MotoGP
Valencian GP: Ben Spies qualifying report
Spies just misses second row start for Valencia MotoGP race True to form, Sterilgarda Yamaha rider Ben Spies got straight down to business today making gradual improvements through the free practice and following qualifying session. Having had ...
Published: Nov 8, 2009, 7:33 PM
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Spies just misses second row start for Valencia MotoGP race
True to form, Sterilgarda Yamaha rider Ben Spies got straight down to business today making gradual improvements through the free practice and following qualifying session. Having had time overnight to digest his first experience on the M1 in yesterday's free practice Spies put his new knowledge to productive use and started shaving his times. The first heat in the morning saw him cut nearly a second off his times from yesterday, taking a lap best of 1'34.1 as he started to work more with the Bridgestone tires.
The afternoon's qualifying session saw more improvement again as he picked up the pace, hitting as high as 8th on the board with a provisional second row start until he was dropped to ninth at the closing seconds of the session. The times tumbled too, picking up where he left off in the morning, he took over six tenths of a second off the morning time to secure his top ten start in tomorrow's MotoGP race.
Ben Spies, Sterilgarda Yamaha Team - Position: 9th Time: 1'33.539
"It was another good day today, I'm still not where I feel comfortable and I'm definitely not at home yet but I think for such a short time on the bike I'm pretty happy to be in the top ten and not so far off some of the other guys on the Yamahas. In the end I need to try and get a good start, which I definitely haven't mastered yet, I've only had the chance to practice a couple so I think that could be where the downfall of the race will be for me. In the end I think it's an ok qualifying result for us, we just need to keep doing more laps on the bike. I can feel what the bike wants to do but I'm just not ready to take it there yet. Every time we get on it we go faster and that works for me.I'm still not close to what the tires can do either, I just need laps, laps and more laps!"
Massimo Meregalli, Sterilgarda Yamaha Team Manager
"As we thought, today went even better than our first outing yesterday. Ben is continuing to learn the bike and the tyres, unfortunately the wind here in Valencia today is making it much harder for him. Having said that, to start on the third row having spent just three hours riding this bike is pretty good. I think he achieved a great result today and we're looking forward to tomorrow."
-credit: yamaha
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