Spies puts Suzuki in top six at the Brickyard

Sunday, 14 September 2008

Putting his two days of test experience at Indianapolis to good use on Sunday Ben Spies recorded a top six finish in his third MotoGP appearance.

Just as he was in qualifying on Saturday, wildcard Ben Spies was the best-performing Rizla Suzuki rider in Sunday´s MotoGP contest at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix.

Ben Spies – sixth

`It was a good race today for me because my goal was to better my result at Laguna and I did that. I know that I had a fourth place bike today though because the crew had got it working great, but after 10 laps I couldn´t see anything through my visor and that was why I never made an attack because I had to follow the other guys around me to see where I was going – I think if I had lost them I would have got caught by everybody! I rode as hard as I could and ended the race with a good sixth place. I wish we could have done a bit better, but every time I´m getting on a GP bike I´m getting better results so who knows what´s to come!´

Chris Vermeulen - ninth

`It was very difficult out there today and starting from fifteenth didn´t help. There was a lot of spray and a quicker line soon formed so it was very tricky when you moved off that to try and pass. I got through into the top-ten and felt like I had a bit more, but when I tried to push there was no more lap-time to come. I was then kind of stagnant with the guys from fourth place on and just couldn´t catch them. At the end the conditions got really bad and the wind was so strong things were blowing all over the place and it was getting a bit dangerous, so it was a good idea to stop the race even though it was a pity we didn´t go the full distance. So here´s to coming back here next year and doing a lot better!´

Loris Capirossi – sixteenth

`The whole weekend has been hard for me as I never found the best solution on the bike. During this morning´s warm-up the bike felt a bit better in the dry and we hoped the conditions would stay like that for the race - unfortunately the conditions were not only worse they were the worst I have ever ridden in! In the first corner someone pushed me wide and I was last and although I tried to fight back it was so difficult out there that I couldn´t really make any difference. I want to forget about this weekend, the race has now gone and I want to concentrate on the next event and make a good result for Suzuki and the team in Japan!´