Spies scores more championship points in Assen

It was another mixed weekend's racing for the Yamaha World Superbike Team at the famous TT circuit in Assen. An incredibly close first race Saw Ben Spies take the chequered flag a mere 0.154 seconds ahead of Championship rival Noriyuki Haga. Although initially the race leader, the American Yamaha rider had struggled to find a good race pace for most of the race, dropping back from first to third position on lap 11 behind race leader Haga and second place Leon Haslam. Spies tucked in and followed the pair until the three laps from the end of the race when he and Haslam spent three corners abreast in a heart stopping battle for second position. There was no daylight between the bikes as they exited turn five, Spies coming out the victor and setting off after Haga as the penultimate lap drew to a close. He attempted a pass on the hairpin where Haga had passed him earlier but failed to take top spot, eventually pulling a daring pass on the last corner he shot through to take the chequered flag. Tom Sykes enjoyed a good first race, starting from eighth on the grid the British rider made a strong pass up the inside on the first corner to move up into sixth position. The back straight then offered the opportunity to pass again and move up to fifth. Two laps later and another clever move up the inside on turn one saw Sykes into fourth position. He hung on with good race pace and held fourth for the chequered flag. Race two saw a difficult start and a lot of work to do. Sykes fought hard to make up places and briefly fought with Rea for fifth before settling for a sixth position finish. Spies leaves Assen still second in the championship with 120 points, trailing leader Haga by 60. Team-mate Sykes heads to Monza in sixth place in the standings with 70 points. Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team (1st,dnf) "We got the win in race one and everything was pretty good with that. It took me a while to find a good race pace but as the tyres started to go off I found it and we managed to make some moves, it was pretty exciting at the end, really fantastic racing with both Haslam and Haga. Race two I was feeling good, the bike, even only a lap and a half in, felt better than with the tyres in race one. I was pushing and got out wide in turn one and touched the Astroturf piece and high-sided. It's a shame as I felt really good and the bike felt right. You never know if you can win the race but I felt we could have had a faster race than the first. We'll build on it though, we had a good test in Monza so we're set up for there and I haven't hurt myself today so it's ok." Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team (4th,6th) "The first race went ok, I was pretty pleased with the results. I managed to make a couple of passes early and move up but then lost some feeling in the front which held me back. Race two was not what I expected. I got a horrendous start and left myself a lot of work to do. I worked hard over the next few laps to make some passes but unfortunately let the front group get away. I was bitterly disappointed with that because I knew I could run with the front. I'd just like to thank all the boys for this weekend putting so much hard work in. We had two offs and I left them with some work to do but they came through and had my bikes ready for me to race." Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager "The first race was unbelievable, Ben was really impressive and deserved the win. In the second race he had a bad high-side, and unfortunately missed the opportunity to challenge Nori for the second win. Tom had a good fourth in the first race and a good sixth in the second. He's coming along really well. I think he'll get the podium he's chasing soon. We're ready for Monza and confident of success." Circuit Length: 4555 Weather: Sunny Lap Record: 2'04.685 (Chris Vermeulen, 01/01/2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'37.626 (Ben Spies, 26/04/2009) Last Years Winner: Troy Bayliss 2009 WSB The Netherlands - Assen 26/04/2009 Race 1 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Ben Spies     Yamaha     USA     36'31.338 2     Noriyuki Haga     Ducati     JPN     0'00.154 3     Leon Haslam     Honda     GBR     0'00.779 4     Tom Sykes     Yamaha     GBR     0'08.775 5     Max Biaggi     Aprilia     ITA     0'11.275 6     Jakub Smrz     Ducati     CZE     0'16.126 7     Jonathan Rea     Honda     GBR     0'19.555 8     Regis Laconi     Ducati     FRA     0'19.760 9     Michel Fabrizio     Ducati     ITA     0'23.006 10     Troy Corser     BMW     AUS     0'24.285 11     Shane Byrne     Ducati     GBR     0'26.003 12     Karl Muggeridge     Suzuki     AUS     0'27.814 13     Max Neukirchner     Suzuki     GER     0'36.962 14     Ruben Xaus     BMW     ESP     0'39.025 15     Ryuichi Kiyonari     Honda     JPN     0'41.505 19     David Checa     Yamaha     ESP     0'56.425 Race 2 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Noriyuki Haga     Ducati     JPN     36'31.712 2     Leon Haslam     Honda     GBR     0'02.678 3     Jakub Smrz     Ducati     CZE     0'04.603 4     Michel Fabrizio     Ducati     ITA     0'08.981 5     Jonathan Rea     Honda     GBR     0'12.104 6     Tom Sykes     Yamaha     GBR     0'14.575 7     Carlos Checa     Honda     ESP     0'17.449 8     Shane Byrne     Ducati     GBR     0'17.729 9     Max Neukirchner     Suzuki     GER     0'18.167 10     Troy Corser     BMW     AUS     0'25.056 11     Ruben Xaus     BMW     ESP     0'32.617 12     Yukio Kagayama     Suzuki     JPN     0'32.688 13     Brendan Roberts     Ducati     AUS     0'37.415 14     Matteo Baiocco     Kawasaki     ITA     0'55.088 15     Luca Scassa     Kawasaki     ITA     0'55.325 Best Lap Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time Leon Haslam     Honda     GBR     1'38.730 Rider Standings     26/04/2009 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Points 1.    Noriyuki Haga    Ducati    JPN    180 2.    