Race One Crash Nuburgring 2009

Ben Spies is now leading the World Superbike Championship after winning race one and finish second in race two as Noriyuki Haga crashed out.

Race One

The red flags were deployed as race one got underway after John Hopkins on the Stiggy Honda, lost the rear of his machine going into turn one, collecting the pair of Paul Bird Kawasaki riders Broc Parkes and Makoto Tamada on the way.  Both Tamada and Hopkins were taken to hospital with concussion.

At the restart, it was Haga that led the pack across the line followed by Jonathan Rea on the Ten Kate Honda and Spies.

With 16 laps of the race to run, Spies passed Rea but  the Irishman reclaimed the position one lap later before immediately losing it again as he ran wide.  Spies then set about chasing Haga who had managed to create a 1 second gap.

The Yamaha rider made his move on Haga on lap 10 but couldn’t pull away from the Japanese rider until the penultimate lap .

Spies crossed the line to take his twelfth win of the season followed by Haga, who was riding for the first time since suffering a huge crash at Donington Park.

The Hanspree Ten Kate Honda of Carlos Checa crossed the line to take the third step of the podium after holding off his team-mate Jonathan Rea.

The battle for fifth place was taken by Max Biaggi on the Aprilia RSV4, after he had reclaimed the place taken by Leon Haslam a few laps previous.  Haslam finished in sixth for the Stiggy Honda team ahead of Michel Fabrizio on the Ducati Xerox machine.

Troy Corser on the BMW claimed eighth place after running as high as fourth during the race, he was followed by Tom Sykes on the second Yamaha World Superbike and Shane Byrne in tenth on the Sterilgarda Ducati.

Richard Cooper, who was riding as a replacement rider for the BMW man Ruben Xaus, crashed out of the race while running in fifteenth spot.

Here are the results;

1 5 19 B. SPIES USA Yamaha WSB Yamaha YZF R1 20 1′56.558 272,7 1′55.938 272,7 25 344 2
2 1 41 N. HAGA JPN Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098R 20 3.850 1′56.539 270,0 1′55.489 272,0 20 346 1
3 8 7 C. CHECA ESP HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR1000RR 20 6.990 1′56.924 270,7 1′56.699 266,7 16 161 7
4 2 65 J. REA GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR1000RR 20 7.109 1′57.013 272,7 1′55.749 272,0 13 219 4
5 7 3 M. BIAGGI ITA Aprilia Racing Aprilia RSV4 Factory 20 12.825 1′56.775 274,8 1′56.440 272,0 11 211 5
6 3 91 L. HASLAM GBR Stiggy Racing Honda Honda CBR1000RR 20 13.243 1′57.001 270,7 1′55.776 270,0 10 190 6
7 4 84 M. FABRIZIO ITA Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098R 20 14.223 1′56.933 272,7 1′55.927 269,3 9 282 3
8 6 11 T. CORSER AUS BMW Motorrad Motorsport BMW S1000 RR 20 14.382 1′56.943 268,0 1′56.296 268,7 8 61 16
9 9 66 T. SYKES GBR Yamaha WSB Yamaha YZF R1 20 17.206 1′57.201 271,4 1′56.406 269,3 7 157 8
10 10 67 S. BYRNE GBR Sterilgarda Ducati 1098R 20 26.547 1′57.730 268,7 1′56.663 266,0 6 140 9
11 16 14 M. LAGRIVE FRA Honda Althea Racing Honda CBR1000RR 20 27.388 1′57.638 265,4 1′57.293 266,0 5 24 19
12 17 31 K. MUGGERIDGE AUS Suzuki Alstare BRUX Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 20 30.968 1′57.866 268,0 1′57.515 270,0 4 8 29
13 14 96 J. SMRZ CZE Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R 20 31.069 1′57.774 274,1 1′57.091 272,0 3 135 10
14 18 9 R. KIYONARI JPN Ten Kate Honda Racing Honda CBR1000RR 20 31.188 1′57.609 268,0 1′57.522 266,7 2 121 11
15 13 71 Y. KAGAYAMA JPN Suzuki Alstare BRUX Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 20 40.165 1′58.150 267,3 1′56.901 265,4 1 97 12
16 25 99 L. SCASSA ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX 10R 20 54.897 1′58.889 268,0 1′59.521 262,8 3 34
17 23 25 D. SALOM ESP Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX 10R 20 1′01.958 1′59.246 262,8 1′59.058 260,2
18 27 88 R. RESCH AUT TKR Suzuki Switzerland Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 19 1 Lap 2′01.239 258,4 2′02.102 254,1

Race Two

In race two, it was Jonathan Rea on the Hanspree Ten Kate Honda that took his second victory of the season despite a late challenge by Sterilgarda Yamaha rider Ben Spies.

As the lights went out for the start of race two, it was Noriyuki Haga that led the riders into the first corner followed by BMW rider Troy Corser, Carlos Checa on the second Hanspree Honda and Leon Haslam on the Stiggy Honda.

Rea was in seventh place on his Honda as the front leaders headed into the first bend, but passed Spies before the end of lap one.  Carlos Checa passed the BMW of Troy Corser before attempting a move on Haga but ran wide as Rea made his way past Leon Haslam, Michel Fabrizio and Troy Corser.

Carlos Checa again made a move to pass Haga but this time it worked, however, he was unable to keep the pace and  Haga reclaimed his position on the following lap with Rea in his tow as Leon Haslam passed Checa for fourth place.

As Haga passed the Hanspree Honda on lap five at the hairpin, the Japanese rider went slightly wide giving Rea a glimpse of a pass.  As Haga moved back to the racing line he made contact with the Honda and crashed-out.  He was unable to restart his bike and was out of the race and lost his lead in the championship.

