Sterilgarda Yamaha's Ben Spies was forced out of the second race at Kyalami on Sunday when a linkage on his quickshifter broke meaning he had to pull out because he couldn't change gear.

The six-time pole position man, who is still a class rookie, had just gone past Xerox Ducati's Noriyuki Haga for the lead when he visibly slowed and then pulled in. It's his second DNF in two weekends due to technical trouble.

“We were struggling to hang in there in race one, it was a good race for all three of us up at the front. When I passed Michel I tried to reel in Nori and then unfortunately made a mistake," said Spies.

"I was really strong in parts of the track but giving up too much time in some corners and couldn’t get in there. The second race was very unfortunate, I was feeling good and had secured an early lead, then obviously had the technical problem and had to retire, I’m really disappointed about it. I’m looking forward to going home to the USA for the next round and seeing if we can make it up.”