Ben Spies Wins 2009 World Superbike Championship
Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike) won the first race and then controlled the situation in race 2 to take his and Yamaha's first ever World Superbike Championship title in front of an 86,000 crowd in the final round of the series at Portimao. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox), points leader going into the decider, crashed out in race 1, making things easier for the Texan, who was fifth in the second race. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) took the win in race 2, while Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) and Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) were the other podium finishers.
Race 1
Race 1 was dominated from start to finish by Spies, who took his fourteenth win of the season and overhauled Haga in the title chase. The Texan, who rocketed away from the line, comfortably held off any attempts at an attack from Biaggi, then upped his pace to go on to take a solitary chequered flag. With this result Spies now has a 15-point advantage over Haga, who lost the front and crashed on lap 7 while making up time in fifth place. The runner-up slot went to Rea, who got the better of Biaggi after a terrific duel. The best Ducati rider to the line in fourth place was Shane Byrne, in one of his best races of the year, while fifth went to Michel Fabrizio (Ducati), who compromised his race with a bad start. Leon Camier had a good run to sixth for Aprilia, while Ruben Xaus finished eighth on the first BMW. Both Suzukis failed to finish, Yukio Kagayama crashing out and Sylvain Guintoli was forced to retire.
Ben Spies:
"It was actually a really tough race, at first I was just going for the win, getting to the front and not worrying about anything. Then when Haga was out I had to win to get as many points as possible for race 2. Once you have a gap, you don't want to be stupid and throw it all away."
Jonathan Rea:
"It took a little bit of time for my tyres to get right in but when they did they were good until the end. The team and the bike have been working really good and I can't thank them enough. It's the first time I've ever had such a result in race 1 and I'm sure in race 2 I'll be strong again."
Max Biaggi:
"I didn't maybe have the chance to set up the bike the way I want and I had a few small problems, and then sometimes I made a few mistakes and this lost me some tenths. But I'm pleased with the result, even though I'm so sore from the accident yesterday and I didn't think I could do the whole distance."
Race 2
Spies monitored Haga all the way in race 2 to take the fifth place that was enough to give him the 2009 title. The American only had to finish sixth, but he preferred to shy away from any direct confrontation and together with Haga's second place, the result gave him the title by six points. Fabrizio scored his third win of the season after a terrific scrap with Rea, who took the final podium slot, while Shane Byrne was again a protagonist of the race and finished fourth. Biaggi looked spectacular on the track, but the Italian made several errors and could only finish in sixth, while team-mate Leon Camier ran another convincing race in seventh, ahead of Smrz (Guandalini Ducati) and Corser (BMW), while this time both Suzuki riders Guintoli and Kagayama finished in the points.
Ben Spies:
"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!".
Michel Fabrizio:
"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."
Noriyuki Haga:
"This weekend we had a problem with the rear tyre and in the first race we made a mistake with the tyre choice and I crashed. Second race was quite good, I was worried for the tyre life, but I started to push and I am happy for second position. Unlucky for today for the title but I try to do my best for next year and congratulations to Ben for the world title."
Jonathan Rea:
"With Michel I was racing for my own championship position and it seemed to be a little bit of a fight and I had to do something on the last lap to win the race and get fourth in the championship. I tried everything but made a mistake which allowed Michel to get past. But this is my best weekend of the season with a double podium."
