Ben Spies and Mika Kallio both finished the final races in their respective classes in second place. In the overall point standings racers with Akrapovič exhaust systems took two second places and one third place.

The outcome of the most prestigious and, this year, very turbulent road-racing championship is finally known. As is already traditional, the championship in the 125, Moto2, and MotoGP classes concluded in Valencia, where racers with Akrapovič exhaust systems earned outstanding results.

In the top class Ben Spies with Yamaha rode extremely well even in the rainy qualifying session and earned himself the third starting position. In the race he came up from fourth to pass Dovizioso and Pedrosa, and even passed the leading Stoner in the last part of the race, but Stoner regained the lead in the last lap, crossing the finish line a mere 0.015 seconds ahead of Spies.

The Texan commented on his second place finish in the final race and the championship outcome: “The conditions were really tough today, with the rain it was so difficult to know how hard to push so I was just concentrating on bringing the bike home. We were able to follow Dani and Dovi and get past them eventually and then get past Casey, when he made a small mistake. When there’s no rider in front of you, you don’t have a judge on how slippery the track is so it’s difficult to judge speed in that last lap. When we came out of the last corner I got the paint sucked off the bike by Casey as he went past! I’m happy enough; we made a huge charge at the end and finished well. Considering how the last month has gone it’s a great way to end. We’ll focus on the test now and aim to be up there and even more competitive next year. A huge thank you to Yamaha and my crew, who made sure I had a great bike to ride today. This morning we all came out to make some noise and say goodbye to Marco; I’m pretty sure he heard us and I know he would have approved!”

Katsuyuki Nagasuka stood in for the injured Jorge Lorenzo, turning in a surprising sixth-place finish. Lorenzo managed to maintain his second place in the overall standings despite missing the last two races. Spies finished in fifth place and Álvaro Bautista (Suzuki) in thirteenth.

In the Moto2 class of 600-cc, four-cylinders, four-stroke motorcycles, two riders with Akrapovič exhaust systems could be seen in the forefront. Mika Kallio of the Marc VDS Racing Team finished the season with an outstanding second place ahead of Dominique Aegerter (Technomag CIP Moto2 Team). And turning to the overall standings, this year the championship title eluded Marc Márquez, who finished in second place ahead of Andrea Iannone.

The bottom line: in the 2011 season racers with Akrapovič exhaust systems took second place in the MotoGP class as well as second and third places in the Moto2 class. Bravo, guys!

Photo: Yamaha Racing, Mark Wernham