Spies 5th Fastest at Second Day of Sepang Testing

[Asphalt & Rubber]

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This article comes from AsphaltandRubber.com
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MotoGP riders tested at Sepgang for the second time today, after waiting for the Malaysian track to dry out from the looming rains. For their second outing, Ben Spies gets the most improved award, as the Texan rookie moved up from yesterday’s 12th place testing position (2′03.142) to being the 5th quickest man around the track (2′02.266) today. Spies had complained of jetlag yesterday, but with nearly a second dropped off his pace, it would seem he got a full night’s sleep last night.

Talking about his marked improvement today, Spies said the following:

“I rode as good and as hard as I could considering how I’ve been feeling. I’m not wanting to make any excuses but I didn’t feel really good with the jetlag. It was still a good test because I learned a lot about improving my riding and adapting my style to suit the Yamaha MotoGP bike. It is hard to break some of my old superbike habits at the moment but I made some big improvements in a couple of places on the track where I was really struggling, particularly in the braking. It started to feel more natural today and I got down to some decent times on race tyres. I was a second faster than the first day, so we made some good progress but this is a really difficult track to learn. This track is really long and really wide, but I got to a respectable pace. I’ve said it a load of times but it’s a learning process and every lap I’m learning. My guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 though have been brilliant again. We’re all putting in a lot of effort and I’m pleased with the steps I’ve made.”

Friday Sepang Test Times, courtesy of GPOne.com:

1. Rossi (Yamaha-Fiat) 2.00.925 (32 laps)
2. Stoner (Ducati-Marlboro) 2.01.320 (36 laps)
3. Lorenzo (Yamaha-Fiat) 2.01.680 (60 laps)
4. Pedrosa (Honda-Repsol) 2.01.822 (50 laps)
5. Spies (Yamaha-Monster) 2.02.266 (31 laps)
6. Dovizioso (Honda-Repsol) 2.02.272 (56 laps)
7. Edwards (Yamaha-Monster) 2.02.479 (42 laps)
8. Hayden (Ducati-Marlboro) 2.02.493 (55 lap)
9. Espargarò (Ducati-Pramac) 2.02.647 (33 laps)
10. Capirossi (Suzuki-Rizla) 2.02.763 (48 laps)
11. Melandri (Honda-Gresini) 2.02.810 (55 laps)
12. Barberà (Ducati-Aspar) 2.03.032 (51 laps)
13. De Puniet (Honda-LCR) 2.03.043 (48 laps)
14. Aoyama (Honda-Interwetten) 2.03.195 (56 laps)
15. Simoncelli (Honda-Gresini) 2.03.245 (49 laps)
16. Bautista (Suzuki-Rizla) 2.03.274 (37 laps)
17. Kallio (Ducati-Pramac) 2.03.359 (53 laps)
18. Yamaha O 2.05.803 (29 laps)
19. Yamaha T 2.06.621 (20 laps)

Thursday Sepang Test Times, courtesy of GPOne.com:

1. Rossi (Yamaha-Fiat) 2.01.411 ( 54 laps)
2. Stoner (Ducati-Marlboro) 2.01.902 (42 laps)
3. Edwards (Yamaha-Monster) 2.01.932 (48 laps)
4. Capirossi (Suzuki-Rizla) 2.02.102 (58 laps)
5. Lorenzo (Yamaha-Fiat) 2.02.165 (57 laps)
6. Dovizioso (Honda-Repsol) 2.02.630 (51 laps)
7. Hayden (Ducati-Marlboro) 2.02.792 (46 laps)
8. Pedrosa (Honda-Repsol) 2.02.866 (52 laps)
9. Kallio (Ducati-Pramac) 2.02.987 (70 laps)
10. Barbera (Ducati-Aspar) 2.03.030 (59 laps)
11. Espargarò (Ducati-Pramac) 2.03.133 (54 laps)
12. Spies (Yamaha-Monster ) 2.03.142 (55 laps)
13. De Puniet (Honda-LCR) 2.03.456 (62 laps)
14. Bautista (Suzuki-Rizla) 2.03.558 (51 laps)
15. Simoncelli (Honda-Gresini) 2.03.563 (54 laps)
16. Melandri (Honda-Gresini) 2.03.609 (28 laps)
17. Aoyama (Honda-Interwetten) 2.03.651 (66 laps)
18. Yamaha T 2.05.732 (40 laps)
19. Yamaha O 2.06.206 (36 laps)



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[Gigas]

wow!!
He's going to give some really hard time to some of the guys this year...
Even Pedrosa will see his back some times...
I expect him to be in the first five positions

[gixxerjasen]

Yea, the four guys ahead are all familiar with the bikes and the track. Some of the ones behind him too. Looks like he might be competitive this year. Let's see what happens when he's feeling rested and comfortable with both the bike and the tracks.

[Tiller13]

cant wait til the next test...looks like there will be a 5th alien this year...i expect atleast a few podiums this year...GP will be interesting if nothing else...

[NSE.ONE]

Its going to be a great season. Looking forward to see how Ben rides this year. Seems a nice guy too. No ego.

[OldTLSDoug]

Funny thing is this is how it started in WSBK. He was like, I am trying and stuff, then BAM! He has said that this is harder though, to be good he said he has to re-learn everything, Should be fun, SBK should be interesting, I need to root against Toseland this year, but I think that he won;t win it. My money is on Rhea.

[Tiller13]

i agree wsbk will be good this year as usual...

[gixxerjasen]

Originally Posted by OldTLSDoug

Funny thing is this is how it started in WSBK. He was like, I am trying and stuff, then BAM! He has said that this is harder though, to be good he said he has to re-learn everything, Should be fun, SBK should be interesting, I need to root against Toseland this year, but I think that he won;t win it. My money is on Rhea.

Rhea is super fast, he just needs to lose the ego and stop doing retarded stuff on the track.