'09 World Superbike Series *spoilers*

[stevegula]

damn the board doesn't have a spoiler tag.

For those who missed the final races... Haga crashed out of Race 1 (which Spies won), leaving Spies with the opportunity to place as low as 6th and still win WSBK even if Haga took first in the final race. Haga ended up taking 2nd and Spies took 5th taking the World SBK championship as a rookie.

Various accomplishments this season -
Took pole on the first race of the season
Won the 2nd race of the season (first American to win since old boy Colin Edwards)
won 14 races, a WSBK season record (and puts him 12th on the WSBK All-Time Career Wins list)
11 poles, a WSBK season record
7 consecutive poles, a WSBK season record

Next year he bumps up to MotoGP riding with Tech 3.

I bet 90% of the people on this board already know this, but I figured we should have a thread for it. I consider it "pretty fucking awesome" that he pulled this off as a rookie, seeing how he hasn't been to 1/2 of the tracks, if not more.

[CaptainHenreh]

Clearly a frog:

[G.Irish]

Man I didn't see this thread, but yeah it was an unprecedented achievement for Ben to win the WSBK title in his first season. I feel a little bit bad for Haga as he's been the perennial bridesmaid but at the end of the day I preferred to see Ben win and make history.

Ben did a wildcard ride for the Moto GP season finale at Valencia and finished 7th. In the post race tests he was 5th yesterday and 4th today. Man I can't wait for next season.

[.paul]

Definitely feel bad for Haga. He deserves a championship. As for Ben, what he does is plain amazing. To be able to learn the tracks so quickly, with a damn PS3, and his ability to set up the machine is mind numbing.

Next year, moto2, GP, and WSBK are all going to be amazing. I truly see Ben getting a few podiums next year.