SBK: Ben Spies Crowned 2009 World Superbike Champion at Portimao!!!

By
Brian Christner
Published: October 25, 2009Posted in: World SuperbikeTags: , , , , , , , , ,
SBK: Ben Spies Crowned 2009 World Superbike Champion at Portimao!!!

Ben Spies Crowned 2009 World Superbike ChampionBen “Elbowz” Spies did the impossible and dominated in World Superbike in his rookie year.  He also takes away with him the record eleven superpoles in one season the most ever in World Superbike.

Under the beautiful Portuguese sunshine Spies had a difficult task laid out in front of him to fight for the title with Ducati Xerox rider Noriyuki Haga.

Spies dominated the opening race to open out a 15 point advantage over Noriyuki Haga heading into the decider, the American produced a comparatively tentative performance to simply ride for the chequered flag in fifth place.

Spies knew that if Haga were to place first he could finished no less than sixth.  Haga rallied in last few laps to finish in second, but it wasn’t enough to deny Spies, the two rivals and friends concluding their epic season-long battle separated by just six points.

This is the first World Superbike Title for Yamaha at the World Superbike level.  Yamaha was gifted for winning both the MotoGP and World Superbike titles the same day.

Ben Spies will now head to MotoGP taking with the World Superbike crown in tow.  With such great momentum heading to his next job all eyes will be on Spies as he joins the Tech 3 Yamaha team in Valencia.

Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (1st, 5th)
” I’ve got to thank Yamaha for giving me the bike I need to win. We had a really good first race, in the second we did what we had to do to win. It was quite difficult to keep it in check as the pace was pretty fast, I saw I had a couple of people behind me and I knew that if Nori won I had to be in sixth and that’s where I was so I tried to get a bit of a gap on them and stay out of trouble. Max came through the inside of me and ran off a couple of times which really freaked me out so I went to get past him and then settled in for some nice fast laps to the end. It’s been a spectacular day and I can’t thank those people enough that have been behind me. It’s been incredible to do it for Yamaha, and especially in my first year here. I don’t think I really realize what’s happening right now but I’m sure it’s going to hit me in a couple of days!”