WSBK: Spies electrifying as Haga injured

The Ben Spies world superbike juggernaut rolled on at Donington Park in England on June 28, with the Texan producing a stunning clean sweep as championship rival Noriyuki Haga put himself in hospital.

With five rounds still remaining, Spies (Yamaha) is now just 14pts behind Haga (Ducati) and with all the momentum ahead of the next battle at Brno on July 26.

Meanwhile, Haga will be using the next month to regroup and recover from the multiple injuries he sustained at Donington, including a broken vertebra.

Haga was running second behind Spies in race two when he fell hard at Coppice Corner. He was immediately transferred to the track's medical centre and then via helicopter to Derby Hospital.

Haga had earlier finished third in race one behind Spies and Aprilia's Max Biaggi, who was also among a raft of leading riders to crash in race two.

Australia's Troy Corser (BMW) fell in race one after he hit a false neutral, and was then a lowly 20th later in the day as he struggled to find grip.

While others had their demons, Spies didn't put a foot wrong at Donington, claiming pole position before the double victory and a new lap record. 

"It was a picture perfect weekend," said Spies. "In race one Max was there the whole time, but we were able to do quick laps to stay ahead, the last three laps I rode as hard as I could just to make sure of the win.

"In the second race I knew Nori had a big crash and I hope he's okay. It's not the way we want to win it, but you have to take the points when you can. The track was hot and a bit slick so we made some changes to the bike which made it better from race one.

"It was tough being out on my own, and I had to focus lap to lap to make sure I didn't make any mistakes. I can't thank the Yamaha guys enough we changed a lot of things around and they came and delivered me two really good bikes to win on."

Spies, who lowered Troy Bayliss' 2007 lap record by one second, has now won five of the last six races, and he's already equal 18th on the all-time winners' list alongside Italian Fabrizio Pirovano and Australia's Chris Vermeulen.

With Biaggi and Haga both out of the running in race two, Leon Haslam (Honda) was an impressive runner-up finisher, just getting the better of Michel Fabrizio (Ducati), Shane Byrne (Ducati) and Tom Sykes (Yamaha).

Haslam and Byrne were fourth and fifth in race one, while Fabrizio's outing was sabotaged by gearbox problems as he laboured to 12th.

Fabrizio still remains third in the championship, a long way ahead of Jonathan Rea (Honda) and Haslam.

Rea was excepted to be right up the front at Donington after winning his maiden world superbike race at Misano the week before, but he came away with a modest 7-15 return - crashing and rejoining the action in race two.

Australia's Broc Parkes went 18-14 on his Kawasaki.

The only real bright piece of good news for Australia at Donington was the performance of Garry McCoy (Triumph), who was an excellent third in world supersport behind title leader Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) and Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki).

It was Triumph's first ever podium in world supersport, and achieved in its home country.

"It feels great to be the first rider to score a podium result with a Triumph," said McCoy. "We didn't start the season on the right foot, but now we're scoring great results.

"I knew that sooner or later it would come together. I have to thank the entire team for a good job done on the machine, which is getting better and better. We have broken the ice and there is still a long way to go in the championship."

Amazingly, Crutchlow scored the runaway win with a broken ankle he suffered in qualifying, while his main rival, Irishman Eugene Laverty (Honda), crashed early before slicing his way back from 26th to fifth in the 22-lapper.

World champion Andrew Pitt was 10th, citing an acute lack of grip, while his fellow Honda-riding Aussies, Anthony West and Mark Aitchison, both crashed out.

Highlights from Donington can be seen on SBS at 12.30pm this Sunday.

Donington superbike results

Race one: 23 laps

1 Ben Spies, America, Yamaha  34:57.230
2 Max Biaggi, Italy, Aprilia +7.156
3 Noriyuki Haga, Japan, Ducati +10.968
4 Leon Haslam, Great Britain, Honda  +18.843
5 Shane Byrne, Great Britain, Ducati +19.125
6 Shinya Nakano, Japan, Aprilia +21.286
7 Jonathan Rea, Great Britain, Honda +23.644
8 John Hopkins, America, Honda +32.849
9 Jakub Smrz, Czech Republic, Ducati +32.904
10 Ryuichi Kiyonari, Japan, Honda +33.192
18 Broc Parkes, Australia, Kawasaki  +48.246
DNF Troy Corser, Australia, BMW + 2 laps

Fastest lap and new record: Spies - 1:30.575 (Previous record: Troy Bayliss - 1:31.575, 2007)

Race two: 23 laps

1 Spies 35:14.788
2 Haslam +6.622
3 Michel Fabrizio, Italy, Ducati +6.816
4 Byrne +7.349
5 Tom Sykes, Great Britain, Yamaha +8.145
6 Leon Camier, Great Britain, Yamaha +13.463
7 Kiyonari +15.751
8 James Ellison, Great Britain, Yamaha +16.837
9 Ruben Xaus, Spain, BMW +22.891
10 Simon Andrews, Great Britain, Kawasaki +30.347
14 Parkes +32.607
20 Corser +42.856

Superbike standings (after round 9 of 14):

1 Haga 308
2 Spies 294
3 Fabrizio 257
4 Rea 177
5 Haslam 167
6 Biaggi 155
7 Sykes 141
8 Smrz 115
9 Carlos Checa, Spain, Honda 114
10= Byrne 113
10= Kiyonari 113
16 Corser 50
18 Parkes 27
30 Karl Muggeridge, Australia, Suzuki 4
31 Brendan Roberts, Australia, Ducati 3

Supersport race: 22 laps

1 Cal Crutchlow, Great Britain, Yamaha 34:15.876
2 Joan Lascorz, Spain, Kawasaki +5.391
3 Garry McCoy, Australia, Triumph +14.918
4 Kenan Sofuoglu, Turkey, Honda +22.248
5 Eugene Laverty, Ireland, Honda +37.054
6 Barry Veneman, Netherlands, Honda +39.079
7 Gianluca Vizziello, Italy, Honda +39.978
8 Gianluca Nannelli, Italy, Triumph +42.733
9 Danilo Dell'Omo, Italy, Honda +43.030
10 Andrew Pitt, Australia, Honda +47.422
DNF Anthony West, Australia, Honda + 16 laps
DNF Mark Aitchison, Australia, Honda + 19 laps

Fastest lap and new record: Crutchlow - 1:32.449 (Previous record: Katsuaki Fujiwara - 1:33.848, 2007)

Current supersport standings (after round 9 of 13)

1 Crutchlow 185
2 Laverty 150
3 Sofuoglu 121
4 Lascorz 106
5 Pitt 75
6 West 73
7 Fabien Foret, France, Yamaha 63
8 Aitchison 61
9 McCoy 55
10 Michele Pirro, Italy, Yamaha 49

For full results and standings, click here.