Yamaha Factory Racing rider Ben Spies keen to shine in 2011 MotoGP season
The 2009 World Superbike Champion, Ben Spies is racing with Yamaha Factory Team aboard Yamaha YZR-M1 in the 2011 MotoGP season.
Spies has also earned the 2010 MotoGP rookie title after scoring two podium positions last year with the Monster Yamaha Tech3 squad.
By the end of 2010 MotoGP season many riders swapped their team and Ben Spies was one of them. As a fact Valentino Rossi left the Yamaha factory team to join Ducati. Meanwhile Spies delivered a promising performance in 2010 with the Tech3 team. To
fill up the empty seat, Spies was promoted to factory team for the 2011 season.
Hitting the start to the 2011 MotoGP season Spies made a strong effort in the preseason testing sessions held at Sepang and Qatar.
The first MotoGP round of 2011 season was held at Losail circuit, Qatar. Spies entered the season on strong note. Although he was not impressive in the preseason tests but he instantly adapted the factory M1. During the Commercialbank Grand Prix of
Qatar, Spies qualified for fifth position and ended the race in sixth place, seven seconds behind his teammate Jorge Lorenzo.
Coming to the second round in the MotoGP season at Jerez, Spain was even better. The Texan made an effort to start the race from fourth position on the grid. Unfortunately the race was affected by rain. Spies was victimised by the wet tarmac and crashed
from a strong fight in the race.
During the third event at Portugal, Spies was cautious to recover his point loss from Jerez. However Spies was again struck by bad luck. He fell out of the race after completing 12 laps. While starting from fifth place on the grid his race day summed
up in disaster.
At Le Mans, Spies faced a low side after two ‘did not finish’ statuses. He qualified in eighth place to start the race and came sixth across the finish line.
At the Catalunya GP, Ben Spies struggled hard to move ahead in the season as he started the race from second row on the grid. After fighting hard in the race and absence of Dani Pedrosa from Le Mans, he was able to score his first podium of the season
just behind teammate Lorenzo.
The Silverstone race was also held under rain. The British GP victimised riders from top squad, including Jorge Lorenzo and Marco Simoncelli. After seven laps Spies also crashed and hit the wall breaking his back protector. Still he escaped any severe
injury.
While Yamaha was celebrating its 50th anniversary of GP racing at TT Assen, Spies earned his first win in the season and a gift for his team on the occasion. Yamaha planned a new red-white livery for the event.
The eighth MotoGP round was held at Mugello, Italy. Spies started the race from second position on the grid and finished the race at fourth place behind Casey Stoner.
Coming to Germany at Sachsenring, Spies conducted a steady race weekend. While starting from fifth place on the grid he finished in the same position.
At the last round before summer break held at Laguna Seca, the American rider came fourth from the second row start in the race. After the short break first event was held at Brno, Czech Republic.
The Texan boy was able to finish the Brno GP in fifth place from fourth position on the grid.
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