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| Supersonic Spies leaps into the championship lead | | |  | The Nurburgring GP circuit was witness to an incredible performance from Yamaha World Superbike rider Ben Spies today as he attacked the track to take the championship lead from rival Haga. Race one started well for the American but was almost immediately red flagged for a crash between Tamada, Hopkins and Parkes. The restart saw Spies move up into third behind Rea and Haga until the third lap where he took Rea on the brakes to move into second position. Rea briefly retook the position but held it for mere seconds before relinquishing again to the American missile. Spies then set about reeling in Haga, taking nearly half a second a lap off the Ducati rider's lead until he had closed it to 0.3 seconds by lap 10. As they entered the chicane at the end of the lap, he pulled a swift move and took the lead, which he held to the line, throwing in an extra turn of speed at the end to increase his lead.
Race two saw a less than perfect start with Spies dropping to sixth amid a pack of riders. He fought through the pack to fourth, and gradually worked through to third behind Rea and Haga. Rea and Haga came together going into the first corner of lap four, taking Haga out of the race and leaving Ben to tuck in behind Rea to the finish line, taking second spot on the podium.
Tom Sykes got a great start off the line in race one, moving from 11th position up to seventh at the first corner before the restart. As the race restarted he got off the line in tenth, chasing down Nieto who he passed on lap six. He worked hard to close the gap on Corser and Fabrizio in front but had to settle for ninth across the line at the end. Race two saw him get off the line to ninth again, then moving up to eighth by lap two, following team-mate Spies. He continued to charge and on lap 14 took Fabrizio on the brakes going into the first corner of the circuit to take seventh. He dropped one place to eighth but held on ahead of Fabrizio to keep his position over the line.
Ben Spies heads to Imola in two weeks time having taken the lead in the World Superbike Championship with an 18 point advantage over demoted Haga with six races remaining. Team mate Tom Sykes leaves Germany sitting in eighth place in the standings just 12 points behind seventh position rider Carlos Checa.
Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team (1st, 2nd)
"the first race was tough, Rea and I battled a bit for the first couple of laps and Nori got away so I had to reel him back in, using a lot of my tyre to do that. When I got to him I knew he was really strong in the first few corners so I slowed the pace a bit and controlled him through there. With three laps to go we pulled the pin and got back down to some fast laps. The second race was a tough one, I didn't get a great start and had to spend some time working through the pack, when I eventually got up to Rea he had a great pace on so I tucked in and was waiting for him to make a mistake, which unfortunately he didn't! I used up a lot of my tyres fighting through the pack and was starting to slide around a bit at the end so tucked in and took the points. It's fantastic to be leading the championship, it's what we came here to do, so we're looking forward to getting to Imola and seeing if we can build on this. The team have been brilliant, and have worked really hard all weekend."
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|  | Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team (9th, 8th)
" I'm really disappointed to be honest, my pace in warm up this morning was quite impressive and I knew going into the races that repeating those lap times would mean we were running at the front. Unfortunately we couldn't repeat it, we were really struggling for grip which we could see in the data afterwards. My braking, corner entry and everything was the same but when I got on the gas I couldn't use the same percentage of throttle that I was this morning. We tried to change something in race two but it didn't seem to help. I'm certainly looking forward to putting this weekend behind me and moving on. We've got three rounds left now to come up with something special so we'll see what we comes out."
Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
"we came here with the target of catching Nori, we achieved that and now we are leading the championship. It would be impossible to get a better result. I think Ben really used his head in the second race, he saw that it was tough to catch Rea especially during the last lap so he took the points. This is the first time our team has led the championship so we are very happy. We are now even more motivated to continue like this. It was a really tough weekend for Tom. He had found a really good pace in the earlier sessions but struggled to repeat it in the race. It was disappointing not to see him get a higher position at the end. The settings which seemed to work really well in the practice sessions were not so good in the race for him. We will see if can achieve more at Imola."
