Drama in Monza as Spies closes the championship gap

It was a dramatic race day in Monza today for the World Superbike Championship as Yamaha rider and pole position starter Ben Spies again suffered the two extremes of racing, the victory and victory snatched away. Race one only made it to the first chicane on lap 1 as the Superbikes compressed into the tight first chicane. Tamada fell just before the corner, his bike sliding down the grass and across the track, causing collisions with Corser, Hill, Roberts and Neukirchener in the ensuing carnage. A red flag was issued and the race restarted. The race then became a battle at the front between Haga, Fabrizio and Spies for the lead. By lap nine Spies had a one second advantage over the Ducatis as they fought for second, Fabrizio ending up the stronger and closing in. Three laps from the end Fabrizio drafted Spies on the main straight to take the lead going into the first chicane, only for Spies to take it back on the penultimate lap. The Yamaha rider then led convincingly and was looking a certainty for the win until running out of fuel as he took the Parabolica corner for the last time heading for the start finish straight.He managed to coast to the line but was in 15th position by the time he passed the chequered flag. Team-mate Tom Sykes started well from tenth on the grid and was eighth by the end of the first lap. Consistent race pace saw him take two more positions over the duration, crossing the line in sixth to take more points. Race two saw Spies hungry to make up the misfortune of race one. Off the line he slipped into second behind Haga briefly before moving into the lead when Haga was struck by a bird on the first corner. From this point his win was never in doubt as the Texan put his head down and laid down lap after lap of fast perfect lines, adding a second gap per lap between himself and second position Fabrizio. As the race tipped over halfway point Spies slowed to ensure the issue of race one was not repeated, taking the chequered flag over 2.6 seconds ahead of second placed Fabrizio. British rider Sykes had another consistent race in the second outing of the day, moving up from tenth to sixth position, but was unable to find the extra pace to pass fifth placed Biaggi by the end of the race. Ben Spies leaves Monza having closed the gap to championship leader Haga, he heads to Kyalami with 146 points, 54 behind the lead. Sykes heads to South Africa having moved up to fifth in the championship on 90 points and now trails Haslam by only 13. Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (15th, 1st) "Race one was a tough pill to swallow, it was a hard one to get by but that's racing I guess. Race two I had a clear strategy and made sure I got into a really good rhythm in the first 12 to 14 laps to build a safety buffer. Obviously we had a problem at the end of race one which I didn't want to repeat so slowed a bit there and short shifted a bit to make sure everything was good to the end. The bike was good and could have run fast times all the way through but I wanted to make sure we got this one in the bag. The Yamaha team did great regrouping after race one and me too I think! Hopefully we can keep going and improving from here. I want to say congratulations for Michel in race one, but I couldn't give it to him so easily in race two." Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (6th, 6th) "In race one I got away ok, but the problem was getting stuck in that first chicane as I was starting from row three. As soon as it bottled up everything got spread out and unfortunately the lead group spread a long way and was hard to catch. I got past a couple of people and to be honest I thought I was going to catch them but halfway through the race I suffered from some brake fading. It was very unfortunate. In race two I got off the line fairly decently and had good race pace, I was looking quite strong but not able to get that last little bit. I guess it was one of those weekends, I've been fairly fast and consistent but spoilt it a bit with the qualifying. I'm very confident in the bike and the team, especially for Kyalami and hope to have better memories after the race than when I tested there! All in all good weekend, two more scores on the board and moving up to fifth in the championship is great." Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager "The first race was very frustrating for us but I think Ben proved what he is capable of. A big thank you to him because he answered race one in the best possible way. We seem to have either 25 points or 0 in races at the moment! I am very optimistic about the next two races because in South Africa Ben was really fast with an almost standard bike, and now we know the performance of the R1 is better so we think we can do a really good job. Miller should also be good as it's a home track for Ben. In the end we have reduced the leadership gap to Nori which is good. Tom was really consistent today, he's coming better and better every race weekend and without making mistakes in the race. I think as the second part of the championship approaches he will get stronger and stronger. A big thanks to the team and also the suppliers who helped us to be ready with the new colours in time for this weekend." Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1'47.434 (Troy Bayliss, 01/01/2002) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'44.073 (Ben Spies, 10/05/2009) Last Years Winner: Noriyuki Haga 2009 WSB Italy - Monza 10/05/2009 Race 1 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Michel Fabrizio     Ducati     ITA     31'50.758 2     Noriyuki Haga     Ducati     JPN     0'00.239 3     Ryuichi Kiyonari     Honda     JPN     0'08.175 4     Yukio Kagayama     Suzuki     JPN     0'11.001 5     Jonathan Rea     Honda     GBR     0'12.447 6     Tom Sykes     Yamaha     GBR     0'13.693 7     Ruben Xaus     BMW     ESP     0'19.172 8     Regis Laconi     Ducati     FRA     0'24.989 9     Carlos Checa     Honda     ESP     0'26.930 10     Broc Parkes     Kawasaki     AUS     0'27.418 11     Max Biaggi     Aprilia     ITA     0'27.752 12     Jakub Smrz     Ducati     CZE     0'29.545 13     Shinya Nakano     Aprilia     JPN     0'30.952 14     Shane Byrne     Ducati     GBR     0'31.414 15     Ben Spies     Yamaha     USA     0'36.998 22     David Checa     Yamaha     ESP     0'58.214 Race 2 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Ben Spies     Yamaha     USA     31'49.252 2     Michel Fabrizio     Ducati     ITA     0'02.665 3     Ryuichi Kiyonari     Honda     JPN     0'02.810 4     Jonathan Rea     Honda     GBR     0'07.706 5     Max Biaggi     Aprilia     ITA     0'07.863 6     Tom Sykes     Yamaha     GBR     0'10.383 7     Leon Haslam     Honda     GBR     0'11.586 8     Jakub Smrz     Ducati     CZE     0'21.112 9     Ruben Xaus     BMW     ESP     0'22.112 10     Carlos Checa     Honda     ESP     0'22.261 11     Regis Laconi     Ducati     FRA     0'23.453 12     Shinya Nakano     Aprilia     JPN     0'32.956 13     Broc Parkes     Kawasaki     AUS     0'37.166 14     Luca Scassa     Kawasaki     ITA     0'43.085 15     Matteo Baiocco     Kawasaki     ITA     0'43.088 19     David Checa     Yamaha     ESP     1'17.915 Best Lap Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time Michel Fabrizio     Ducati     ITA     1'45.336 Rider Standings     10/05/2009 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Points 1.    Noriyuki Haga    Ducati    JPN    200 2.    Ben Spies    Yamaha    USA    146 3.    Michel Fabrizio    Ducati    ITA    125 4.    Leon Haslam    Honda    GBR    103 5.    Tom Sykes    Yamaha    GBR    90 6.    Max Biaggi    Aprilia    ITA    81 7.    Jonathan Rea    Honda    GBR    77 8.    Regis Laconi    Ducati    FRA    77 9.    Max Neukirchner    Suzuki    GER    75 10.    Ryuichi Kiyonari    Honda    JPN    65 11.    Jakub Smrz    Ducati    CZE    56 12.    Carlos Checa    Honda    ESP    53 13.    Yukio Kagayama    Suzuki    JPN    52 14.    Shane Byrne    Ducati    GBR    41 15.    Ruben Xaus    BMW    ESP    40 Manufacturer Standings     10/05/2009 Pos.     Manufacturer     Points 1.    Ducati    225 2.    Yamaha    180 3.    Honda    141 4.    Suzuki    89 5.    Aprilia    84 6.    BMW    59 7.    Kawasaki    19 RACE REPORT     10/05/2009 Yamaha dominate the Supersport podium It was a fantastic race for the Yamaha World Supersport Team as both riders fought hard for the duration, taking well earned places on the podium at the chequered flag. Fabien Foret initially dropped to eighth place at the start but worked hard to make the places back up again. Cal Crutchlow was a constant presence in the top group, taking the lead from Laverty in a fast overtake on lap five at the Ascari chicane. Foret moved up swiftly behind him, taking second position. The two pushed on at the front until lap ten when a daring pass up the inside by Laverty at the Roggia chicane put him past both Yamaha riders and