Ben Spies expects tougher challenge in Germany

Ben Spies believes this weekend’s German MotoGP round will pose a tougher challenge for Yamaha than the previous two races in Assen and Mugello.

Spies and the factory Yamaha team go into this weekend’s Sachsenring clash brimming with confidence after the Texan broke his premier class victory duck in Holland last month.

And reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo triumphed at the last race in Mugello as Yamaha put the brakes on a brilliant start to the 2011 campaign by Japanese rivals Honda.

Prior to Assen, Honda had won five out of the opening six races with Australian Casey Stoner in scintillating form to win four times.

But 2009 World Superbike champion Spies is cautiously optimistic about Yamaha’s chances of winning a third successive race in 2011 on the tight and twisty Sachsenring track.

Spies, who was fourth in Mugello earlier this month, said: “Sachsenring wasn’t a great track for us last year but actually at the end of the race we came through and we were actually strong, so I’m pretty optimistic about it.  It will be tougher for us than Assen and Mugello but I still think we can be competitive. We’ll have to see how our bike works there because there’s a lot of spinning, so we’re going to struggle a little, but we’ll just take it as it comes.”

Spies said Yamaha’s factory YZR-M1 is still not at the same performance level of Honda’s impressive RC212V, but he said he was anticipating numerous new parts for next month’s Brno test in the Czech Republic.

Spies and Lorenzo will test new parts for their 800cc bikes in Brno while also cramming in their first appearance on Yamaha’s new 1000cc contender during the Monday test on August 15.

And Spies added: “Our package isn’t quite as strong as some others and we haven’t fixed our problems but it’s getting better and we are getting the maximum out of the bike right now. We need to get more for sure. We have some things coming for the Brno test and that will be important for the Indy race.  Maybe we won’t match the Honda but if we get closer that’s all we can do.  But two wins is good motivation for the team and the Honda is not unbeatable, but we still haven’t bridged the gap.”