Yamaha Factory Racing rider Ben Spies wins Iveco TT Assen Grand Prix – MotoGP news
Yamaha Factory Racing rider Ben Spies made his team proud by winning the Iveco TT Assen Grand Prix at Yamaha’s 50th anniversary event.
Factory Yamaha team enjoyed double celebrations at the Dutch venue, after the Texan swept an undisputed victory. Casey Stoner of Repsol Honda was second with a gap of seven seconds.
Ben Spies commented on his victory and said, “It was strange because it was one of the most comfortable races I’ve had, and it resulted in a win. I had a good feeling with the bike at the start of the race so I pushed to make a gap. Even after I was 3 or
4 seconds ahead of Casey, when he pushed to try to catch me, I still had some reserve I could use, so I could speed up if I needed to.”
The Texan was excited to win with the new livery specially carried to celebrate team’s 50th anniversary in grand prix racing. He was feeling good with his factory M1 and after winning the race, he said that he had a little bit of pressure to perform
well.
The Texan seemed relax after his first victory in premier class with the factory team and in his debut season at the Yamaha Factory Racing team. It was his second podium in the 2011 MotoGP season.
After his win, he is happy to put an end to the frequent question of not winning a race. Now he looks forward to further develop the Yamaha M1 for the 2012 season, which will allow him to perform better. With the win, Spies is more desperate to gain the
lead in the championship and win it.
Spies was placed at second place to start the race behind Marco Simoncelli of San Carlo Honda Gresini and ahead of Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner.
The race start was snatched by Factory Yamahas, as Spies shot off to lead the race within the few beginning metres. His teammate Jorge Lorenzo was not lucky enough to hang in the race afterwards.
The Repsol Honda duo, Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso dropped behind the Factory M1s. Shortly after race start, Jorge Lorenzo was hindered with Marco Simoncelli’s fall. The Italian ran into a rough high side and fell in front of Jorge Lorenzo.
However, Lorenzo was quickly able to restart the race while Simoncelli struggled to restart his bike and despite of a pole seat, disappointedly finished at ninth place.
Meanwhile the Spaniard was fighting back to close up with the top riders and at least score a podium finish. It could have reduced the championship lead of 18 points from rival Stoner. In last event at Silverstone, he collected a ‘did not finish’ status
and lost the championship lead to Stoner. After the Assen GP, Stoner leads the championship with 28 points.
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