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| Spies takes another race victory in drama filled Magny Cours | | | It was yet another tough race weekend for Yamaha World Superbike rider Ben Spies at Magny Cours today. The penultimate round of the 2009 championship saw Spies take one race victory, and then hang on desperately for points with a front tyre that struggled to perform in race two.
The American rider took the lead from the start of the first race, hotly pursued by championship rival Noriyuki Haga. Spies held onto the lead until the last lap, where Haga managed to pass. His lead was short lived however as Spies retook the front position a few seconds later to cross the line and claim his 13th win of the season. Race two saw him off the line into third chasing Biaggi and Haga into the first corner. It soon became apparent that Spies was finding it hard to lay down power in the corners, as his front tyre hampered his attack. Rea made a pass at the end of the first lap dropping Ben to fourth, a position he managed to hold until the line, despite dropping nearly a second a lap from the front group over the last few laps of the race.
Tom Sykes endured a disastrous race day; the second lap of the first race saw the rider over brake slightly, causing a huge crash sending his bike catapulting down the track, narrowly missing him. Sykes was uninjured barring a small break to his right little finger, so rejoined for race two. Unfortunately on the second lap of the second race, a yellow flag caused rider Carlos Checa a moment of indecision, resulting in him running too hot into Sykes at the hairpin and taking him out. Fortunately he has just a bruised shoulder but will be fit for the Portimao races.
Spies now heads into the final two races at the Portimao circuit with 426 points, trailing championship leader Haga on 436 by ten points. A double win in Portugal will secure the title for the all-time greatest rookie in the series. Team mate Tom Sykes remains in eighth position heading to the last round, on 176 points and trailing seventh placed rider Checa by 24 points.
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| Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (1st, 4th)
"The whole first race had some good parts and bad ones. We made some small mistakes, costing us a tenth here and a tenth there letting the riders come back and not really taking advantage of the lead. I made a mistake on the last lap and let Nori through, so I had to get on the outside and get back past. Honestly I'm just super disappointed with the second race. We made a rear tyre choice which was neither better nor worse, but the front tyre we had on in the second race was hard to go at a pace with. I was consistently half a second off what we were doing in practice. I'm honestly surprised we didn't finish in tenth with the way the bike felt. Even if we had won today we would still go to Portimao having to win both races so it doesn't really change too much."
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|  | Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (DNF, DNF)
"race one I made a bit of a mistake, I went for the brake lever and it was just a touch further out than I normally have it so my initial brake pressure was really strong and I knew that, but I had a split second and I lost the front and couldn't save it. It was a massive crash and I was lucky to get away with it. For race two we changed the rear tyre, which I wasn't convinced was the right one but we went with anyway, unfortunately I was proved right and was struggling with it. Before I could do anything, going into the hairpin Carlos Checa made a big mistake and I got caught up in that and landed badly, pulling the muscles in my shoulder. Luckily nothing broken, so a weekend to forget, and I'm looking forward to something better in Portimao."
Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
"We won the first race, and we were thinking we would catch up some more points to Nori in the second. Something went wrong, unfortunately outside of our control, and there was nothing Ben could do to ride round it. We are going to Portimao with just one target, to win both races, which I think is possible. Tom had a really bad weekend with three crashes, I'm sorry for him as he was trying really hard to get results and unfortunately for him everything went wrong. We will see what happens in Portugal."
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| Circuit Length: 4411
Temp: 19
Crowd: 81000
Weather: Cloudy Lap Record: 1'40.601 (Lorenzo Lanzi, 01/01/2005)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1'37.709 (Ben Spies, 04/10/2009)
Last Years Winner: Troy Bayliss | | | 2009 WSB France - Magny-Cours 04/10/2009 | | Pos. | Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Total Time | | 1 | Ben Spies | Yamaha | USA | 37'57.110 | | 2 | Noriyuki Haga | Ducati | JPN | 0'00.181 | | 3 | Max Biaggi | Aprilia | ITA | 0'05.009 | | 4 | Michel Fabrizio | Ducati | ITA | 0'16.347 | | 5 | Leon Haslam | Honda | GBR | 0'22.622 | | 6 | Carlos Checa | Honda | ESP | 0'24.948 | | 7 | Yukio Kagayama | Suzuki | JPN | 0'27.114 | | 8 | Shane Byrne | Ducati | GBR | 0'27.578 | | 9 | Troy Corser | BMW | AUS | 0'28.486 | | 10 | Jakub Smrz | Ducati | CZE | 0'28.716 | | 11 | Ruben Xaus | BMW | ESP | 0'52.680 | | 12 | Matteo Baiocco | Kawasaki | ITA | 1'01.372 | | 13 | Luca Scassa | Kawasaki | ITA | 1'05.123 | | 14 | David Salom | Kawasaki | ESP | 1'05.483 | | 15 | David Checa | Yamaha | ESP | 1'05.672 |