Ben Spies    Yamaha    USA    120 3.    Leon Haslam    Honda    GBR    94 4.    Michel Fabrizio    Ducati    ITA    80 5.    Max Neukirchner    Suzuki    GER    75 6.    Tom Sykes    Yamaha    GBR    70 7.    Max Biaggi    Aprilia    ITA    65 8.    Regis Laconi    Ducati    FRA    64 9.    Jonathan Rea    Honda    GBR    53 10.    Jakub Smrz    Ducati    CZE    44 11.    Carlos Checa    Honda    ESP    40 12.    Shane Byrne    Ducati    GBR    39 13.    Yukio Kagayama    Suzuki    JPN    39 14.    Troy Corser    BMW    AUS    35 15.    Ryuichi Kiyonari    Honda    JPN    33 Manufacturer Standings     26/04/2009 Pos.     Manufacturer     Points 1.    Ducati    180 2.    Yamaha    145 3.    Honda    109 4.    Suzuki    76 5.    Aprilia    68 6.    BMW    43 7.    Kawasaki    10 RACE REPORT     26/04/2009 Crutchlow maintains championship lead in Assen Yamaha World Supersport riders Cal Crutchlow and Fabien Foret got caught up in the closest race of the 2009 World Supersport Championship so far. Intense racing and constant battles for position were the mainstay of the Supersport action. After a bad start Crutchlow worked hard to move back up the field, closely followed by team-mate Foret behind him. By lap six Crutchlow had made it to fourth, taking Sofuoglu for the position whilst Foret pushed on from seventh place. Lap seven saw Foret move up again behind his team-mate and the two then fought a close battle for position as they moved through the ranks to the top spot before dropping back again. Laverty was a constant presence during the battles, eventually slipping through to take the lead spot. A near miss between the two Yamaha riders into turn four when Crutchlow missed a gear and went wide, causing Fabien to run wide as well. Pitt then tried to take them both on the inside, losing the front and crashing out. Crutchlow then displayed the incredible race pace the fans are used to seeing, and three laps to the end pulled the fastest lap of the race, with a 1.40.836 while he chased Laverty. The battle continued to the flag, two laps before the end the riders touched but managed to stay on, Laverty eventually taking the chequered flag with Crutchlow a mere 0.107 seconds behind. Foret kept up his pace to finish in fourth, 1.777 seconds behind the race leader. Crutchlow leaves Assen still leading the championship by six points whilst Foret moves up to seventh position with 28 points. Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (2nd) "I had a bad start, I don't really know what happened, it was just unfortunate I felt like I was in neutral gear. I worked my hardest to get back through. Unfortunately Fabien and I got caught up together and it held us up a bit. Team Yamaha did a great job for me, we're here again on the podium and still leading the championship so it's all good. It was a fantastic job by Eugene Laverty, so well done to their team as well." Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team (4th) "I'm pretty happy and pleased to have got my confidence back. I had a good race, I'm just a bit disappointed with what happened with Cal, it was unavoidable but it held us both up and made it harder for me to challenge for a podium spot and a potential race win." Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager It was a very, very exciting race I can tell you that! With a second and a fourth place we are still leading the championship by six points with Cal. Both riders fought really hard today, Cal was especially fast at the end and Fabien has definitely found more of his confidence and previous race pace. We go to Monza in a good position and looking forward to extending our championship lead." Circuit Length: 4555 Weather: Sunny Lap Record: 2'08.865 (Katsuaki Fujiwara, 01/01/2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'40.313 (Cal Crutchlow, 26/04/2009) Last Years Winner: Andrew Pitt 2009 WSS The Netherlands - Assen 26/04/2009 Race 1 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Eugene Laverty     Honda     GBR     35'45.160 2     Cal Crutchlow     Yamaha     GBR     0'00.107 3     Joan Lascorz     Kawasaki     ESP     0'00.178 4     Fabien Foret     Yamaha     FRA     0'01.777 5     Kenan Sofuoglu     Honda     TUR     0'01.901 6     Mark Aitchison     Honda     AUS     0'05.492 7     Anthony West     Honda     AUS     0'12.551 8     Barry Veneman     Suzuki     NED     0'12.841 9     Robbin Harms     Honda     DNK     0'13.567 10     Michele Pirro     Yamaha     ITA     0'19.657 11     Patrick Vostarek     Honda     ITA     0'24.316 12     Gianluca Nannelli     Triumph     ITA     0'25.803 13     Massimo Roccoli     Honda     ITA     0'26.255 14     Katsuaki Fujiwara     Kawasaki     JPN     0'26.439 15     Garry McCoy     Triumph     AUS     0'44.902 19     Kevin Bos     Yamaha     NED     1'04.653 22     Yannick Guerra     Yamaha     ESP     1'08.389 23     Twan Van Poppel     Yamaha     NED     1'25.061 Best Lap Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time Cal Crutchlow     Yamaha     GBR     1'40.836 Rider Standings     26/04/2009 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Points 1.    Cal Crutchlow    Yamaha    GBR    74 2.    Eugene Laverty    Honda    GBR    68 3.    Kenan Sofuoglu    Honda    TUR    65 4.    Anthony West    Honda    AUS    52 5.    Andrew Pitt    Honda    AUS    43 6.    Mark Aitchison    Honda    AUS    34 7.    Fabien Foret    Yamaha    FRA    28 8.    Joan Lascorz    Kawasaki    ESP    27 9.    Barry Veneman    Suzuki    NED    25 10.    Matthieu Lagrive    Honda    FRA    25 11.    Michele Pirro    Yamaha    ITA    24 12.    Robbin Harms    Honda    DNK    23 13.    Massimo Roccoli    Honda    ITA    20 14.    Katsuaki Fujiwara    Kawasaki    JPN    13 15.    Garry McCoy    Triumph    AUS    12 20.    Doni Tata Pradita    Yamaha    IDN    1 Manufacturer Standings     26/04/2009 Pos.     Manufacturer     Points 1.    Honda    95 2.    Yamaha    74 3.    Kawasaki    38 4.    Suzuki    25 5.    Triumph    19