Spies takes well earned seventh in Valencia GP
Ben Spies made a good job of silencing any critics he may have today as
he set about putting his mark on the GP field ahead of his racing year in
2010. Starting from ninth on the grid he had a good start to hold his
position until Marco Melandri passed him towards the end of the first
lap. As he got used to his race tires and settled into his pace he
dropped further until lap eight where he held 12th behind Andrea
Dovizioso. As lap 11 got under way the American wildcard tucked in and
got down to business, taking Melandri for 11th and beginning to chase
down Mika Kallio. He caught him on lap 17 to take 10th then swiftly
dispatched De Angelis on the next lap for ninth.
By lap 19 Spies was turning in a 1'34.1 second lap, quick enough to be
running with Colin Edwards in fourth. The speed enabled him to catch
Randy De Puniet by lap 21 for eighth and close in on Dovizioso in
seventh. With six laps to go, he capitalized on a mistake as the Repsol
Honda rider ran wide, passing on the inside to take seventh and hold it
to the line, claiming his first top ten MotoGP race finish for Yamaha.
Ben Spies Sterilgarda Yamaha Team - Position: 7thTime: +37.706
"It was a good day. We got a good start which something I didn't think
was going to happen. For the first six or seven laps I wasn't really on
it, I wasn't used to the way the tires come in so I was halfway taking it
easy and halfway getting pushed around because I didn't want to do
anything silly. Once we got into a rhythm I got to follow some people and
it was ok, then I slowly started to pass some people and got my eyes set
on the guys in front. Once I got passed Dovizioso I could see Nicky
Hayden and Tony Elias up ahead. I knew I wasn't going to catch them but I
tried to keep my pace going and was able to keep it steady. It's been a
dream first weekend for us, to get seventh on a track I don't
particularly favour is pretty cool, the feeling is the same as winning a
superbike race. I'm happy we've kept the bike off the ground and made
solid progress all weekend which was our number one goal. I just want to
thank Yamaha for giving me this opportunity, and all the sponsors that
helped put this together for the weekend, especially Sterilgarda, BM
Group, Fimer, Parts Europe and everybody else who made it possible to get
this thing going, I think we did a good job for them."
Massimo Meregalli, Sterilgarda Yamaha Team Manager
"Another impressive weekend from Ben. He improved steadily in all the
sessions, we knew this morning that he would finish the race higher than
he started. I think soon he'll pick up full confidence in the bike and
tires and in time will reach his full potential on the track. I'm pretty
sure that next week he'll improve some more and get closer to the pace. I
know he's a very clever rider and he's going to achieve his goals in
MotoGP. I too want to thank all the sponsors who made it possible for us
to come and race here this weekend, Sterilgarda, BM Group, Fimer, Parts
Europe and everyone else have been brilliant."
-credit: yamaha