| Pos. | Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Total Time | | 1 | Noriyuki Haga | Ducati | JPN | 38'00.282 | | 2 | Max Biaggi | Aprilia | ITA | 0'01.480 | | 3 | Jonathan Rea | Honda | GBR | 0'06.024 | | 4 | Ben Spies | Yamaha | USA | 0'18.135 | | 5 | Leon Haslam | Honda | GBR | 0'21.236 | | 6 | Yukio Kagayama | Suzuki | JPN | 0'23.647 | | 7 | Shane Byrne | Ducati | GBR | 0'23.701 | | 8 | Karl Muggeridge | Suzuki | AUS | 0'24.838 | | 9 | Carlos Checa | Honda | ESP | 0'31.455 | | 10 | Troy Corser | BMW | AUS | 0'32.507 | | 11 | Fonsi Nieto | Ducati | ESP | 0'37.594 | | 12 | Ruben Xaus | BMW | ESP | 0'44.727 | | 13 | Michel Fabrizio | Ducati | ITA | 0'49.782 | | 14 | Matteo Baiocco | Kawasaki | ITA | 0'50.345 | | 15 | Broc Parkes | Kawasaki | AUS | 0'56.209 | | 17 | David Checa | Yamaha | ESP | 1'00.391 |
| Rider Standings | 04/10/2009 | | Pos. | Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Points | | 1. | Noriyuki Haga | Ducati | JPN | 436 | | 2. | Ben Spies | Yamaha | USA | 426 | | 3. | Michel Fabrizio | Ducati | ITA | 346 | | 4. | Max Biaggi | Aprilia | ITA | 293 | | 5. | Jonathan Rea | Honda | GBR | 279 | | 6. | Leon Haslam | Honda | GBR | 241 | | 7. | Carlos Checa | Honda | ESP | 200 | | 8. | Tom Sykes | Yamaha | GBR | 176 | | 9. | Shane Byrne | Ducati | GBR | 166 | | 10. | Jakub Smrz | Ducati | CZE | 161 | | 11. | Ryuichi Kiyonari | Honda | JPN | 141 | | 12. | Yukio Kagayama | Suzuki | JPN | 123 | | 13. | Troy Corser | BMW | AUS | 89 | | 14. | Shinya Nakano | Aprilia | JPN | 86 | | 15. | Regis Laconi | Ducati | FRA | 77 | | 25. | Leon Camier | Yamaha | GBR | 13 | | 29. | James Ellison | Yamaha | GBR | 8 | | 39. | David Checa | Yamaha | ESP | 1 |
| Manufacturer Standings | 04/10/2009 | | Pos. | Manufacturer | Points | | 1. | Ducati | 534 | | 2. | Yamaha | 469 | | 3. | Honda | 395 | | 4. | Aprilia | 303 | | 5. | Suzuki | 167 | | 6. | BMW | 126 | | 7. | Kawasaki | 69 |
| Crutchlow takes a big step towards the championship title at Magny Cours | | | Yamaha World Supersport rider Cal Crutchlow stepped closer to taking the 2009 World Supersport championship title today, increasing his lead over rival Eugene Laverty in another Supersport race marred by incident. Crutchlow started well from his pole position on the grid, momentarily taking first going into the second lap before dropping to second again behind Lascorz with a comfortable pace below his proven race pace. Rival Laverty came past on the second lap before going wide a lap later allowing Crutchlow back through along with his team mate Foret. Laverty then came back through, but low sided on lap 12, rejoining in 15th position. Crutchlow then began to close in on Lascorz, and was gaining ground for a pass when the race was red flagged with another rider dropping oil, giving the win to Lascorz. Crutchlow's team mate Fabien Foret had a frustrating race day. Having shown excellent race pace all weekend Foret started well in the race, moving up from his sixth position start he quickly moved through the field, capitalizing on a mistake from Laverty to reach as high as third before crashing out on lap five after losing the front end going into a tight right hander.
Crutchlow goes to Portimao for the final race on 230 points, leading rival Laverty by 19. Team mate Foret heads to the final round in sixth place on 115 points, just two points behind fifth placed rider Anthony West with 117.
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| Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (2nd)
"It was a good enough race in the end, I felt like I could have won it, and it was about time we had some more luck. Eugene crashed but he was no real problem during the race, the pace was really slow and I knew I could go to low 1'41s towards the end of the race if I needed to. We did what we needed to do, and we got a good second place which was nice. The team has worked really hard, so we're all looking to keep it going for the next one at Portimao."
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|  | Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team, (DNF)
"I'm obviously very disappointed because I think I had a good pace to do a good race, unfortunately I had an issue going into the corner and unfortunately crashed out. I think I could definitely have got to a good podium finish so it's a real shame. I'm going to look forward to the final round in Portimao and see if I can get up to fifth in the championship."
Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager
"What a race, it was unbelievable. A really exciting one to watch, the guys were really riding for the championship the first few laps. Cal was very tight and relaxed, and we saw Eugene crashed after losing the front when pushing on. I think Cal was quite relieved after that as he immediately went half a second faster and continued to be consistent. Lascorz was very fast, and although Cal was catching him I was really happy when the red flag came out and the race was stopped, two or three guys crashed out which brought Eugene up to 12th from 15th. We have to stay very sharp, a 19 point lead is great but it's not done yet. I feel really sorry for Fabien, he did a really good job in the first couple of laps, he's definitely back in his old shape, unfortunately as he shifted to second going into the corner the gearbox jumped out of second and he lost the front. It wasn't his fault so we have to see if he touched the lever or something. He deserved to get a better result today but I think he can be proud of what he did."
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| | 2009 WSS France - Magny-Cours 04/10/2009 | |
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