Worldsuperbike - Port of Mayo

As you know...American Ben's Pies needed to win both races at this year's final outing to take the World Superbike title in his rookie season. If Spies were to win both races, he would arrive at the end of the season equal on points with current points leader, Nori Haga, but would take the title due to having (way) more race wins. There are several more race finish/points scenarios that would work in Spies' favor, but I was told there'd be no math.

Race 1...Starting from his 11th pole of the year, Spies got a good start, and took all the pretenders around the outside for the lead into turn 1. Biaggi and his Aprilia managed to tuck in behind Spies in 2nd, followed by Shakey Byrne in 3rd. Donde esta senior Haga? Up to 7th from his 10th place start. Spies set the outright lap record on his first flying lap...guess who won the race? Spies and Biaggi put a decent gap on everyone else until the 6th lap, when it happened...Haga tossed it away as he lost the front into the hairpin.

Haga wasn't able to get back on track, which gifted Spies (yeah, he won the race) a 15 point championship lead going into the final race of the year. A few lap later, Honda's Johnny Rea made made his way up into 2nd. Spies crossed the line in 1st, with Rea in 2nd, and Biaggi holding of Byrne for the final spot ont he podium (that'd be 3rd)

Race 2...Despite Haga's race 1 tip over, If Haga managed to win race 2, Spies still needed, roughly, a 6th place finish to nab the title in his rookie season. Lights out, and FastBikes video star, Shane Byrne, gets the whore-shot on his private Duck, with Spies in 2nd. Meanwhile, Haga skipped the extra helping of Sushi over the lunch break, and bolted up to 5th from the grid. At the end of the next lap, Rea took 'The Ben' at the end of the front straight for 2nd. Methinks that Spies did his pre-race math, and was completely aware of who needed to be where so that he could wrap up the title...in addition, Rea ranks equal to Fabrizio in the 'Bonzai' department, so he was happy to usher him through. Safety first.

Much to the distaste of the Ducati bosses, Fabrizio made his way past Haga (he'll be sleeping with the fishes) and Rea too take the lead. Fabreze held on for the win with haga right behind him in 2nd. Rea took 3rd with Byrne in 4th. Spies played it safe and kroozed home in xtreme style in 5th to wrap up his, and Yamaha's', inaugural World SuperBike title. Word.

Final Rider's Standings;

1) Ben Spies - Yamaha - 462

2) Noriyuki Haga - Ducati - 456

3) Michel Fabrizio - Ducati - 382

4) Max Biaggi - Aprilia - 319

5) Johnny Rea - Honda - 315

There ya go...game, set, match. Spies, and his title, are off to the Yamaha Tex-Trois MotoGP team to bang-up with Edwards next season. Spies will even be 'wildcarding' during the final race of the 2009 MotoGP season on the Yamaha MotoGP bike at Valencia next week. Next season, current MotoGP flunkout, James Toseland, will take The Ben's spot on the factory R-Series Yamaha alongside 2009 World Supersport champeem, Cal Crutchlow in next year's Yamaha WorldSuperbike effort.

Buy me a shot.

T...out.

!!!SUNDAY!!!

Epic racing tomorrow with both the MotoGP and World Superbike titles up for grabs.

In MotoGP, Champeenship leader Rossi will start the MotoGP of Malaria from pole position. The only dude who still has a shot at the title, Lorenzo, will start the race from second. With a 38 point gap between these two, Rossi only needs a 4th place finish to wrap up his umpteenth world title with one race to go. Homeboy Haybale put in a decent qualifying effort, and will start at the top of the 3rd row in 7th. Colin the Texan will start four places back from his usual spot in 9th.

On the World BetterRacing front...At Portimao, Yamaha R-series pilot, Ben Spies, will start the final two races of the year from pole...his 11th this year. One Mr. Noriyuki Haga goes into this final round with a 10 point championship lead, but will be starting from a not-so-hot 10th place on the grid. If "The Ben" manages to win both races, and Haga finishes 2nd in both, they will be tied on points, but Spies will take the title onnacounta he has a truckload more wins than Haga this season. Either way, Spies is off to MotoGP next year to pardner up with Colin the Edwards at Tex-Trois Yamaha.

