The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider placed fourth in the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix, his seventh top-five result in his rookie season in MotoGP.
The impressive debut season of Ben Spies in MotoGP continued over the weekend with fourth place at Sepang, as the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider maintained his quest for a top-six Championship finish.
Starting from fourth on the grid the American had dropped down to sixth position by lap three as he struggled to establish a comfortable feeling with his rear tyre, but a focused and steady approach to passing Nicky Hayden and Marco Simoncelli meant he was soon back up to fourth.
“I got a reasonable start but I suffered with the left side of the rear tyre not coming up to temperature as quick as I'd hoped. But once it did it worked great and I was able to fight my way through to another really strong result,” said Spies.
“I was behind Nicky for a while and got stuck there but once I got by him I was reeling off 2’02” laps to get into fourth and I was happy with my race pace. I knew I couldn't get third and that was a little frustrating because looking at the times of the top three, if I could have got away with them I really feel I could have been there. I know Lorenzo wasn't pushing like his life depended on it with what he had at stake but I could have been closer to the front. It was still a good race for me and I made some good passes and I'm looking forward to Phillip Island now.”
It was a day on which Spies’ future team-mate for next season Jorge Lorenzo clinched the 2010 title, and he added: “Finally, I'd like to congratulate Jorge and Yamaha. Jorge has been fantastic all season and he definitely deserved to win the title. He hasn't made a mistake and I'm really looking forward to working with him in 2011."
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