World SBK: Assen, Netherlands

Olaf Wolff
AllAboutBikes Sr. Staff-Writer

For irrefutable corroboration that the Hannspree FIM Superbike World Championship so thoroughly pegs the motorsport excitement meter like no other, look no further than race one at the legendary Assen TT Circuit in the Netherlands this weekend. 76,000 spectators were treated to the best race yet of the ’09 season as Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike) and Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) continued their two-way supremacy.

Race 1

Starting from yet another pole position, the young Texan phenom led the first part of the race, pulling Haga and Leon Haslam (Honda) along with him. The trio separated themselves from the rest of the pack within a few laps. Spies however looked uncomfortable with his bike and surrendered the lead to Haga and Haslam with half a race still to go.

Spies said later, “I was trying to set a really good pace in the first few laps, but just didn't have the same feeling I had in practice with the bike, and Nori came by and I saw nobody was behind Haslam, so I just sat back and watched.”

Spies watched and he learned, at one point dropping back noticeably, as though trying to get a better perspective on how the two leaders navigated the track. With the race winding down to the final laps, Spies made his move on Haslam, setting him up high, then dropping down on the next turn. Spies got his front wheel inside, but Haslam held his line. Instead of backing off and giving Haslam that turn, Spies instead muscled along side Haslam, the two riders appeared to be leaning on each other through the turn, and as they exited, Spies had the advantage. His sights set next on Haga.

The pass on Haslam was brilliant and it set the stage for an even more spectacular pass on Haga. With only a few turns remaining, Spies seemly willed himself around a surprised Haga, on a high-speed sweeper that Haga wasn’t expecting to get passed on. It was a unbelievable move that certainly will leave a dent in Haga’s memories further into the season. Third place went to Haslam, who had the satisfaction of recording a new lap record.

Race 2

Four podiums in a row is a new rookie record set by Spies, but it won’t be good enough at this point with Haga’s eight in a row. The outcome of the second race was decided early on, on lap two, in turn one in fact, when Spies slid off into the gravel while in the lead – going from hero to zero. This left Haga with an uncontested run to the flag as he leveled the score with Spies and his fourth win of the year. In the championship Haga now has a 60-point lead over Spies, 180 to 120. This was Spies first get-off in over four years.

If Spies’ Yamaha is currently set at near 95 percent perfect, Haga’s Ducati is already at 100 percent, and that appeared to be the deciding factor. Haga’s comment about the second race was, “First of all, I'm sorry for Ben and his crash, I hope he is fine. After the first race we changed the suspension a little bit and the bike was really comfortable, so a big thanks to everyone in the team. I think it's nine years since I won here, in 2000, so I'm very happy and now I'm looking forward to Monza.”

Haslam improved on his result in the first race with a second place in race two, indicating he was a true contender. Jakub Smrz (CZE) riding another Ducati scored his first-ever career podium in third. The Czech rider got the better of Fabrizio in the final stages. The Italian had a broken gearbox in the end, but managed to bring his 1098 home in fourth place.