Spies' title hopes are looking mighty good now, with 12 wins in his pocket and an 18-point lead over Haga.
American Ben Spies blitzed past rival Noriyuki Haga in the World Superbike championship points with a solid showing at Germany’s Nurburgring. Spies transformed a seven point deficit into an 18-point advantage via a 1-2 results byline. The
Yamaha pilot was helped by Haga’s misfortune, the
Ducati rider scoring a dreaded DNF in the second race, which was won by HannSpree Honda’s Jonathan Rea.
Race 1
Haga managed to turn his pole position start into an early lead in Race 1, with Rea and Spies in tow. The young Texan bided his time, however, motoring past Rea on Lap 5 and making the move on Haga mid-race to ride onto the 12th victory of his impressive rookie year. Nitro Nori crossed the line almost four second behind. Meanwhile, HannSpree Ten Kate’s veteran rider, Carlos Checa, patiently worked forward from ninth at the end of Lap 1 up to his eventual third-place podium finish.
Rea, who had run in the top three for more than 2/3 of the race, had to settle for fourth with Max Biaggi claiming fifth aboard the RSV4 Factory. BMW’s Troy Corser did his best to put the new S1000RR up on its home steps but after running fourth throughout the first half, faded to eighth at the checkered flag.
American John Hopkins (Stiggy Honda) and Kawasaki’s Makoto Tamada both retired from Race 1 after a crash, with worldsbk.com reporting both were taken to the hospital for concussions.
Ben Spies elbowed his way into the points lead with a win in Race 1 and a very solid second-place result in Race 2 at Nurburgring.
1 Spies B. (USA)
Yamaha R1
2 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R +3.850
3 Checa C. (ESP)
Honda CBR1000RR +6.990
4 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR +7.109
5 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory +12.825
6 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR +13.243
7 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R +14.223
8 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR +14.382
9 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha R1 +17.206
10 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R +26.547
11 Lagrive M. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR +27.388
12 Muggeridge K. (AUS)
Suzuki GSX-R1000 +30.968
13 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R +31.069
14 Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR +31.188
15 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +40.165
Race 2
In the second contest, Jonathan Rea notched an impressive victory for the HannSpree Honda team. The former British Superbike star took the checkers from Spies by less than a second at the line, spoiling the American’s shot at the double and his 13th win of the season. Checa once again scored a third-place podium with his CBR1000RR. But the headline in Race 2 was Haga and his unfortunate DNF, having entered the second race two points up on Spies but finishing (or is it not finishing) 18 points down.
Biaggi rode the Aprilia to another top-five result in fourth, followed by Stiggy Honda’s Leon Haslam. Corser improved on the eighth-place Race 1 finish by two spots in Race 2. Riyuichi Kiyonari (Ten Kate Honda) was seventh and Tom Sykes (Yamaha) eighth, with Haga’s teammate, Michel Fabrizio ninth. Yukio Kagayama rounded out the top 10, the highest placing Suzuki on the day.
Haga managed to keep Spies in sight in Race 1 but then Race 2 saw a 20-point loss after his DNF and his rival's second-place finish.
1 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR
2 Spies B. (USA) Yamaha R1 +0.786
3 Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR +4.993
4 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory +8.191
5 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR +10.907
6 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000RR +17.152
7 Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR +19.473
8 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha R1 +19.721
9 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R +22.981
10 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +24.161
11 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R +29.367
12 Nieto F. (ESP) Ducati 1098R +30.007
13 Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-10R +37.281
14 Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R +47.883
15 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR +49.549
DNF Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R
World Superbike Championship Points:
Ben Spies 364
Noriyuki Haga 346
Michel Fabrizio 289
Jonathan Rea 244
Max Biaggi 224
Leon Haslam 201
Carlos Checa 177
Tom Sykes 165
Shane Byrne 140
Jakub Smrz 140
