Season Review : 2009 World Superbikes

 

The 2009 World Superbikes season announced itself to be the most exciting and strongest ever in the history of the championship. Triple WSBK Champion Bayliss retired after his title in 2008, Haga took his place at the factory Ducati team where youngster Michel Fabrizio retained his seat and had to prove Ducati's faith in him. Aprilia returned with a brand new bike and the lost son Max Biaggi and MotoGP refugee Shinya Nakano. BMW entered the competition as well with a spectacular bike and an experienced rider pairing consisting of the fast but furious Ruben Xaus and double champion Troy Corser. Yamaha fielded a new bike with two rookies, Britain's Tom Sykes but the signing of triple AMA Superbike champion Ben Spies was probably the biggest sensation, especially since they managed to lure him away of career long partner Suzuki. Forces to be reckoned with were the Ten Kate boys with former GP racer Carlos Checa flanked by 2008 World Supersport runner up Jonathan Rea and double BSB champion Ryuichi Kiyonari. After clinching two victories in 2008, Max Neukirchner was out to better his performance in 2009 and take a realistic shot at the title for Alstare Suzuki. Unlike in MotoGP, Kawasaki didn't pull out of the Superbikes and handed Paul Bird the opportunity to race their official bikes with Makoto Tamada and Broc Parkes.  Other notable entries were 2008 BSB champion Shayne Byrne on the Sterilgarda Ducati and Leon Haslam on the privateer Honda run by Johan Stigefelt.

  

With Bayliss out of the picture, it was Haga's best chance to finally become World Superbike Champion. However, even before the start of the first race, it was Ben Spies who sole the show. The rookie got pole at Philip Island and immediately echoed the preseason sentiments of him being a title contender. The Texan managed only 16th after being pushed off the track in turn 2 but made amends with a brilliant victory in race 2. Biaggi managed to put the all new Aprilia RSV4 on the front row and Troy Corser put in the fastest lap of the race with the BMW, clearly showing potential for the new kids on the block. In Qatar, Spies stormed to pole position once more followed by a double win making it 3 out of 4 with Haga finishing second after winning the opener in Australia. Already from this point, it was clear that Spies would be a serious threat to Haga and Ducati for the rest of the season. Haga took the double in Valencia with Spies crashing out of the first race and finishing second in race 2. Ben crashed again in race 1 at Assen but won race 2 in front of Haga who took the laurels a couple of hours earlier that day. 4 wins each but what about the rest ? 

 

Fabrizio was hanging in there together with Leon Haslam, Max Neukirchner and...Max Biaggi on the Aprilia all taking a couple of podiums behind the two untouchables. Up next, the high speed track of Monza and it would be an important weekend in many different aspects. Spies conquered his 5th consecutive pole but a huge crash at the start of race 1 would leave its marks. Neukirchner took the whole shot but was taken out by a loose bike and knocked him out for the remainder of the season. Tamada and Corser got harmed as well as reigning Superstock 1000 champion Brendan Roberts and Britain's Tommy Hill. After the restart, it turned out to be a three way fight between Spies and the factory Ducatis which ended with the American entering the final corner in the lead but running out of fuel, leaving Fabrizio to take his maiden WSBK win. The 3d DNF ( even though he rolled over the finish line in 15th, a huge points loss ) in as many weekends and surely a costly mistake by Yamaha which would leave Ben trailing Nori by 79 points. The Japanese's  fortune would take a blow in race 2 though. For once, Haga made a great start and took the lead but hit a bird at high speed, a coming together that resulted in a crash a few laps later since he lost the strength to hold his bike when braking. Spies made full use of this to regain 25 points on the Ducati star.One week later, Haga and Ducati answered with a double 1-2 in South Africa. Spies took third in race 1 before retiring in race 2 due to mechanical problems. He even lost second in the championship to Fabrizio and was 88 points behind Haga. The mission was pretty clear from now on : win as many races as possible and let's see where we end up.

He started his counter attack on home soil by taking a dominating double win, a race that saw Kawasaki running well in the hands of Anglo American Jamie Hacking. Misano saw Ben taking his third win in a row followed by a troublesome race 2, a race that would have Jonathan Rea take his first World Superbike win beating the Xerox Ducati guys on the finish line. Again the Texan responded with a double win in donington, where title rival Haga crashed out of race 2 after taking thrid spot in race 1. Over the course of 6 races, Yamaha's #19 cut #41's lead back to a mere 14 points and blew the championship wide open.

 Drama and suspense after the summer break in Brno. Spies was taken out by Fabrizio in what could be described as a very stupid move from the Italian. Nevertheless, Italy would triumph with Biaggi taken the win for Aprilia followed by an excellent second place in race 2 after a long battle with Ben Spies. From this point on, both Johnny Rea and Max Biaggi would race at the front every weekend together with Spies, Haga and Fabrizio.

