2009 Hannspree World SuperBike Championship Round 2, Losail, Qatar, March 14th Race Report
BEN SPIES DOES THE DOUBLE AT QATAR
Yamaha's WSBK rookie rider Ben Spies took a spectacular double at the second round of the Hannspree FIM World Superbike Championship at the Losail circuit in Qatar. The 24 year-old Texan powered to his third win in the opening four races, dominating both the 18-lappers twice ahead of Xerox Ducati's Nori Haga and Aprilia's Max Biaggi who took the same podiums in each race.
Race One. In the opening race poleman Ben Spies made his attack with six laps to go and pulled out a gap of over two seconds, which allowed him to open up his lead to the chequred flag. There was a great fight for the runner-up slot between Xerox Ducati's Nori Haga and Aprilia's Max Biaggi, with the Japanese rider just getting the nod over the Italian. For Aprilia it was their first podium since returning to world superbikes, and the Italian manufacturer's competitivness was confirmed by fourth place rider Shinya Nakano. Fifth place went to Hannspree Ten Kate Honda's Carlos Checa who managed to hold off an attack from the British duo of Sterilgarda Ducati's Shane Byrne and Yamaha World Superbikes Tom Sykes, with Checa's team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari finishing eighth. Troy Corser scored an encouraging ninth place for the BMW team with DFX Corse Ducati's Regis Laconi completing the top ten.
Race Two. In race two American Ben Spies went on to win the race by over four seconds ahead of Xerox Ducati's Nori Haga and Aprilia's Max Biaggi as both the Japanese and Italian riders had no answer's to the outright pace of Spies Yamaha. Fourth place went to Hannspree Ten Kate Honda's Ryuichi Kiyonari while Britain's Tom Sykes took a strong fifth. The battle for sixth eventually went down to a photo finish as Alstare Suzuki's Max Neukirchner just got the edge over Aprilia's Shinya Nakano who had to settle for seventh with Hannspree Ten Kate Honda's Johnny Rea in eighth. With both the BMW machines coming on strong, saw Troy Corser and Ruben Xaus finish in ninth and tenth.
WORLD SUPERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP.
Ireland's Eugene Laverty scored his first ever victory in World Supersport's thanks to a perfect slip streaming to the line, where the Parkalgar Honda rider was able to beat the current world champion Hannspree Ten Kate Honda's Andew Pitt who must have thought he was on for the win. Britain's Cal Crutchlow who started from pole took his first podium in world supersports thanks to Hannspree Ten Kate Honda's Kenan Sofuoglu who ran wide on the final turn to eventually finish fourth.
