It was one of those weekends that Ben Spies will probably look back on and just shake his head. The two-wheeled wunderkind has had his share of misfortune in an otherwise stunning year in World Superbike. Spies came to Brno with a fourteen point deficit to championship leader Noriyuki Haga who would be riding with a broken ulna bone in his right arm and painful fractures in his left scapula. The tenth round of the championship was looking like a good opportunity for Spies to make up some ground, and possibly take the championship lead away from Haga.Spies started off the weekend by taking his ninth superpole of the season. An effort that put him one short of the record set by Doug Polen in 1991. After falling behind at the start of race one Spies worked his way to the front, and looked in control until an over aggressive Michel Fabrizio took both riders out when he lost the front end trying to make a pass. Both bikes were unable to continue, and an apologetic Fabrizio offered his condolences to Spies who pushed the Italian away and pointed to his head.
The crash put Max Biaggi in the lead at a track where the Italian runs well no matter what he’s riding. Biaggi cruised to victory on the Aprilia ahead of Carlos Checa and Jonathan Rea. Haga managed to finish eighth after starting fourteenth, and added to his points lead over Spies and Fabrizio. The win was the first for the Aprilia RSV4, and the first win for an Aprilia since Regis Laconi won at Imola in 2001.
Race 1 Results
In race two Spies took the early lead, and put a gap between himself and the field in what looked like an attempt to remove any chance of being taken out by another rider. The American was chased by both Biaggi and Fabrizio, but it was Biaggi who stayed with Spies until the end. Spies was clearly working hard to keep the lead, but Biaggi couldn’t get by and Spies rode to his eleventh win of the season with Biaggi and Fabrizio taking the next two spots on the podium. Haga improved on his race one result with a sixth place finish, but with the win Spies was able to narrow the Japanese rider’s lead to six points.
Race 2 Results
The recent break gave all of the teams some time to improve their bikes, and the BMW team came to Brno with a new engine. Troy Corser and Ruben Xaus qualified sixth and seventh on the SR1000 RR, and Corser led both races early. Xaus had a vicious high-side in race one, and didn’t compete in the second race.
After being second quickest in Friday practice John Hopkins qualified twentieth. Hopkins crashed out of race one on lap eleven, and ended his weekend with an engine failure in race two.
The next race on the WSBK calendar is at the Nurburging on September 6th so all of the teams get more time to work on their bikes, and riders like Haga get time to recuperate from their injuries.