The next round at the Nurburgring had Spies taking his 12th win of the season and Rea's second with Haga coming home in second place and crashing out of race 2. More importantly, the American would be at the sharpest end of the standings for the first time in 2009. Imola would hand back the advantage to Nori after a win and second place with Spies struggling all weekend long. Aprilia also engaged 250cc world champion Marco Simoncelli as a wild card to replace the injured Shinya Nakano ( who would decide shortly after to hang up his leathers for good ) and showed speed and determination by almost colliding with Biaggi when making a braking error but also finishing on the podium in race 2. A repeat peformance by Haga in Magny Cours but Ben managing only 4th after winning race 1 would lead to a title deciding weekend at Portimao splitting the two protagonists by 10 points with 50 more left to be handed out. Fabrizio was out of the title hunt even when winning race 2 at Imola and would now be trying to help his teammate as much as possible to keep the Yamaha #19 at bay. However, the 10 point deficit would soon turn into a 15 point lead for the 24 year old American when he beat Biaggi and Rea - in a fight of their own for fourth in the standings - for victory in race 1 as Haga crashed out before the halfway point trying to make up ground for his poor qualifying and getaway. Spies only needed a top six finish to stay on top of the leaderboard after the final race of the season and provide Yamaha with their first World Title in superbikes. As a true champion, he brought it home safely and grabbed the title by 6 points from Haga and his fourth title in a row after the three AMA Superbike titles from 2006 to 2008. In the end, 14 wins out of 28 starts, 11 poles out of 14 and coming back from 88 points behind after round 7 in Kyalami in his maiden year....simply Texas Terror!

Additional facts & figures

• 5 riders won during the 2009 campaign : Spies ( 14 ), Haga ( 8 ), Fabrizio ( 3 ), Rea ( 2 ) and Biaggi ( 1 ) .
• 4 riders grabbed pole position : Spies ( 11 ), Haga ( 1 ), Fabrizio ( 1 ) and Smrz ( 1 ).
• 8 different riders recorded fastest laps : Spies ( 6 ), Haga ( 10 ), Fabrizio ( 6 ), Rea ( 2 ), Biaggi ( 1 ), Corser ( 1 ), Haslam ( 1 ) and Smrz ( 1 ).
• 13 riders made their way to the podium : Spies ( 17 ), Haga ( 19 ), Fabrizio ( 15 ), Rea ( 8 ), Biaggi ( 9 ), Byrne ( 1 ), Checa ( 4 ), Haslam ( 4 ), Kagayama ( 1 ), Kiyonari ( 2 ), Neukirchner ( 2 ), Simoncelli (1 ) and Smrz ( 1).
• Kawasaki was the only manufacturer not to get a pole position, podium or fastest lap during the entire season.
• BMW, in the hands of Troy Corser, managed to record the fastest race lap during the very first race of the season.
• Several riders sustained sever injuries during the season and were out for a longer period : Laconi, Neukirchner and Roberts wouldn't return after their crashes. 
• MotoGP star John Hopkins was thrown a lifeline by Stiggy motorsport after the withdrawal from Kawasaki in MotoGP. Once more, Assen proved to be unfortunate for him after he crashed heavily during practice and was sidelined for a longer period. One round after his return to racing, at the Nurburgring he got entangled in a pile up and would sit out the rest of the season.  

Performance of the year

Well, it was en exciting season with several strong performances by both riders and teams. Stiggy Motorsport succesfully entered World Superbikes with a couple of podiums by Leon Haslam ( especially at the beginning of the season ) and place 6 in the standings as top privateer. Of course, rookie Ben Spies winning 50% of the races, nearly 75% pole position success rate but most importantly taking the title on his first attempt is something extraordiary. The successful return of Aprilia stands out, as well as Rea establishing him as Honda rider #1. But, I take Troy Corser's showing in Philip Island as the strongest performance. BMW's very first race, finishing 8th at a little over 11 seconds from the winner and posting the fastest lap of the race is pretty amazing. Ok, BMW has a strong racing history and is a racing company by nature but their success has always been on 4 wheels, not 2. Ok, many years ago they entered the Dakar rally on two wheels and managed to win ( in the hands of my compatriot, the late Gaston Rahier ) but apart from the Boxer cup, the Bavarians haven't entered a motorcycle racing world championship. Building a new bike, racing with a completely new team, facing very strong competition from manufacturers whose core business is racing in probably the strongest entry field of the World Superbike Championship ever, is a very very tough challenge. Hats off to BMW and Corser to pull this feat out of the hat.