Today, on the hallowed, 76-year old Donington Park circuit in England, Yamaha’s Ben Spies and his factory R1 won their eight Superpole of the 14-race 2009 World Superbike Championship. The ninth stop of the 14-visit WSB world tour, Spies lit up the timing monitors surrounding the 2.5-mile circuit with a scorching lap of 1:29.846. 48 points behind 2009 World Superbike Championship leader Nori Haga of the Xerox Ducati outfit, the impressive Superpole run infused the American with confidence for Sunday’s doubleheader in the United Kingdom.

"It was great to get back to winning Superpole," beamed Spies of his run at Donington, one of the few tracks he knows of on the WSB schedule as he competed in the MotoGP round at the venue in 2008. "I got out on the track that last session a little late and started seeing raindrops on my visor. I got up to speed as fast as I could and tried keeping it off the painted lines and luckily everything worked out and I was able to get the fast time.

"The crew is doing a great job," he continued. "They have a fire lit under them and are as hungry as I am at getting up there to challenge for the championship. I'm so comfortable on the bike right now. I seem to be able to put it precisely where I want it lap after lap, and that's a good feeling. I went faster today than I did on the GP bike last year, so that gives me a lot of confidence. Hopefully we can keep this momentum going into Sunday."

Flanking Spies on the front row come Sunday afternoon will be runner-up qualifier Max Biaggi, Shane Byrne and Shinya Nakano.

Eric Johnson