Ben Spies has taken the 2009 World Superbike Championship in his rookie year after finishing race two at Portimao in fifth place this afternoon.
Spies was the third Yamaha rider that took a championship title today; Valentino Rossi in MotoGP, Cal Crutchlow in Supersport and Spies’ win is also a first for the Japanese manufacturer at the World Superbike level.
The Texan won the championship separated by just six points ahead of Noriyuki Haga.
Michel Fabrizio won the race itself after an incredible and exciting dash through the field after another of his terribile starts.
Team mate Noriyuki Haga took second, while Jonathan Rea was third after leading the race until the final laps when he went wide letting through Fabrizio and a few turns later Haga.
Rea would finish third and Shane Byrne on his private Ducati impressed the field with his fourth place.
Max Biaggi was sixth after putting on another fantastic race with his Aprilia but going wide too many times suffering from arm problems picked up in yesterday’s crash.
BSB champion Leon Camier was seventh, while Jakub Smrz finished in eighth.
Troy Corser took ninth and Sylvain Guintoli finished a solid tenth in his Superbike debut after pulling out of race 1 due to mechanical difficulties.
Spies now will head to MotoGP to take part in the final race at Valencia with his new Yamaha Tech 3 team with a another championship title in his pocket.
After the jump Race 2 results and final championship standings:Portimao Race 2 Results:1 84 Fabrizio M.
(ITA) Ducati 1098R 38′19.
654 (158,148 kph)2 41 Haga N.
(JPN) Ducati 1098R 1.
1953 65 Rea J.
(GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1.
4944 67 Byrne S.
(GBR) Ducati 1098R 5.
5535 19 Spies B.
(USA) Yamaha YZF R1 5.
8426 3 Biaggi M.
(ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 7.
3747 22 Camier L.
(GBR) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 9.
6588 96 Smrz J.
(CZE) Ducati 1098R 10.
4349 11 Corser T.
(AUS) BMW S1000 RR 17.
01010 50 Guintoli S.
(FRA) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 24.
50911 71 Kagayama Y.
(JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 27.
19512 23 Parkes B.
(AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 34.
82513 14 Lagrive M.
(FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 35.
13514 99 Scassa L.
(ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1′01.
84215 94 Checa D.
(ESP) Yamaha YZF R1 1′09.
78216 100 Tamada M.
(JPN) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1′30.
81817 25 Salom D.
(ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R RET 15 Baiocco M.
(ITA) Ducati 1098RRET 91 Haslam L.
(GBR) Honda CBR1000RRRET 7 Checa C.
(ESP) Honda CBR1000RRRET 111 Xaus R.
(ESP) BMW S1000 RRRET 10 Nieto F.
(ESP) Ducati 1098RRET 77 Iannuzzo V.
(ITA) Honda CBR1000RRFinal 2009 WSBK Standings:1 Ben SPIES USA 462 2009 World Champion2 Noriyuki HAGA JPN 456 -63 Michel FABRIZIO ITA 382 -804 Max BIAGGI ITA 319 -1435 Jonathan REA GBR 315 -1476 Leon HASLAM GBR 241 -2217 Carlos CHECA ESP 209 -2538 Shane BYRNE GBR 192 -2709 Tom SYKES GBR 176 -28610 Jakub SMRZ CZE 169 -29311 Ryuichi KIYONARI JPN 141 -32112 Yukio KAGAYAMA JPN 128 -33413 Troy CORSER AUS 96 -36614 Shinya NAKANO JPN 86 -37615 Régis LACONI FRA 77 -38516 Max NEUKIRCHNER GER 75 -38717 Ruben XAUS ESP 74 -38818 Broc PARKES AUS 51 -41119 Matthieu LAGRIVE FRA 34 -42820 Leon CAMIER GBR 32 -43021 Fonsi NIETO ESP 22 -44022 Karl MUGGERIDGE AUS 21 -44123 John HOPKINS USA 17 -44524 Matteo BAIOCCO ITA 17 -44525 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA 16 -44626 Lorenzo LANZI ITA 15 -44727 Makoto TAMADA JPN 12 -45028 Gregorio LAVILLA ESP 12 -45029 Luca SCASSA ITA 11 -45130 Jamie HACKING USA 9 -45331 James ELLISON GBR 8 -45432 Sheridan MORAIS RSA 8 -45433 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA 6 -45634 Simon ANDREWS GBR 6 -45635 Tommy HILL GBR 6 -45636 David SALOM ESP 5 -45737 David CHECA ESP 4 -45838 Brendan ROBERTS AUS 3 -45939 Roberto ROLFO ITA 3 -45940 Vittorio IANNUZZO ITA 2 -46041 Alessandro POLITA ITA 1 -46142 Jake ZEMKE USA 1 -461
