Through a thoroughly dominant double race sweep in which he led every lap, Yamaha ace Ben Spies closed to within 14 points of the World Superbike championship points lead. Helping the American’s cause was the fact that current points leader Nori Haga of the Xerox Ducati crashed heavily out of race two at Donington Park in England, the victim of a vicious high-side.

"It was a picture perfect weekend," Spies said after the second race, happy to have done so very well on Sunday, but also showing concern for competitor Haga. "I hope he's OK, because that's not the way you want to do it, but we've got to capitalize when things do go wrong.”

By winning his tenth race - and Haga coming up empty handed in the second race - Spies now has 294 points to Haga's 308 after nine of 14 rounds. Ducati Marlboro's Michel Fabrizio, third in race two, is third with 257 points.

"The first race was not easier, but easier to concentrate," Spies said. "In the second race I was almost having to do one lap at a time pretty hard to kinda keep my rhythm going and it's hard racing with those big of gaps, because you can't just stop and you don't want to push and do something stupid. So, it was quite difficult, but we managed through it and, yeah, I can't thank the Yamaha guys enough. We changed a lot of things around and they came and delivered me two great bikes."

Max Biaggi holeshot the second 23-lap race, however by the time he exited the Hollywood corner, Spies was out front. The Texan would then start pouring the coals to his Yamaha, pulling away and building upon his lead each and every lap. Behind him, though, one thing after another was happening many of the riders involved in the race.

First off, Shinya Nakano’s day ended on lap two with a vicious high-side coming out of the Old Hairpin, the Japanese falling onto his back. Hannspree Ten Kate Honda's Jonathan Rea, a favorite of the partisan British crowd, lost the rear at the apex of Goddard's, the hairpin left leading onto the front. He was able to continue. Kawasaki's Jamie Hacking was out on the same lap.

Haga took over third on the second lap behind Spies and Biaggi, with Haslam fourth and Fabrizio fifth. Then Biaggi crashed in the Melbourne Loop, picked up his Aprilia, and bumped into another rider as he got going.

On the fifth lap, Haga took himself off with a heavy fall into the left-hand Redgate, the Ducati beating him up as they both tumbled into the grass and into the gravel. Hannspree Ten Kate Honda's Carlos Checa was out on that lap, as was his brother, David.

With many of the top runners out, Spies’ crew signaled him that Haga was out of the race and to remain calm. That’s exactly what he did, amassing a 6.622 second lead at the finish.

"It was a good race for us. The track was definitely hot in the second race and it was a little bit slick," he said. "We made some changes to the bike that made it better. Fortunately, we didn't have to push it to the absolute limit, but it worked great. The bike was excellent, no mistakes, and I'm pretty happy now."

Honda’s Leon Haslam placed a fine second in the race.

"Yeah, it's been a few rounds" since he was on the podium, Haslam said. "We've been struggling these last few rounds, circuits we've not known. Obviously, the home race we really wanted to get on that podium. So, yeah, it feels good. Obviously, felt sorry for Haga; he was pushing hard and it was a big crash there. So fair play to Ben (Spies). He had it dialed in today and I was pretty happy to get second to him today."

Race Two:

1. Ben Spies (Yamaha)

2. Leon Haslam (Honda)

3. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati)

4. Shane Byrne (Ducati)

5. Tom Sykes (Yamaha)

6. Leon Camier (Yamaha)

7. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda)

8. James Ellison (Yamaha)

9. Ruben Xaus (BMW)

10. Simon Andrews (Kawasaki)