Aragon MotoGP: Ben Spies vows to attack for podium

Ben Spies has vowed to throw more caution to the wind in tomorrow’s Motorland Aragon race in a bid to score his first podium in the 2012 MotoGP world championship.

The Texan admitted taking a cautious approach in Misano earlier this month just to ensure he finished after a nightmare run of bad luck contributed to him not finishing the previous three races in Laguna Seca, Indianapolis and Brno.

Spies, who will leave Yamaha’s factory squad at the end of the season to move to Pramac Ducati, finished fourth in today’s qualifying session run in cool and cloudy conditions at the Motorland Aragon track.

The 2009 World Superbike champion finished just 0.172s behind Cal Crutchlow in third place and 0.344s behind team-mate Jorge Lorenzo in pole position.

Asked by MCN if he would take more risks than he did in Misano to score his first podium since the final round of 2011 in Valencia he said: “I’ll definitely approach the race tomorrow a little bit differently than I did in Misano.

“In Misano for the first 14 laps I was a little more cautious than normal and just wanted to get a result. I got into a good rhythm but it was just too late and tomorrow hopefully I’ll have a good warm-up and start the race with a different mindset than I did in Misano.

“I definitely feel more comfortable with the bike here and hopefully I can fight for the podium.”

Having just missed out on the chance to register only his third front row start of the season today, he added: “It wasn’t the best qualifying session but the pace was OK after a bunch of crashes at the beginning.

“I needed to get a bit of confidence going and that’s the reason why I think I was fourth. We had good pace in the bike but I never got into that really good feeling with the bike in the dry and to be three tenths off I’m happy about that.

“We have a good starting position but I don’t think we got the full potential out of the bike. But with all the mistakes that were happening it was pretty easy to crash. I didn’t leave a whole lot out there but it never felt like I really attacked a full lap and nailed it down.”