The legendary Monza circuit in Italy host round five of the 2009 World Superbike Championship this weekend and Ben Spies has vowed to ‘give everything’ as he seeks to claw points back from series leader Noriyuki Haga.
Haga has won three of the four races held at Monza in the last two seasons, but he did so on a Yamaha, which this year is now in the hands of rookie Ben Spies.
Spies inflicted a thrilling last-lap victory over Haga in race one in Holland and the Monza round offers the Texan a chance to partly reduce the 60-point gap to the Ducati Xerox rider.
“We’re moving on to Monza and I’m going to ride as hard as I can as always. There will be a lot of family and friends there so I’m going to give it everything I’ve got and still try to have some fun,” he said.
“The circuit is awesome, having tested here I can see why it’s so special so I’m really excited about turning the wheels on race day and really experiencing it.”
Haga meanwhile will be aiming to claim Ducati’s first Monza win since 2006, but may face a top speed deficit relative to the four-cylinders.
Last year the battle between Haga and Suzuki’s Max Neukirchner set the Monza public alight; the German claiming his first-ever WSBK win by 0.058 seconds in race one before Haga took revenge by 0.009 seconds in race two.
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