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| | 2009 WSB Germany - Nürburgring 06/09/2009 | | Pos. | Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Total Time | | 1 | Ben Spies | Yamaha | USA | 39'04.818 | | 2 | Noriyuki Haga | Ducati | JPN | 0'03.850 | | 3 | Carlos Checa | Honda | ESP | 0'06.990 | | 4 | Jonathan Rea | Honda | GBR | 0'07.109 | | 5 | Max Biaggi | Aprilia | ITA | 0'12.825 | | 6 | Leon Haslam | Honda | GBR | 0'13.243 | | 7 | Michel Fabrizio | Ducati | ITA | 0'14.233 | | 8 | Troy Corser | BMW | AUS | 0'14.382 | | 9 | Tom Sykes | Yamaha | GBR | 0'17.206 | | 10 | Shane Byrne | Ducati | GBR | 0'26.547 | | 11 | Matthieu Lagrive | Honda | FRA | 0'27.388 | | 12 | Karl Muggeridge | Suzuki | AUS | 0'30.968 | | 13 | Jakub Smrz | Ducati | CZE | 0'31.069 | | 14 | Ryuichi Kiyonari | Honda | JPN | 0'31.188 | | 15 | Yukio Kagayama | Suzuki | JPN | 0'40.165 |
| Pos. | Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Total Time | | 1 | Jonathan Rea | Honda | GBR | 39'01.561 | | 2 | Ben Spies | Yamaha | USA | 0'86.000 | | 3 | Carlos Checa | Honda | ESP | 0'04.993 | | 4 | Max Biaggi | Aprilia | ITA | 0'08.191 | | 5 | Leon Haslam | Honda | GBR | 0'10.907 | | 6 | Troy Corser | BMW | AUS | 0'17.152 | | 7 | Ryuichi Kiyonari | Honda | JPN | 0'19.473 | | 8 | Tom Sykes | Yamaha | GBR | 0'19.721 | | 9 | Michel Fabrizio | Ducati | ITA | 0'22.981 | | 10 | Yukio Kagayama | Suzuki | JPN | 0'24.161 | | 11 | Jakub Smrz | Ducati | CZE | 0'29.367 | | 12 | Fonsi Nieto | Ducati | ESP | 0'07.000 | | 13 | Broc Parkes | Kawasaki | AUS | 0'37.281 | | 14 | Luca Scassa | Kawasaki | ITA | 0'47.883 | | 15 | Vittorio Iannuzzo | Honda | ITA | 0'49.549 | | 18 | David Checa | Yamaha | ESP | 1'22.329 |
| Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Total Time | | Noriyuki Haga | Ducati | JPN | 1'56.539 |
| Rider Standings | 06/09/2009 | | Pos. | Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Points | | 1. | Ben Spies | Yamaha | USA | 364 | | 2. | Noriyuki Haga | Ducati | JPN | 346 | | 3. | Michel Fabrizio | Ducati | ITA | 289 | | 4. | Jonathan Rea | Honda | GBR | 244 | | 5. | Max Biaggi | Aprilia | ITA | 224 | | 6. | Leon Haslam | Honda | GBR | 201 | | 7. | Carlos Checa | Honda | ESP | 177 | | 8. | Tom Sykes | Yamaha | GBR | 165 | | 9. | Jakub Smrz | Ducati | CZE | 140 | | 10. | Shane Byrne | Ducati | GBR | 140 | | 11. | Ryuichi Kiyonari | Honda | JPN | 130 | | 12. | Yukio Kagayama | Suzuki | JPN | 103 | | 13. | Shinya Nakano | Aprilia | JPN | 86 | | 14. | Regis Laconi | Ducati | FRA | 77 | | 15. | Max Neukirchner | Suzuki | GER | 75 | | 22. | Leon Camier | Yamaha | GBR | 13 | | 26. | James Ellison | Yamaha | GBR | 8 |
| Manufacturer Standings | 06/09/2009 | | Pos. | Manufacturer | Points | | 1. | Ducati | 439 | | 2. | Yamaha | 407 | | 3. | Honda | 347 | | 4. | Aprilia | 231 | | 5. | Suzuki | 143 | | 6. | BMW | 105 | | 7. | Kawasaki | 56 |
| Crutchlow crowned king of the ring | | |  | Yamaha World Supersport rider Cal Crutchlow was unstoppable today as he took an incredible fifth race win of the season at the Nurburgring circuit in Germany. Starting from pole, Crutchlow led the race from the off, laying down fast lap after fast lap, leaving the competition with nothing to do but fight amongst themselves. Such was his pace that midway through the race the British rider had almost a ten second lead on his closest rival, a gap which increased to just over ten seconds by the chequered flag.
Team mate Fabien Foret worked hard from a less than ideal grid start position, gaining six positions to take fifth by just past mid race. With the gap to fourth too far to bridge by this point the French rider held on to take well earned points away with him.
Crutchlow now heads to Imola in two weeks time with three races left on the calendar having extended his championship lead to 22 points over closest rival Eugene Laverty. Foret leaves Germany having moved up to fifth position, 29 points behind fourth placed rider Kenan Sofuoglu. Yamaha are also leading the manufacturer standings, four points ahead of Honda.
Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (1st)
"it was really good for me to come here to the Nurburgring, my team's home circuit and win and prove I've still got the pace after Brno. We beat the field very well there and came here and did the same thing. It's been a great weekend, the team have been brilliant and given me the bike to win on, I want to dedicate the win to my Aunt Rose."
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|  | Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team (5th)
"it could be worse, when you get some rain drops it's not my ideal racing conditions. As soon as the rain stopped I pushed harder and I had a good pace. I tried to catch Roccoli but I was making a couple of mistakes with a couple of laps to go so held on for the end. I gained a place in the championship so we'll see what happens at the next race."
Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager
"It was a brilliant result for Cal here today. His pace has been unbelievable all weekend. It was really good to see how he kept his rhythm when the rain came down as well. Obviously after Brno we were a little nervous watching the last few laps but it was a fantastic result, we look forward to him continuing to ride like this all the way to Portimao. For Fabien to start in 11th position and finish fifth was good. After Brno it was shame not to see him higher but we know that when some rain falls it's not the ideal riding conditions for him. It's been great to take the win here at our home race for the team, we're looking forward to getting to Imola and doing it again!" |
| Circuit Length: 4556
Weather: Overcast Fastest Lap Ever: 1'57.866 (Cal Crutchlow, 06/09/2009)
Last Years Winner: Andrew Pitt | | | 2009 WSS Germany - Nürburgring 06/09/2009 | |
| Pos. | Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Total Time |
| 1 | Cal Crutchlow | Yamaha | GBR | 37'56.481 |
| 2 | Eugene Laverty | Honda | GBR | 0'10.109 |
| 3 | Joan Lascorz | Kawasaki | ESP | 0'10.250 |
| 4 | Massimo Roccoli | Honda | ITA | 0'31.980 |
| 5 | Fabien Foret | Yamaha | FRA | 0'34.575 |
| 6 | Mark Aitchison | Honda | AUS | 0'34.724 |
| 7 | Andrew Pitt | Honda | AUS | 0'36.352 |
| 8 | Garry McCoy | Triumph | AUS | 0'36.391 |
| 9 | Robbin Harms | Honda | DNK | 0'38.871 |
| 10 | Danilo Dell'omo | Honda | ITA | 0'52.944 |
| 11 | Miguel Praia | Honda | POR | 0'54.368 |
| 12 | Barry Veneman | Honda | NED | 1'00.679 |
| 13 | Gianluca Vizziello | Honda | ITA | 1'09.096 |
| 14 | Kevin Wahr | Triumph | GER | 1'11.106 |
| 15 | Anthony West | Honda | AUS | 1'18.979 |
| 22 | Yannick Guerra | Yamaha | ESP | 1'45.899 |
| Rider Standings | 06/09/2009 |
| Pos. | Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Points |
| 1. | Cal Crutchlow | Yamaha | GBR | 210 |
| 2. | Eugene Laverty | Honda | GBR | 188 |
| 3. | Joan Lascorz | Kawasaki | ESP | 138 |
| 4. | Kenan Sofuoglu | Honda | TUR | 128 |
| 5. | Fabien Foret | Yamaha | FRA | 99 |
| 6. | Anthony West | Honda | AUS | 96 |
| 7. | Andrew Pitt | Honda | AUS | 94 |
| 8. | Garry McCoy | Triumph | AUS | 71 |
| 9. | Mark Aitchison | Honda | AUS | 71 |
| 10. | Massimo Roccoli | Honda | ITA | 62 |
| 11. | Katsuaki Fujiwara | Kawasaki | JPN | 52 |
| 12. | Barry Veneman | Honda | NED | 49 |
| 13. | Michele Pirro | Yamaha | ITA | 49 |
| 14. | Matthieu Lagrive | Honda | FRA | 38 |
| 15. | Gianluca Nannelli | Triumph | ITA | 31 |
| 20. | Sheridan Morais | Yamaha | RSA | 10 |
| 22. | Doni Tata Pradita | Yamaha | IDN | 8 |
| 24. | Franco Battaini | Yamaha | ITA | 5 |
| 28. | Hudson Kennaugh | Yamaha | RSA | 2 |
| 32. | Yannick Guerra | Yamaha | ESP | 1 |
| Manufacturer Standings | 06/09/2009 |
| Pos. | Manufacturer | Points |
| 1. | Yamaha | 235 |
| 2. | Honda | 231 |
| 3. | Kawasaki | 149 |
| 4. | Triumph | 85 |
| 5. | Suzuki | 30 |
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