World Superbike

Spies, Biaggi, and Haga swept both Qatar podiums

If the Superbike World Championship regulars hadn’t taken American Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike Team) serious as a championship contender before, there’s no doubt that they would be by now, with the Texan’s dominant performance at Qatar’s second round of the series shocking all onlookers.

Spies raced to a brilliant double victory at the Losail circuit after scoring pole position (his second Superpole in a row), nabbing a new lap record in the process on his way to cementing himself as a clear threat for the title.

The 24-year-old isn’t only devastatingly quick, his race craft far exceeds his experience levels on the world stage. In the opening race he simply slotted in behind Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) and Max Biaggi (Racing Aprilia), dropping the hammer with just over five laps to go and taking off to win by 1.893 seconds.

Spies’ dominance was even greater in race two, taking over the lead on lap six and then streaking off into the distance for an ‘easy’ victory to seal the double. His final margin was only 1.274 seconds as he cruised on the final lap, but that gap was out to almost four seconds at one stage.

“I’ve been a fan of both of these guys for years. They’re two of my favourite riders,” Spies commented after the race. “Nori and Max rode really good. It’s hard to make up points on Nori when he keeps finishing second – he deserves it. Hopefully we can go to Valencia and be up front again. It was a good weekend. It’s not always like this, but we’ll take them when they come.”

The weekend’s result leaves the question of what could have been if Spies didn’t run off the circuit in race one at Phillip Island – he very well may have a perfect WSBK record if it wasn’t for that mishap, because he’s dominated ever since.

Despite his non-points scoring ride in race one at the Island, Spies has bounced back to second in the series, now just ten points in arrears of Haga. Japanese hero Haga has been in great form on the 1098 so far with a clean sweep of podiums as he took second in both races, although the pressure of Spies is quickly mounting.

Biaggi and Aprilia had a superb weekend with two third places, rising to the challenges of Spies and Haga, even surprising many with their performance in these early stages of the RSV4 development.

But it wasn’t just Biaggi who was strong on the new Aprilia, with fellow ex-GP rider Shinya Nakano scoring his best SBK results with a fourth in race one and a seventh in race two.

Another man to shine as top Honda for the weekend was former BSB champion Ryuichi Kiyonari (Ten Kate Honda), battling amongst the front runners in race two to finish fourth. He was eighth in race one.

Spies’ British teammate, and fellow rookie, Tom Sykes had a strong weekend with seventh and fifth in the two races, fighting amongst the front at times and proving he is a fast learner outside of Britain.

Also putting in a solid performance was the BMW Motorrad team with Troy Corser and Ruben Xaus on the S 1000 RR. Corser finished the weekend with a solid pair of ninth places, while Xaus joined him in the top 10 for race two in 10th.

Superbike returnee Broc Parkes (PBM Kawasaki) scored his first points with a 14th in race one, barely missing out in the second with a 16th place finish. Meanwhile his teammate Makoto Tamada sat out with a broken toe following a warm-up crash.

Laverty took Parkalgar Honda's first victory in Supersport

Karl Muggeridge (Celani Suzuki) finished the weekend with a 16th and 18th on his near-standard GSX-R1000, while Brendan Roberts (Guandalini Ducati) finished 21st in the opening race and 19th in the second.

“We got a minor engine upgrade but hopefully we get a bigger evolution by round three at Valencia. Till then I just have to watch my stickers getting pulled off down the straight when the other bikes pass me,” Muggas joked.

Qatar’s race weekend saw a number of big name crashes in the races including Jakub Smrz (Guandalini Ducati), Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox), Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki), Roberto Rolfo (Stiggy Racing Honda), and Tommy Hill (Althea Honda).

In World Supersport it was a memorable victory for ex-250GP rider Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda), scoring the team’s first ever victory in memory of the late Craig Jones. It was a great result for Laverty after struggling on non-competitive equipment in recent years, and also for the team after Jones’ devastating accident last year.

Second on the podium was Australia’s defending world champ Andrew Pitt (Ten Kate Honda), while pole setter Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha World Supersport Team) rounded out the podium.

Mark Aitchison (Althea Honda) was battling for the top five until he had a minor fall, rejoining to finish in 15th position. Garry McCoy (BE1 Triumph) was second best Aussie behind Pitt in seventh, while Ant West (Stiggy Racing Honda) was ninth. Russell Holland (CRS Honda) finished 18th, with Shaun Geronimi (Hoegee Suzuki) 23rd.

