[sportrider - latest stories] - Change of riding approach the start of Spies' season

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Change of riding approach the start of Spies' season turnaround

Setup and riding style change back to what got him to MotoGP helping to turn Ben Spies’ season aroundSILVERSTONE, ENGLAND, JUNE 16 – Yamaha’s Ben Spies nearly took his first pole position of the season in the rain-hit qualifying session for Sunday’s British Grand Prix, a race where he’s continuing to rework his riding style after a disastrous early season.

Spies was riding on pace to take his first pole of 2012, and second career pole, when he made a mistake about halfway through the lap. He’d been on top earlier in the session and was looking to regain the spot when he hit a curb in Maggotts Corner, the second of a five bend sequence, unsettling his Yamaha YZR-M1, sending him into a wobble, and forcing him to abandon what he believes would have been his fastest lap. Soon after a light rain began to fall, sealing his fate and setting the grid. Spies ended up second by a tenth of a second to San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista, who took his first pole. Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner was another tenth back in third.

Was it the rain or riding mistake that ended his pole chance?

“A bit of both,� Spies said, “but it was the same for everybody again.

“The last eight minutes it started raining, so I think everybody got caught out. But I mean, it was OK, actually, because we went out on the hard rear tire to basically test it to see how it was for the race and that’s what we did our fast time on. And then when we put the soft on, I just barely clipped the curb going into Turn 10, I think, and…on my onboard we were already three-tenths up on my best time. So for sure we could’ve gone faster, but when we started the next lap, that’s when it started to rain.




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