Leon Haslam was now sitting in third, moving his way up to second a couple of laps later when he passed the Honda of Carlos Checa.

Ben Spies was now on a charge and passed Checa with twelve laps of the race remaining, Spies then passed Haslam on the inside, forcing the Stiggy rider wide and allowing Checa back through.  Haslam was then passed by Max Biaggi on the Aprilia, demoting the Brit to fifth place.

Jonathan Rea took the chequered flag ahead of  Ben Spies in second and Carlos Checa in third.  Max Biaggi finished the race in fourth place followed by Leon Haslam in fifth and Troy Corser in sixth.

Ryuichi Kiyonari on the Ten Kate Honda Racing machine, finished in seventh place ahead of Tom Sykes on the second Yamaha World Superbike, Michel Fabrizio on the Ducati Xerox in ninth and Yukio Kagayama on the Suzuki Alstare in tenth.

Shane Byrne on the Sterilgarda Ducati crashed out midway through the race and Richard Cooper crashed with only five laps left to run.

Here are the results;

1 2 65 J. REA GBR HANNspree Ten Kate HondHaonda CBR1000RR 20 1′56.234 274,1 1′55.749 272,0 13 25 244 4
2 5 19 B. SPIES USA Yamaha WSB Yamaha YZF R1 20 0.786 1′56.358 277,6 1′55.938 272,7 25 20 364 1
3 8 7 C. CHECA ESP HANNspree Ten Kate HondHaonda CBR1000RR 20 4.993 1′56.535 271,4 1′56.699 266,7 16 16 177 7
4 7 3 M.BIAGGI ITA Aprilia Racing Aprilia RSV4 Factory 20 8.191 1′56.728 273,4 1′56.440 272,0 11 13 224 5
5 3 91 L. HASLAM GBR Stiggy Racing Honda Honda CBR1000RR 20 10.907 1′56.414 272,0 1′55.776 270,0 10 11 201 6
6 6 11 T. CORSER AUS BMW Motorrad Motorsport BMW S1000 RR 20 17.152 1′57.088 268,0 1′56.296 268,7 8 10 71 16
7 18 9 R. KIYONARI JPN Ten Kate Honda Racing Honda CBR1000RR 20 19.473 1′57.052 269,3 1′57.522 266,7 2 9 130 11
8 9 66 T. SYKES GBR Yamaha WSB Yamaha YZF R1 20 19.721 1′57.250 271,4 1′56.406 269,3 7 8 165 8
9 4 84 M.FABRIZIO ITA Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098R 20 22.981 1′56.924 268,0 1′55.927 269,3 9 7 289 3
10 13 71 Y. KAGAYAMA JPN Suzuki Alstare BRUX Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 20 24.161 1′57.372 265,4 1′56.901 265,4 1 6 103 12
11 14 96 J. SMRZ CZE Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R 20 29.367 1′57.404 269,3 1′57.091 272,0 3 5 140 10
12 11 10 F. NIETO ESP DFX Corse Ducati 1098R 20 30.007 1′57.553 266,7 1′56.670 267,3 4 17 21
13 15 23 B. PARKES AUS Kawasaki World Superbike RK.aTw. asaki ZX 10R 20 37.281 1′58.100 266,7 1′57.098 266,0 3 34 18
14 25 99 L. SCASSA ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX 10R 20 47.883 1′58.635 271,4 1′59.521 262,8 2 5 32
15 20 77 V. IANNUZZO ITA Squadra Corse Italia Honda CBR1000RR 20 49.549 1′58.692 266,0 1′59.279 265,4 1 2 36
16 21 15 M.BAIOCCO ITA Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R 20 49.635 1′58.553 270,0 1′58.637 261,5 3 35
17 23 25 D.SALOM ESP Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX 10R 20 1′19.554 1′59.920 259,0 1′59.058 260,2
18 24 94 D. CHECA ESP Yamaha France GMT 94 IpoYnaemaha YZF R1 20 1′22.329 2′00.126 261,5 1′59.467 262,1

Richard Cooper - National Superstock - Co-Ordit Racing 2009

Richard Cooper, the National Superstock rider, is to replace the injured Ruben Xaus for the BMW team at the next round of the World Superbike Championship at the Nurburgring next weekend.

Xaus broke his right femur after high-siding at the Brno circuit back in July, he underwent an operation at a hospital in Barcelona to have three screws inserted into the bone and was hoping to back on his bike for the Nurburgring but doctors have advised the Spaniard to miss this race.

Cooper will partner Troy Corser on the BMW S1000RR after testing the machine at the Eurospeedway Lausitz, he said;

“It’s a great honour to be asked by the team to ride in place of Ruben and I will do my very best for sure. This ride is like a dream come true, but I am under no illusions about the massive task waiting for me this weekend. I have never raced at the Nurburgring before, but at least I have tested the S 1000 RR racebike, so I have some knowledge of it before going out for my first laps.

My first impressions of the bike were very good and I was surprised and pleased how smooth it felt and how good the power delivery was. I will be under no pressure from the team this weekend and all they want me to do is ride the bike and try and enjoy the experience.

Ruben and I are very different physically – I am a lot shorter and weigh a lot less – so my first job is to get the bike set up for me. It’s not nice stepping into somebody else’s shoes, and I wish Ruben a speedy recovery, but this is a great opportunity for me and I will be giving it my best shot.”

Cooper impressed fans and teams alike when he led the British Superbike race at Mallory Park in July, eventually finishing in fifth place.  His association with the BMW team has been a long one after previously running in the World Endurance and the BMW Boxer Cup.