Spies loses out on second

"Every corner after I passed him I slowed down, taking it easy then all of a sudden I was on the floor" - Ben Spies.
Spies, Spanish MotoGP Race 2011
Spies, Spanish MotoGP Race 2011
© Gold and Goose

The Factory Yamaha Team saw its hopes of a perfect one♓-two finish in Sunday's wet Spanish Grand Prix disappear when Ben Spies crashed out of second place with just over two laps remaining.

The mistake was all the more frustrating since Spies had already done the hard work by chasing down and passing Repsol Honda's Dani 🌄Pedrosa for s𓃲econd place.

But despite backing off, Spies was ca💦ught out at turn five when he lost the front on the very next lap.

"I don't think of it as a race today, it was more attrition," sai🍌d Spies. "Once we moved into fourth behind Nicky [Hayden] I knew I could get past so just waited for the rꦯight moment.

"Dani was only a few seconds ahead of me and I thought for sure we could get on the podium. I slowly started to catch him, Jorge [⛦Lorenzo] was obviously going to win but wℱe could go one-two.

"I put it all out there an🌼d caught Dani. As soon as I passed him I knew that we had second ♏place under control, he wouldn't be able to get back by but I needed to not make any mistakes.

"Every corner after I passed him I slowed down, taking it ea𓃲sy then all of a sud🐈den I was on the floor. Obviously it was my mistake, but looking at the data I was going slower than I had all race. It was one of those things; I think the tyres were the limiting factor today.

"I think it was a great sﷺhow for the crowd though!"

"[Like Lorenzo] Ben was also clever, waiting and taking his time to get to second," added team director Massimo ꦦMeregalli. "Unfortunately in the wet like this a little mistake can compromise a race. I'm sorry for him with just two laps to go he deserved the podium."

After Spies' exit, fellow Texan Colin Edwards was promoted to third - but his Yamaha broke down on the final lap, handing the final podium place to an💙other American, Nicky Hayden (Ducati).

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