Spies seeking a second

From motogp.com

Both Rizla Suzuki stand-in Ben Spies and his temporary team manager Paul Denning are targeting an improvement of a second in Saturday´s MotoGP sessions.

Improving his morning time by over a second in the afternoon free practice session at Donington Park, Spies has established a precedent of progression that promises much from his maiden Grand Prix weekend.

Rizla Suzuki is looking for more of the same from the American, who replaces Loris Capirossi in their ranks at the bwin.com British Grand Prix. A further reduction of a second is what both the 23 year-old and Denning are targeting, with Spies already faster than full time Alice Team rider Sylvain Guintoli.

"Ben is settling in incredibly well; it´s effectively his first day with the 2008 bike as he only rode for around two hours with it in Valencia," praised Denning.

"If he can get into the ´29s and battle for points, then that would be an incredible achievement in his first race," he added. Such pace would also make existing Suzuki data all the more useful, being more comparable with the times of Spies´ temporary teammate Chris Vermeulen and the factory team´s former rider John Hopkins.

"Now that Ben´s lap times are coming closer, what we have already is becoming more and more relevant. He´s got something to shoot for, and we´ll try and provide him with anything that he needs."

Spies himself reiterated the intention of dropping his Friday time. "We´re realistically a second off being in the top 10, but we´re getting faster every time and hopefully this will continue tomorrow."