Full results from the entire weekend can be found here.

The series will move on to Valencia in Spain on 3-5 April.

MotoGP
While Ben Spies has been taking everybody by storm in the opening rounds of World Superbike, news has surfaced on an Italian website that Valentino Rossi is taking notice and has earmarked Spies as a possible candidate for Yamaha in MotoGP next year. Rossi reportedly wants to battle against the talented Spies on equal equipment, although it’s unlikely that Rossi will be in World Superbikes on the new R1 to go head-to-head with him anytime soon. This is why Rossi wants him in the premier class, and it will likely happen next year if Spies continues his current form.

Another American who we have been speculating on his future is John Hopkins, and some are suggesting that he will compete in MotoGP this year on a third Monster Energy Tech 3 Yamaha. As unlikely as that is to actually happen, it would be interesting to see Hopper on an M1.

It’s more likely that he’ll end up in World Superbikes, and MCN is reporting that Stiggy Racing Honda is still a very real possibility for the Californian. Hopkins was rumoured to be joining the team before Phillip Island but was still contracted to Kawasaki, but now that that’s all done then it may just be the “big treat” that Hopper hinted towards last week.

Repsol Honda launched its 2009 team of Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso on the weekend, with Pedrosa absent as he remains at home recovering from his Qatar testing incident.

The launch took place at Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid, alongside the Indoor Trial round, with Dovi actually riding in on a trials bike and hopping up onto the stage.

“Becoming an official rider in the Repsol Honda Team is a dream come true for me,” said Dovizioso. “Being in the official team means that you carry more responsibility, I now have to help develop the motorbike, and that in the world of MotoGP is quite complex. All I did before was to ride and go as fast as possible, refining the setup, but now I also have to think about how the bike behaves so that its overall performance can be improved.”

Meanwhile, Pedrosa will be fighting for full fitness in time for the opening MotoGP round next month.

Cudlin impressed on the new R1 in testing

World Endurance
The Cudlin brothers, Damien and Alex, have commenced testing on the 2009 model big-bang Yamaha YZF-R1 for their Phase One World Endurance team, riding at Albacete in Spain last week.

Damien circulated under the lap record in a top effort, enjoying the new R1 in only his second day of riding the bike.

“I was really excited to ride this new R1, and after finally getting a go of it, the boys couldn’t wipe the smile off my face,” Cudlin said. “It’s vastly different from last year’s bike, but it’s the best Superbike I’ve ever ridden and it’s going to make a great Endurance machine. I can’t wait to go racing on this thing. It’s awesome. I’m confident this combination is going to be tough to beat this year.”

American Supercross
James Stewart (San Manuel Yamaha) has rebounded from his disastrous Daytona round last week to score his eighth victory in the 2009 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship.

Stewart won the main event on Saturday night in New Orleans, beating out defending champion Chad Reed (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) and Broc Hepler (Team Yamaha), who scored his first podium of the season.

“I got a great start,” said Stewart. “I had to win tonight – point blank. I had to win. This is what I needed heading into the race next weekend in St. Louis.”

Reed remains in charge of the points chase on 246, eight ahead of Stewart’s 238. Honda Red Bull Racing’s Andrew Short remains third on 179 after scoring fifth behind Kevin Windham (Geico Powersports Honda) on the weekend.

Stewart, Reed, and Short are the top three in the AMA Supercross Championship

Reed was the only Australian in the main event as teammate Michael Byrne recovers from injury and Daniel McCoy separated with the Moto Concepts Honda team last week. Privateer Aden De Jager (No Toil Yamaha) finished 12th in the LCQ.

The Lites main event was won by Austin Stroupe (Monster Pro Circuit Kawasaki) in what was his second victory of the season, winning ahead of Brendan Jesseman (Canidae Motosport Kawasaki) and Blake Wharton (Geico Powersports Honda).

Detailed event results can be sourced right here.

Kawasaki’s Tim Ferry sat out the night after undergoing surgery to his right heel that he fractured in the turn one crash at Daytona last week.

Actor Brad Pitt was on hand at the event with the Hart & Huntington team to help bring awareness to his Pink Project and the Make It Right Foundation, which helps victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans’ 9th Ward district. The team, run by Carey Hart, ran pink bikes to help raise the awareness.