into the lead. Not content to sit back, Foret took the lead back as they turned through the Parabolica and headed out onto the straight. In a show of the incredible speed of the Yamaha R6 Crutchlow then came back to take both Foret and Laverty at the end of the start finish straight heading into lap 11. Lap 13 saw Foret run wide, allowing Laverty and Lascorz through, while Crutchlow began to extend his lead. Lascorz then made a crucial error on lap 14, sitting up and forcing Laverty wide, allowing Foret to get past. Foret then tussled with Lascorz but eventually accepted third position and a long awaited podium whilst his team-mate Crutchlow had put a definitive gap between him and the second placed Kawasaki rider for the chequered flag. Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team, (1st) "it's going really good here at Monza and I'm really happy with the race. We came here looking to finish in the top five to be honest on a circuit I don't know. We did a good job this weekend at Yamaha so thanks to everyone who put a lot of effort in. we were never as fast as we could have been but we worked hard. When I got the break in the race today I went for it, I was willing to do anything to win, you could see by some of the passes I was taking no prisoners! It's all credit to the team who got me here so a great win for the team!" Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team, (3rd) "I'm pretty happy, I can clearly fight again now and I'm not injured anymore. I made a few mistakes in the race and someone hit my exhaust pipe which didn't help. It was a tough one but I enjoyed it and I think I'm back and definitely looking forward to the next one now." Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager "We are first and third, and for me the whole weekend was good, not just the race which can be a bit of a gamble as you saw with the Superbikes . You can easily make a mistake here and accidents can happen so I'm really happy nothing went majorly wrong in the supersport race. I'm really pleased to have both the riders on the podium, it's great we leave here extending our championship lead and with Fabien taking good points away as well." Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1'52.635 (Chris Vermeulen, 01/01/2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'49.706 (Cal Crutchlow, 10/05/2009) Last Years Winner: Fabien Foret 2009 WSS Italy - Monza 10/05/2009 Race 1 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Cal Crutchlow     Yamaha     GBR     29'34.605 2     Joan Lascorz     Kawasaki     ESP     0'02.660 3     Fabien Foret     Yamaha     FRA     0'02.716 4     Eugene Laverty     Honda     GBR     0'02.780 5     Andrew Pitt     Honda     AUS     0'09.270 6     Katsuaki Fujiwara     Kawasaki     JPN     0'09.332 7     Michele Pirro     Yamaha     ITA     0'20.178 8     Garry McCoy     Triumph     AUS     0'20.221 9     Kenan Sofuoglu     Honda     TUR     0'22.681 10     Gianluca Nannelli     Triumph     ITA     0'26.993 11     Franco Battaini     Yamaha     ITA     0'31.343 12     Miguel Praia     Honda     POR     0'32.236 13     Barry Veneman     Suzuki     NED     0'32.695 14     Gianluca Vizziello     Honda     ITA     0'33.216 15     Alessandro Polita     Suzuki     ITA     0'33.652 17     Doni Tata Pradita     Yamaha     IDN     0'44.249 22     Jose Morillas     Yamaha     ESP     1'45.778 Best Lap Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time Cal Crutchlow     Yamaha     GBR     1'49.728 Rider Standings     10/05/2009 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Points 1.    Cal Crutchlow    Yamaha    GBR    99 2.    Eugene Laverty    Honda    GBR    81 3.    Kenan Sofuoglu    Honda    TUR    72 4.    Andrew Pitt    Honda    AUS    54 5.    Anthony West    Honda    AUS    52 6.    Joan Lascorz    Kawasaki    ESP    47 7.    Fabien Foret    Yamaha    FRA    44 8.    Mark Aitchison    Honda    AUS    34 9.    Michele Pirro    Yamaha    ITA    33 10.    Barry Veneman    Suzuki    NED    28 11.    Matthieu Lagrive    Honda    FRA    25 12.    Robbin Harms    Honda    DNK    23 13.    Katsuaki Fujiwara    Kawasaki    JPN    23 14.    Garry McCoy    Triumph    AUS    20 15.    Massimo Roccoli    Honda    ITA    20 20.    Franco Battaini    Yamaha    ITA    5 21.    Doni Tata Pradita    Yamaha    IDN    1 Manufacturer Standings     10/05/2009 Pos.     Manufacturer     Points 1.    Honda    108 2.    Yamaha    99 3.    Kawasaki    58 4.    Suzuki    28 5.    Triumph    27