Yamaha factory rider Ben Spies to miss race battle with Marco Simoncelli at Valencia – MotoGP news
Yamaha Factory Racing rider Ben Spies is grieving on the loss of Marco Simoncelli and will miss race battle with him at Valencia.
The 18th MotoGP round will take place at the Ricardo Tormo circuit at Valencia, Spain.
The young Texan rider had some great enjoyable wrangles with Simoncelli through the 2011 season. At many occasions, Spies hunted Super Sic and fought a great race with him.
Spies commented, “I can't believe I won't be battling Marco on the track this weekend, it's an incredibly sad way to finish the season. I'm going to honour him in the best way I know how, on the track.”
Coming to Valencia, the final round of the 2011 season everyone will miss Simoncelli. Almost every rider at the grid has claimed that it will be very hard to race with his death in their minds.
Unfortunately, Spies missed the last two events at Phillip Island and Sepang due to severe bruises he sustained on ribs and lower back.
The Texan rider had a hard fall during the qualifying round at the Phillip Island. In the crash, he had suffered from a severe blow on his head.
Though he qualified for the race but during the warm up lap his physical condition did not allow him to race.
On the other side Spies teammate Jorge Lorenzo also hit a severe crash and injured his left hand. Eventually both Yamaha factory riders missed the Australian GP.
With Malaysian GP on the next weekend, Spies was not fit and declared not to race at Sepang. Lorenzo just had a surgery and could not participate in the Malaysian event.
The MotoGP event at Sepang recorded a drastic death of Super Sic, which was heavily mourned by the paddock, fans, family and his friends.
Yamaha team director Massimo Meregalli said, “Everyone is affected by the sad passing of Marco Simoncelli. This last race of the season would usually be marked by a party to celebrate our year but this is not now in keeping with the mood and feeling of the
team. As such we will wrap up with our yearly technical presentation and a quiet team dinner.”
Now Spies is fit to race at Valencia but Lorenzo will miss the season finale due to his long recovery time.
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