MotoGP News
Date: 26/06/2011
Ben Spies achieved his much-anticipated first MotoGP win in dominant style at Assen on Saturday, but insisted his focus remains on 'building' for 2012.
The Texan, 26, put a frustrating start to his Factory Yamaha career firmly behind him with a 7.697sec victory over Honda's world championship leader Casey Stoner, at the oldest venue in motorcycle grand prix racing.
Starting from second on the grid, Spies muscled his way past both team-mate Jorge Lorenzo and pole sitter Marco Simoncelli during the first few corners - and was leading when the pair collided at the hairpin.
"I really wanted to lead into the hairpin because I knew a crash could happen quite easily," revealed Spies. "I was actually worried about someone running into me, because I took it quite slow and again at the next left hander, but after that the tyre warmed up and I could push."
Assen had seen a spate of cold-tyre crashes, prompting Stoner - who inherited second place after the Simoncelli/Lorenzo collision - to take things especially steady for the first few laps.
That allowed Spies to put several seconds between himself and the Australian, which the #11 defended - then extended - to the chequered flag.
"I'm used to leading [Superbike] races, but it's been a while," said Spies. "When you’re seeing +3.5 on your pit board for 15 laps and the name under it 'Stoner' you're not resting!
"Then the last four laps I was just praying it wouldn’t rain. Those were the longest laps for me. But the race was fun, obviously because I won, but also to ride like I wanted to. I have to thank Yamaha for giving me the bike to do that."
Spies admitted that winning at a circuit where he used to watch his heroes on TV, and while running special red-and-white colours to mark Yamaha's 50th anniversary of grand prix racing, had added further to the occasion.
"I remember as a kid watching Kevin [Schwantz], Wayne [Rainey] and Mick [Doohan] battling here in '90,'91,'92 and '93," said Spies.
"To be able to ride in MotoGP, then ride for a factory team and now win a race on such a special weekend for Yamaha and at the oldest circuit on the calendar - that's as good as it gets."
A fellow Texan, triple 500cc world champion Schwantz has been a mentor to Spies for many years - but had left the Dutch TT after qualifying!
"Kevin was here yesterday, but he didn’t make the race so I'll have to give him stick for that!" smiled Spies.
Overlooked for Suzuki's grand prix team despite a record-breaking career in American Superbike - and some solid wild-card rides in grand prix - Spies switched to Yamaha for 2009 and won the World Superbike Championship at his first attempt.
That paved the way for a Yamaha MotoGP ride with the satellite Tech 3 team, and he earned his 2011 Factory seat - in place of the departed Valentino Rossi - with two podiums and a pole during his rookie year.
"I definitely didn't think the first win would happen in the first year. What we did last year was over my expectations," reflected Spies.
Many predicted Spies would fight for race wins from his first Factory race, but instead he endured a 'rough' start to 2011, claiming only a third place in Catalunya and crashing in three other races prior to Assen.
"Every season can’t always be perfect for every rider. That was the case for me this year," he shrugged. "Bit of bad luck and I made a couple of mistakes. We also had the problem with the bike in the Estoril race and it all compounds on top of each other. That's the way it goes.
"The win doesn’t change anything. We didn’t really feel we could fight for the championship, honestly, this year. We wanted to do as good as we could, but I didn’t think we were championship contenders.
"So now we just need to focus on keeping the positive momentum going from this, and Catalunya, and keep building for next year. We had a rough start to the season but hopefully that's behind us now."
Spies has become the first American to win a MotoGP race since Nicky Hayden in 2006, and is the first World Superbike rider to take a grand prix victory since Troy Bayliss, also in '06.
"This is definitely the biggest win in my career. It'll take a couple of days to understand what's happened - I've still got some adrenaline pumping from the race," commented Spies.
Stoner, sitting next to the pokerfaced Texan, then quipped: "This is you with the adrenaline pumping? I'd hate to see you when it’s not!"
Spies is now joint-sixth in the world championship, but already 75 points behind Stoner.
MotoGP will switch from 800 to 1000cc engines for 2012, the same size as Spies raced with so much success in Superbike.
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