Spies satisfied with another “really strong result”

Spies satisfied with another “really strong result”

Monday, 11 October 2010

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider placed fourth in the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix, his seventh top-five result in his rookie season in MotoGP.

Spies analyses top-four result

The impressive debut season of Ben Spies in MotoGP continued over the weekend with fourth place at Sepang, as the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider maintained his quest for a top-six Championship finish.

Starting from fourth on the grid the American had dropped down to sixth position by lap three as he struggled to establish a comfortable feeling with his rear tyre, but a focused and steady approach to passing Nicky Hayden and Marco Simoncelli meant he was soon back up to fourth.

“I got a reasonable start but I suffered with the left side of the rear tyre not coming up to temperature as quick as I'd hoped. But once it did it worked great and I was able to fight my way through to another really strong result,” said Spies.

“I was behind Nicky for a while and got stuck there but once I got by him I was reeling off 2’02” laps to get into fourth and I was happy with my race pace. I knew I couldn't get third and that was a little frustrating because looking at the times of the top three, if I could have got away with them I really feel I could have been there. I know Lorenzo wasn't pushing like his life depended on it with what he had at stake but I could have been closer to the front. It was still a good race for me and I made some good passes and I'm looking forward to Phillip Island now.”

It was a day on which Spies’ future team-mate for next season Jorge Lorenzo clinched the 2010 title, and he added: “Finally, I'd like to congratulate Jorge and Yamaha. Jorge has been fantastic all season and he definitely deserved to win the title. He hasn't made a mistake and I'm really looking forward to working with him in 2011."

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