passed briefly but was taken straight again by Spies as the powerful Yamaha out dragged the Ducati from the corner. An unfortunate tank slapper coming out of Clubhouse allowed Fabrizio passed again, and as the tyres had now gone off it was impossible for Spies to catch up so he settled for third and a well deserved podium. Race two saw disaster strike for Spies, having dropped to third off the start, he again passed Biaggi on the inside for the second place spot and coming round for lap three took Haga in a fantastic move for the lead. No sooner had he done this than his shit linkage broke, making it impossible to change gear and forcing him to retire from the race. Team-mate Tom Sykes had a less than perfect start to race one, dropping from his eighth position start on the grid to 16th as they headed into the first corner. With ten laps to go he'd moved up to 11th position with a steady race pace and then swiftly took Lavilla for the tenth spot. Although maintaining a good race pace he couldn't get up to ninth so settled for 10th. Race two saw a better start, dropping initially to 10th, he worked hard to take two places and move up to the eighth spot which he held until briefly before the finish when Suzuki rider Kagayama took back the spot, relegating him to ninth.

Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (3rd,DNF) "We were struggling to hang in there in race one, it was a good race for all three of us up at the front. When I passed Michel I tried to reel in Nori and then unfortunately made a mistake. I was really strong in parts of the track but giving up too much time in some corners and couldn't get in there. The second race was very unfortunate, I was feeling good and had secured an early lead, then obviously had the technical problem and had to retire, I'm really disappointed about it. I'm looking forward to going home to the USA for the next round and seeing if we can make it up." Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (10th, 9th ) "I got away badly in the first race and initially dropped down to sixteenth which was a shame as I felt I could have been more consistent. The second race I got away ok from the start and was closing in on Checa and a couple of the boys, but the last five laps or so I was really struggling. If we could have found a bit more grip it would have been better. We struggled on the power this weekend as well which was tough on this circuit. I'm looking forward to getting to Miller as I think the track will suit the R1 really well, and I want to close the gap and get up into fourth place as I think it's possible." Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager "Both riders did really well in the first race as we have been having issues here with the tyres, making it hard to be consistent throughout the race. For Ben in race two we had a problem with the shift linkage so he was unable to change gear and had to retire. We knew from practice that it was going to be tough racing here but both Ben and Tom did their best. The Ducati engine was stronger here on the day. " Circuit Length: 4263 Weather: Sunny Lap Record: 1'42.178 (Noriyuki Haga, 01/01/2002) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'37.288 (Ben Spies, 17/05/2009) 2009 WSB South Africa - Kyalami 17/05/2009 Race 1 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Noriyuki Haga     Ducati     JPN     39'47.436 2     Michel Fabrizio     Ducati     ITA     0'00.950 3     Ben Spies     Yamaha     USA     0'03.391 4     Jonathan Rea     Honda     GBR     0'08.914 5     Max Biaggi     Aprilia     ITA     0'09.019 6     Carlos Checa     Honda     ESP     0'14.812 7     Shinya Nakano     Aprilia     JPN     0'14.971 8     Yukio Kagayama     Suzuki     JPN     0'15.723 9     Shane Byrne     Ducati     GBR     0'21.529 10     Tom Sykes     Yamaha     GBR     0'21.795 11     Gregorio Lavilla     Ducati     ESP     0'29.872 12     Ryuichi Kiyonari     Honda     JPN     0'34.216 13     Sheridan Morais     Kawasaki     RSA     0'34.275 14     Jakub Smrz     Ducati     CZE     0'38.280 15     Broc Parkes     Kawasaki     AUS     0'40.885 Race 2 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Noriyuki Haga     Ducati     JPN     39'45.027 2     Michel Fabrizio     Ducati     ITA     0'00.322 3     Jonathan Rea     Honda     GBR     0'08.936 4     Leon Haslam     Honda     GBR     0'10.561 5     Max Biaggi     Aprilia     ITA     0'10.767 6     Carlos Checa     Honda     ESP     0'12.413 7     Shinya Nakano     Aprilia     JPN     0'12.616 8     Yukio Kagayama     Suzuki     JPN     0'14.878 9     Tom Sykes     Yamaha     GBR     0'16.225 10     Jakub Smrz     Ducati     CZE     0'18.197 11     Sheridan Morais     Kawasaki     RSA     0'20.629 12     Gregorio Lavilla     Ducati     ESP     0'24.320 13     Ryuichi Kiyonari     Honda     JPN     0'24.564 14     Broc Parkes     Kawasaki     AUS     0'38.747 15     Fonsi Nieto     Suzuki     ESP     0'50.045 Best Lap Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time Michel Fabrizio     Ducati     ITA     1'38.548 Rider Standings     17/05/2009 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Points 1.    Noriyuki Haga    Ducati    JPN    250 2.    Michel Fabrizio    Ducati    ITA    165 3.    Ben Spies    Yamaha    USA    162 4.    Leon Haslam    Honda    GBR    116 5.    Jonathan Rea    Honda    GBR    106 6.    Max Biaggi    Aprilia    ITA    103 7.    Tom Sykes    Yamaha    GBR    103 8.    Regis Laconi    Ducati    FRA    77 9.    Max Neukirchner    Suzuki    GER    75 10.    Carlos Checa    Honda    ESP    73 11.    Ryuichi Kiyonari    Honda    JPN    72 12.    Yukio Kagayama    Suzuki    JPN    68 13.    Jakub Smrz    Ducati    CZE    64 14.    Shinya Nakano    Aprilia    JPN    52 15.    Shane Byrne    Ducati    GBR    48 Manufacturer Standings     17/05/2009 Pos.     Manufacturer     Points 1.    Ducati    275 2.    Yamaha    203 3.    Honda    170 4.    Aprilia    106 5.    Suzuki    105 6.    BMW    59 7.    Kawasaki    27 RACE REPORT     17/05/2009 Crutchlow maintains championship lead in South Africa Yamaha World Supersport rider Cal Crutchlow had a tough race in Kyalami today missing out on the race win after being held up by the pack at the start of the race. The British rider initially dropped to sixth position from the start, behind team-mate Fabien Foret. The pair stayed together, following Sofuoglu until a mistake by the Honda rider on the 3rd lap allowed Crutchlow past. He then passed his team-mate on the fifth lap, before swiftly taking Lascorz and Pitt to move into second behind race leader Laverty. By this point Laverty had extended a considerable lead, and although Crutchlow worked hard to close the gap he had to settle for a second place finish and another podium. Team-mate Fabien Foret had a better start and lead Crutchlow for a while before following him through to take up third place. He gradually built up a good lead over fourth placed rider Lascorz but a momentary lapse of concentration going into a corner too hot four laps from the end saw the French rider lose the front end and crash out. Crutchlow leaves South Africa still leading the championship on 119 points, 13 ahead of second placed Laverty. Foret is in eighth on 44 points.

Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (2nd) "It was a really tough race, the beginning was a proper dog fight. It took me a long time to get through the pack and start working on breaking down Laverty's lead. By the time I got clear in second he had a big gap and I just couldn't keep it consistently quick enough to catch him. I made a couple of small mistakes which cost me some time so had to settle for the second spot on the podium. A big thank you to the Yamaha team again for working so hard this weekend." Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team, (DNF) "I'm really disappointed with myself. It was a big fight at the beginning of the race and I did well to get through. I had a really good race pace and was feeling confident to keep pushing on. I had built up a good lead in third but just lost a moment's concentration going into the corner and went down on the front." Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team "We lost the fight for the race win two seconds into the first lap when both riders got held up by the main pack, by the second lap Eugene was too far away to challenge. Cal was looking like he was able to catch him but he had to push hard and made one or too small mistakes. At the moment the championship lead is very close and podiums are very important. It was very disappointing not to have two podiums, Fabien had a good pace and was as fast as Cal but was a bit too hot into the corner and crashed. It was a shame as he had a good lead and didn't need to push so hard." Circuit Length: 4263 Weather: Sunny Lap Record: 1'46.975 (James Whitham, 01/01/2002) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'40.634 (Cal Crutchlow, 17/05/2009) 2009 WSS South Africa - Kyalami 17/05/2009 Race 1 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Eugene Laverty     Honda     GBR     39'06.061 2     Cal Crutchlow     Yamaha     GBR     0'02.546 3     Mark Aitchison     Honda     AUS     0'17.358 4     Joan Lascorz     Kawasaki     ESP     0'17.454 5     Kenan Sofuoglu     Honda     TUR     0'18.221 6     Andrew Pitt     Honda     AUS     0'20.561 7     Garry McCoy     Triumph     AUS     0'33.141 8     Anthony West     Honda     AUS     0'37.326 9     Michele Pirro     Yamaha     ITA     0'37.728 10     Matthieu Lagrive     Honda     FRA     0'37.939 11     Michael Laverty     Honda     GBR     0'38.782 12     Massimo Roccoli     Honda     ITA     0'39.198 13     Katsuaki Fujiwara     Kawasaki     JPN     0'40.386 14     Doni Tata Pradita     Yamaha     IDN     0'46.386 15     Danilo Dell'omo     Honda     ITA     0'46.794 22     Yannick Guerra     Yamaha     ESP     1'24.481 Best Lap Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time Eugene Laverty     Honda     GBR     1'41.053 Rider Standings     17/05/2009 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Points 1.    Cal Crutchlow    Yamaha    GBR    119 2.    Eugene Laverty    Honda    GBR    106 3.    Kenan Sofuoglu    Honda    TUR    83 4.    Andrew Pitt    Honda    AUS    64 5.    Joan Lascorz    Kawasaki    ESP    60 6.    Anthony West    Honda    AUS    60 7.    Mark Aitchison    Honda    AUS    50 8.    Fabien Foret    Yamaha    FRA    44 9.    Michele Pirro    Yamaha    ITA    40 10.    Matthieu Lagrive    Honda    FRA    31 11.    Garry McCoy    Triumph    AUS    29 12.    Barry Veneman    Suzuki    NED    28 13.    Katsuaki Fujiwara    Kawasaki    JPN    26 14.    Massimo Roccoli    Honda    ITA    24 15.    Robbin Harms    Honda    DNK    23 19.    Franco Battaini    Yamaha    ITA    5 22.    Doni Tata Pradita    Yamaha    IDN    3 Manufacturer Standings     17/05/2009 Pos.     Manufacturer     Points 1.    Honda    133 2.    Yamaha    119 3.    Kawasaki    71 4.    Triumph    36 5.    Suzuki    28