The factory Yamaha duo of Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies come away from France with more points for the championship fight after 4th and 6th place finishes at Le Mans. For Lorenzo, the points for the 4th place were enough to keep him at the top of the championship table.
During the race, the current Yamaha rider was able to keep up with the Honda trio, until the pace became too quick and he fell into the clutches of Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso. A tussle ensued which saw Lorenzo and Dovizioso touch at one point. After falling away from the Honda and Ducati, Jorge settled into 4th place.
“I think the race has been good in general for us and the results and points are good for the Championship. Obviously I would like to fight with Casey and the other best riders for victory but at this moment it's really hard. What I can do is try to finish with the best result possible, take the maximum from our bike as it is now and wait for future improvements.” said Lorenzo after the race.
Ben Spies will be happy just to get some points on the board after a horrible start to the season. Spies had a lonely race after runing wide on Lap 1 before consistent laps saw him catch Colin Edwards. An off by the Texan saw Spies take evasive action which led him to be caught by Nicky Hayden. After a fight back he was able to claim 6th, now leaving him in 12th place in the championship, only 2 points off Marco Simonchelli in 8th.
“It was a pretty exciting race. I made two mistakes on the first two laps and lost touch with Colin and Valentino. I tried to ride as hard as I could and was reeling in Colin until unfortunately he crashed; his bike slid across the track so I had to avoid it which allowed Nicky to get up to the back of me. We diced around a bit then I was able to get around him and go on my way. We got a sixth place result which is good for the points.” said Ben.