World Superbikes - Portimao Race One Result
Pos – Rider - Team – Time
1 - Ben Spies - Yamaha WSB - 38'15.390
2 - Jonathan Rea - HANNspree Ten Kate Honda - 38'17.087
3 - Max Biaggi - Aprilia Racing - 38'17.503
4 - Shane Byrne - Sterilgarda - 38'18.147
5 - Michel Fabrizio - Ducati Xerox Team - 38'30.143
6 - Leon Camier - Aprilia Racing - 38'35.434
7 - Carlos Checa - HANNspree Ten Kate Honda - 38'41.024
8 - Ruben Xaus - BMW Motorrad Motorsport - 38'46.494
9 - Matthieu Lagrive - Honda Althea Racing - 38'52.079
10 - Matteo Baiocco - Guandalini Racing - 38'54.721
11 - Broc Parkes - Kawasaki World Superbike R.T. - 38'57.217
12 - Makoto Tamada - Kawasaki World Superbike R.T. - 38'57.272
13 - David Salom - Team Pedercini - 39'10.357
14 - David Checa - Yamaha France GMT 94 Ipone - 39'53.923
15 - Luca Scassa - Team Pedercini - 39'10.017
Not Classified
RT - Roland Resch - TKR Suzuki Switzerland - 34'10.952
RT - Troy Corser - BMW Motorrad Motorsport - 33'58.293
RT - Leon Haslam - Stiggy Racing Honda - 17'30.278
RT - Jakub Smrz - Guandalini Racing - 14'04.251
RT - Sylvain Guintoli - Team Suzuki Alstare - 14'08.485
RT - Vittorio Iannuzzo - Squadra Corse Italia - 12'58.699
RT - Noriyuki Haga - Ducati Xerox Team - 10'27.807
RT - Fonsi Nieto - DFX Corse - 5'16.315
RT - Yukio Kagayama - Team Suzuki Alstare
World Superbikes - Portimao Race Two Result
Pos – Rider - Team – Time
1 - Michel Fabrizio - Ducati Xerox Team - 38'19.654
2 - Noriyuki Haga - Ducati Xerox Team - 38'20.849
3 - Jonathan Rea - HANNspree Ten Kate Honda - 38'21.148
4 - Shane Byrne - Sterilgarda - 38'25.207
5 - Ben Spies - Yamaha WSB - 38'25.496
6 - Max Biaggi - Aprilia Racing - 38'27.028
7 - Leon Camier - Aprilia Racing - 38'29.312
8 - Jakub Smrz - Guandalini Racing - 38'30.088
9 - Troy Corser - BMW Motorrad Motorsport - 38'36.664
10 - Sylvain Guintoli - Team Suzuki Alstare - 38'44.163
11 - Yukio Kagayama - Team Suzuki Alstare - 38'46.849
12 - Broc Parkes - Kawasaki World Superbike R.T. - 38'54.479
13 - Matthieu Lagrive - Honda Althea Racing - 38'54.789
14 - Luca Scassa - Team Pedercini - 39'21.496
15 - David Checa - Yamaha France GMT 94 Ipone - 39'29.436
16 - Makoto Tamada - Kawasaki World Superbike R.T. - 39'50.472
17 - David Salom - Team Pedercini - 39'22.507
Not Classified
RT - Matteo Baiocco - Guandalini Racing - 26'31.713
RT - Leon Haslam - Stiggy Racing Honda - 14'27.481
RT - Carlos Checa - HANNspree Ten Kate Honda - 12'18.467
RT - Ruben Xaus - BMW Motorrad Motorsport - 12'19.842
RT - Fonsi Nieto - DFX Corse - 12'43.849
RT - Vittorio Iannuzzo - Squadra Corse Italia - 5'24.087
Final Championship points
1 - B. Spies - 462 – 2009 World Superbike Champion
2 - N. Haga - 456
3 - M. Fabrizio - 382
4 - M. Biaggi - 319
5 - J. Rea - 315
6 - L. Haslam - 241
7 - C. Checa - 209
8 - S. Byrne - 192
9 - T. Sykes - 176
10 - J. Smrz - 169
11 - R. Kiyonari - 141
12 - Y. Kagayama - 128
13 - T. Corser - 96
14 - S. Nakano - 86
15 - R. Laconi - 77
16 - M. Neukirchner - 75
17 - R. Xaus - 74
18 - B. Parkes - 51
19 - M. Lagrive - 34
20 - L. Camier - 32
21 - F. Nieto - 22
22 - K. Muggeridge - 21
23 - J. Hopkins - 17
24 - M. Baiocco - 17
25 - M. Simoncelli - 16
26 - L. Lanzi - 15
27 - M. Tamada - 12
28 - G. Lavilla - 12
29 - L. Scassa - 11
30 - J. Hacking - 9
31 - J. Ellison - 8
32 - S. Morais - 8
33 - S. Guintoli - 6
34 - S. Andrews - 6
35 - T. Hill - 6
36 - D. Salom - 5
37 - D. Checa - 4
38 - B. Roberts - 3
39 - R. Rolfo - 3
40 - V. Iannuzzo - 2
41 - A. Polita - 1
42 - J. Zemke - 1
Final Manufacturers Points
1 - Ducati - 572
2 - Yamaha - 505
3 - Honda - 431
4 - Aprilia - 329
5 - Suzuki - 173
6 - BMW - 141
7 - Kawasaki - 76
Be right back. I am going to go find myself, and if I leave before I get back, make sure to tell me !! -
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Ben Spies Wins 2009 World Superbike Championship
