Spies Wins Superbike, BMW Starts Strong

For those of you following the World Superbike Championship, we have a couple of pieces of good news to report. Local club favorite and nearly-hometown- boy (Longview, Tex.) Ben Spies tore up the track in Qatar, taking the second straight superbike super pole. BMW's new riders, Troy Corser and Rueben Xaus, had a good first session, but fell far off the post in later racing. Here are the results through Saturday, March 14:

FIM Superbike World Championship Losial International Circuit Doha, Qatar March 13, 2009

SuperPole Results:

SuperPole Session 1:

1. Ben SPIES (Yam YZF-R1), 1:58.782

2. Tom SYKES (Yam YZF-R1), 1:58.803

3. Broc PARKES (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:58.856

4. Troy CORSER (BMW S1000 RR), 1:58.940

12. Ruben XAUS (BMW S1000 RR), 1:59.380

SuperPole Session 2:

1. Max BIAGGI (Apr RSV4), 1:57.836

2. Ben SPIES (Yam YZF-R1), 1:58.6368.

Not Qualified to Superpole:

Ruben XAUS (BMW S1000 RR), 1:59.43516.

Troy CORSER (BMW S1000 RR), 1:59.454

SuperPole Session 3:

1. Ben SPIES (Yam YZF-R1), 1:57.2802.

Final Combined Qualifying Results, After Superpole:

1. Ben SPIES (Yam YZF-R1)

15. Ruben XAUS (BMW S1000 RR), 1:59.435

16. Troy CORSER (BMW S1000 RR), 1:59.454

FIM Superbike World Championship Losail International Circuit Doha, Qatar March 14, 2009 Race Two Results:

1. Ben SPIES (Yam YZF-R1), 18 laps

2. Noriyuki HAGA (Duc 1098 F09), -1.274 seconds

3. Max BIAGGI (Apr RSV4), -1.622

4. Ryuichi KIYONARI (Hon CBR1000RR), -1.845

5. Tom SYKES (Yam YZF-R1), -5.117

6. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Suz GSX-R1000), -9.512

7. Shinya NAKANO (Apr RSV4), -9.514

8. Jonathan REA (Hon CBR1000RR), -12.621

9. Troy CORSER (BMW S1000 RR), -13.842

10. Ruben XAUS (BMW S1000 RR), -13.884

Comments from Ruben and Troy:

Ruben - 15th, 1:59.435

Of course, it is disappointing to be on the fourth row of the grid, but I’m happy because I have improved my lap times so much since my first session here. It’s not so easy developing a bike during the race weekend, but it’s just something that we have to get used to doing and trying to do it as well as we can. The more we push the bike towards its limit, the more we find out things and the more we have to work out how to improve those things. I want to be up the front - sooner rather than later - and I know it’s going to take some time, but I am confident that we are going to get there, before too long.

Troy - 16th, 1:59.954

I’m not a fan of this new Superpole system and I think it must be quite hard for the fans to follow and understand. My lap in Superpole 1 would’ve put me on row three for sure and maybe row two, if luck had gone our way. In Superpole 1, I used a qualifying tire for the first time this year and did a 1:58.950 quite easily. But for Superpole 2, that time gets wiped clean and you start all over again. We used the same tyre on the same bike for Superpole 2, but suddenly the bike was chattering and that made it impossible to go any quicker. It’s a bit frustrating when that happens and now I know I have got a very hard job ahead. My bike is not so fast at the top end as most of my rivals, so it means that I am going to have to work harder in the turns trying to stay with them.