If Haga doesn't seal the deal this year, there's always next year as he has re-signed with Xerox Ducati for 2010. Also...in in an effort to give Spies as much MotoGP seat time as possible, Yamama will be supplying an additional bike for the final MotoGP round at Valencia this year for Spies to run as a wildcard. Will he beat Toseland? The fortune cookie that came with my shlimp flied lice says 'yes'.

My plan is to get an early drunk-on, and be home by 1a.m. to watch the MotoGP race live online...you should do the same. After that, I'll sleep off the booze, then throw a corned beef in the crock pot and catch the World Superbike races on SpudTV.

Sunday races on SPEEDTV:

WSBK Race 1 @ 2p.m. CST

WSBK Race 2 @ 3p.m. CST

MotoGP 250 @ 4p.m. CST

MotoGP @ 5p.m. CST

T...out

MotoGP Phillip Island - Oi!

Last time out, at Portugal, Lorenzo cut Rossi's championship lead to just 18 points courtesy of a win and the fact the Rossi rode a 'crap' race, where he finished in a lowly 4th place. I can think of more than a few riders on the MotoGP grid who would gladly shoot a puppy if they were told they would be gifted a 4th plave race result in exchange.

During qualifying, Stoner did what he normally does...goes out and sets the fastest lap, and then hibernates in his pit box with his hot wife and waits for someone else to come close to his time. In this case, it was Rossi that managed to set the new fast lap. Stoner got back out there and vaporized Rossi's lap time, while Melandri vaporized a Seagull. So, the front row was Stoner, Rossi, and Pedrosa. Lorenzo started off of the front row for the first time this year in 4th. Number 5, Colin Edwards, started from 5th. Guess where he finished...again. Homeboy Haystack started from a decent 7th. So that's that...moving on.

The riders grid up, the locals stop drinking, fighting, and beating their wives, and it's game on. Pedrosa gets his usual 'fat bike with a little guy' start, and hits the front. Hayden had gotten a decent start, and looked to be up to 4th, until Lorenzo (who got a shit start) butt-packed him going into turn 1. Hayden managed to keep it upright...over the gravel and through he grass, it's the back of the pack he went. Hayden rejoined the race in 15th (last) about 1/2 an hour behind everyone else. Lorenzo managed to destroy his front brakes when he hit Hayden, and had no choice but to pile off into gravel. Game over.

A few corners later, made an inside move on Pedrosa, but run ran wide. Fail. Pedrosa still at the front. Rossi was sitting right on Stoner's ass in 3rd and looking to get up into the lead. The next lap, Stoner took Pedro on the brakes for the lead. Rossi, doing his best Stoner impression, also went by Pedro on the brakes at the Honda hairpin and up to 2nd place.

From here on out, it was pretty much Stoner and Rossi. Pedrosa did try to fight back against Rossi at the end of the front straight, but that was pretty much pointless. Stoner took off at the front for a few laps, but Rossi managed to keep him in check. From there it was a matter of Stoner playing puppet master to Rossi as he managed the gap and kept Rossi just far enough back to not be a threat. Witnessing Stoner lighting up his rear tire into turn 3 was absolutely bananas. Stoner fired it home for a win at his home GP. With Lorenzo's oopsie, Rossi bagged a 38 point championship lead with two races to go. Rad.

Race Result:

1) Stoner-Marlboro Ducati

2) Rossi-Fiat Yamacka

3) Pedrosa-Repsol Honda

4) DeAngelis-San Carlo Honda

5) Take a guess-duh

6) Dovizioso-Repsol Honda

7) Melandri-Hayate

8) DePuniet-Playboy Honda

9) Kallio-Pramac Ducati

10) Elias-San CarloHonda

11) Vermeulen-Rizla Suzuki

12) Capirossi-Rizla Suzuki

13) Talmacsi-Scot Honda

14) Toseland-Tech 3Yamaha

15) Hayden-Marlboro Ducati

No can do: Lorenzo and a Seagull.

