Spies Shows the Brits How It's Done

In a pair of races, not far from Sherwood forest, Ben Spies showed the Brits how to ride Donington's rolling circuit. You'd expect Shakey Byrne, Leon Haslam and Johnny Rea to lead the way, but in race one on Sunday, Ben lead Biaggi and Haga to the podium. Haslam and Byrne arrived next, then Nakano and Rea. A rather uninteresting race really. This was John Hopkin's debut return to the series, finishing a respectable 8th. Race two saw Haga crash hard on lap 5, fracturing his left shoulder blade in multiple places and breaking his right elbow. Biaggi also went down, but remounted and finished 21st with a broken foot. Spies pulled an AMA-style seven second gap on the pack and it was no contest. Haslam grabbed second, with Fabrizio third, then Byrne and another Brit Tom Sykes. Wildcard rider Leon Camier, current BSB championship leader, finished 6th with his BSB teamate James Ellison in 8th. Hopper was exhausted by his race one effort and wasn't able to start race two. What does this do to the standings? Haga's almost certain championship win is evaporating fast. Ben Spies is on a roll, climbing to within 14 points of the leader. With one round left before the WSB summer break, the crowd at Brno may very well see Ben Spies take the championship lead. I'd even bet a few shekels on it.