Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies crashes out at high speed at Phillip Island – MotoGP news

Yamaha Factory Racing rider Ben Spies took a hit during the qualifying practice session for Iveco Australian Grand Prix.

The Texan rider was riding at 270Km/h when he had a low side crash and slid into run off gravel.

Spies said, “I got a little bit off line in qualifying this afternoon and hit a big bump, losing the front. It’s unfortunate as we were trying a different bike set up which was looking pretty good. It happened on the third lap, according to the data I came off at 270km/hr so I went through the gravel trap pretty quick!”

Though he did not have any severe injury, but he endured severe bruises on his ribs and body. Spies was taken out of the track on a stretcher to the Clinica Mobile. Spies ended his qualifying practice session in seventh place while leading the third row.

Spies added, “My knees, ribs and elbows are all pretty banged up but that’s normal, that’s how it is. The bike is working well so we need a good start; we’re in a good position on the grid for it so we’ll see what happens.”

Spies’ compatriot Nicky Hayden of Ducati is ahead at sixth position. On the other side, Jorge Lorenzo was able to take second place on the grid.

The American rider was lapping for the mid positions on the time chart. He was strong during the session but the crash made him lose confidence.

The young Texan took some time to gather himself at the pits and returned to the track on his second M1. After coming back, he was able to score seventh position on the time chart for the grid standings.

Meanwhile, the top seat was being toggled between two Spaniards Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo. Later, the home star Casey Stoner was clearly ahead of the riders’ pack by improving his best lap times twice.

The Aussie was dominant in the weekend that worries Lorenzo to lose his hopes for the 2011 world championship.