Next weekend it's Malaysia, where Rossi could wrap up the title.

T...out.

MotoGP Estoril...Rocket Man

MotoGP at Estoril in Portugal...no one's home race. Valentino Rossi came into this round with a 30 point championship lead over teammate Jorge Lorenzo. Casey Stoner came into this round fresh off a self-induced 3 race absence that he spent back in the land down under being treated for a brutal case of Kangaroo Flu. Many wondered if Stoner would even show up at all. Well...he showed up, told Schwantz to shut the fuck up, and qualified in 3rd. Not bad for being off the bike for 9 weeks. JLo and Rossi started from Pole and 2nd respectively. What about the 'mericans? Edwards started from Edwardth and Hayden from 9th. So there.

This is also 'contract time', when under performing and sponsorship-challenged riders get canned to make way for new blood. Rossi and Lorenzo will be back next year with Fiat Yamaha. Rumor is that Rossi may jump ship to Ducati at the end of 2010. World Superbike hotshot Ben Spies will be pardner'd up with Edwards at Tex 3 Yamaha...Toseland got shuffled back to World Superbike to ride a factory Yamaha R1 and play a Yamaha piano in his gay cover band. Vermeulen is also heading off to World Superbike, where he will ride for the 'factory' Kawasaki team, while 250cc maniac, Alvaro Bautista, will step up to take his seat on the Suzuki MotoGP bike along side Capirossi. Stoner and Hayden at Ducati. Dovi and Pedrosa at Repsol Honda. Melandri and Simoncelli at Gresini Honda. Elias looks to be off to Moto2, and DeAngelis to a disco.

>

Back to the race...Lights out and Pedrosa, who is made of styrofoam, went straight to the front of the pack. Pedro's lead lasted roughly 4 corners, until he ran wide and let Lorenzo and his fucking sweet Neil Armstrong tribute helmet up into the lead. From there, JLo pretty much scurried off to a lonely 4th win of the season by a gap of over 7 seconds. Meanwhile, Rossi sat in 3rd with Stoner right on his ass. 2 corners into the 2nd lap, Stoner took Rossi for 2nd courtesy of a rather ballsy inside move and quickly closed down on Pedrosa in 2nd. As for Rossi, that was as good as it was going to get. That's right, the world champ finished in 4th...this was also the first time he has ever finished off the podium at Estoril. Gutted.

26 laps to go, and Stoner smokes Pedro on the brakes at the end of the front straight to take over 2nd...but not before grinding his right footpeg on the previous corner. Nine weeks off the bike? Yeah, right.

With JLo long gone, the top four places were pretty much done and dusted. What else was going on, you ask? Well, not a whole hell of a lot. Homeboy Hayden had gotten a decent start, but was starting to go backwards and ended the day in 9th. Edwards finished where he started...in 5th. Elias was in true 'contract time' mode and finished 6th from his 13th place start...ape style.

Yep...Lorenzo's win cut Rossi's lead in the champeenship from 30 to 18 points with three races to go. Even though he missed three races, Stoner was only 3 points off of Pedrosa in 3rd. After another one of his epic celebration wheelies, Lorenzo pulled to the side of the track, grabbed a 'Lorenzoland' flag, and did a slow motion space walk into the gravel to plant the flag...excellent. Not only is JLo challenging Rossi for the title, but also in the post race celebration department.

Race Result:

1) Lorenzo-Yamaha

2) Stoner-Ducati

3) Pedrosa-Honda

4) Rossi-Yamaha

5) Edwards-Yamaha

6) Elias-Honda

7) Dovizioso-Honda

8) Hayden-Ducati

9) Toseland-Yamaha

10) Vermeulen-Suzuki

11) DePuniet-Honda

12) Melandri-Hayate

13) Canepa-Ducati

14) Talmacsi

DNF:

Capirossi-Suzuki

Kallio-Ducati

DeAngelis-Honda

Next stop: Phillip Island

T...out