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MotoGP
MOTOGP: Fifth Place Confidence Booster For Shaken Spies
While less than a sterling result, merely completing a Grand Prix provided a big boost to Ben Spies' battered confidence.
Yamaha Factory Racing's Ben Spies (Photo: Yamaha Racing)
In the space of five days at the Misano Circuit on Italy's Adriatic Coast Ben Spies finally brought some stability to his unsettled MotoGP season.
Spies ended a nightmare run of three consecutive DNFs to bring his factory Yamaha M1 home in a confidence boosting fifth place in Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix.
While admitting it was not a great result, the performance to finish seven seconds behind race winner and Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo fitted Spies' race plan perfectly.
"The bike definitely had podium potential but I'm not going to lie, the first thing for me was to finish this race," Spies said. "It wasn't a great result but with the luck I've had and the way things have gone I showed I had some good speed at the end.
"I've got no regrets, I wanted to come back to garage in one piece and start building up from what has happened recently."
The string of DNFs, two crucially triggered by technical issues with his M1, had worn down Spies' enthusiasm for MotoGP and raised tensions within Yamaha.
But after confirming a dramatic switch to the satellite Pramac Ducati team for 2013 just a couple of days before the Misano weekend, Spies was determined that this race was part of fresh start.
"Once I got comfortable and made it through more of the race than I have for a long time I started pushing but it was a little too late for the podium," he said. "I was expecting that in a home race with Bautista on the Gresini bike and Dovi battling there might be fireworks and I might get a free podium."
But that did not happen with Spain's Alvaro Bautista (Gresini Honda) staging a late charge to claim a career first MotoGP podium in third place, edging Dovizioso (Tech3 Yamaha) into fourth.
Spies was right there in fifth, the trio covered by just 1.5s at the finish.
This was Spies' best result since he scored a pair fourth places at the mid-season Dutch and German races.
But what followed was a demoralizing period with DNFs at his two American races Laguna Seca and Indy with mechanical failures, and a crash at Brno after being unsettled at the start with an over-heated clutch.
Before Misano Spies said his new Ducati deal was an opportunity to "reset" his career. But he is also intent in finishing off his final season with Yamaha with some strong results.
Sunday's Misano race plan was based on "getting some confidence back" and Spies refused to let early race front tire issues distract him.
"I was having some front grip issues early and when I saw Cal Crutchlow lose the front and crash (lap five) -- I wanted to stay calm and manage the race," said Spies who suffered a similar front-end crash in qualifying.
"Later in the race when I understood the feeling of the tire, I knew I could push without crashing and I caught up to the group and then got onto the back of Dovi. But by then I had used too much of the rear tire."
Spies is tenth in the standings on 77 points.
Spies ended a nightmare run of three consecutive DNFs to bring his factory Yamaha M1 home in a confidence boosting fifth place in Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix.
While admitting it was not a great result, the performance to finish seven seconds behind race winner and Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo fitted Spies' race plan perfectly.
"The bike definitely had podium potential but I'm not going to lie, the first thing for me was to finish this race," Spies said. "It wasn't a great result but with the luck I've had and the way things have gone I showed I had some good speed at the end.
"I've got no regrets, I wanted to come back to garage in one piece and start building up from what has happened recently."
The string of DNFs, two crucially triggered by technical issues with his M1, had worn down Spies' enthusiasm for MotoGP and raised tensions within Yamaha.
But after confirming a dramatic switch to the satellite Pramac Ducati team for 2013 just a couple of days before the Misano weekend, Spies was determined that this race was part of fresh start.
"Once I got comfortable and made it through more of the race than I have for a long time I started pushing but it was a little too late for the podium," he said. "I was expecting that in a home race with Bautista on the Gresini bike and Dovi battling there might be fireworks and I might get a free podium."
But that did not happen with Spain's Alvaro Bautista (Gresini Honda) staging a late charge to claim a career first MotoGP podium in third place, edging Dovizioso (Tech3 Yamaha) into fourth.
Spies was right there in fifth, the trio covered by just 1.5s at the finish.
This was Spies' best result since he scored a pair fourth places at the mid-season Dutch and German races.
But what followed was a demoralizing period with DNFs at his two American races Laguna Seca and Indy with mechanical failures, and a crash at Brno after being unsettled at the start with an over-heated clutch.
Before Misano Spies said his new Ducati deal was an opportunity to "reset" his career. But he is also intent in finishing off his final season with Yamaha with some strong results.
Sunday's Misano race plan was based on "getting some confidence back" and Spies refused to let early race front tire issues distract him.
"I was having some front grip issues early and when I saw Cal Crutchlow lose the front and crash (lap five) -- I wanted to stay calm and manage the race," said Spies who suffered a similar front-end crash in qualifying.
"Later in the race when I understood the feeling of the tire, I knew I could push without crashing and I caught up to the group and then got onto the back of Dovi. But by then I had used too much of the rear tire."
Spies is tenth in the standings on 77 points.
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