Ever day and in the next few weeksI will post every day about 2 riders, one from MotoGP and one from WSBK.
About each rider I will go over his raiding career, successes and failures, facts and rumors, to help you all to get to know the grid better.
I will go by teams
And the first team is Ducati
WSBK
Ben Spies # 11
DOB: July 11, 1984
Birthplace: Memphis, Tennessee
Hometown: Longview, Texas
Height: 5'11" Weight: 160
Turned Pro: 2000
Personal opinion: Ben Spies is a definite contender for the championship. And his results in Philip Island- Australia proves it, a pool position on his first race and a win on the second race, is defiantly impressive result for the rocky, but then again, the guy did come from 3 championships in the AMA and an impressive guest appearance in the MotoGP as a wild card for Suzuki in 2008.
And lets face it, he is not to hard on the eyes either.
I expect to see great think from the good looking Texan.
from wiki:
Ben Spies (born July 11, 1984 in Germantown, Tennessee), also known as "Elbowz" due to his riding style where his elbows frequently touch the ground when making sharp turns because his body position is so low and off the motorcycle, is a professional motorcycle road racer who turned pro in 2000. He won the AMA Superbike Championship for Yoshimura Suzuki in 2006 (only the second time since 1999 that his team-mate Mat Mladin had not won it), and successfully defended it in 2007 and 2008.
For 2009 he will race in the Superbike World Championship series for the Yamaha Italia team. He started racing on 125cc bikes in Texas as a teenager. Spies currently lives in Longview, Texas.
AMA
In 2000 Spies raced with the Valvoline Suzuki team He took a season-best 5th-place finish at the Pikes Peak International Raceway round of the AMA 750 Supersport series, won the AMA Horizon Award for road racing. In late 2000 he qualified on the front row for his debut in the AMA Supersport Championship series. He then joined the Yoshimura Suzuki factory team in 2003.
Again with Valvoline Suzuki in 2001, Spies won the Pikes Peak round of the AMA 750 SuperStock Championship, and took four additional series podium finishes.
For 2002 Spies joined the Attack Suzuki team, paired with Jason Pridmore. He earned three top-five finishes in AMA Supersport, and four top-five finishes in AMA Formula Xtreme. He was troubled by a knee injury for much of this season
Now with American Suzuki team, Spies won the 2003 AMA Formula Xtreme Championship with five wins and two additional podium finishes. He also contested the AMA Supersport series, earning a win at Road Atlanta and taking two additional podium finishes. His best AMA Superbike result this year was seventh-place at Daytona Intl Speedway
Again with American Suzuki team in 2004, Spies raced in the AMA Supersport Championship, earning a win at Infineon Raceway and taking two additional series podium finishes. He earned wins in the AMA Superstock Championship races at California Speedway and Road Atlanta, and earned two additional podium finishes in the series.
In 2005 Spies won the AMA Superbike race at California Speedway and earned 13 additional podium finishes. He was runner-up for the AMA Superbike title, and raced in AMA Supersport, earning five top-five finishes.
Spies joined the Yoshimura Suzuki team as a teammate to Mat Mladin for 2006. He won the AMA Superbike Championship title with 10 wins and seven additional podium finishes. Spies took six successive wins early in the 2006 season, and staved off a late season surge by team-mate Mladin to win the title by 649 points to 641. In total he took 7 poles and 17 podiums, and lead the most laps 10 times. Spies also raced in select AMA Supersport events, earning a podium finish at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
2007 produced one of the tightest championship battles in the history of the series, Spies won a second AMA Superbike Championship in 2007, by a single point over Mladin, with seven wins and 12 additional podium finishes. He captured Superbike pole position at nine events, and also won the AMA Superstock title with seven wins and seven pole positions.
In 2008 Spies won his third straight AMA Superbike Championship to become only the fourth rider in the history of the series to win the title three consecutive times (after Reg Pridmore, Fred Merkel and Mat Mladin). This included an AMA Superbike record of seven successive wins.
MotoGP
Spies started in the place of injured Loris Capirossi at the British GP on 22 June and finished in 14th place scoring his first MotoGP points. This was in addition to two pre-planned rides at both U.S. rounds. He tested for Rizla Suzuki at Indianapolis on July 2, 2008, in preparations for the new U.S. Grand Prix. Top ten finishes followed at both Laguna Seca and Indianapolis.
He was not offered a full-time ride by Suzuki for 2009, and plans for him to join JiR ended when their Honda contract was not renewed following a split with their partners Team Scot[1].
Superbike World Championship
On October 1 2008, it was confirmed that Spies would join the Superbike World Championship for the 2009 season, riding for the factory Yamaha Italia team.[6] He took pole position for his very first race meeting. He ran off the track on the first lap in race one (recovering to finish sixteenth despite a second incident) but was victorious in race 2 to become the first American to win a WSBK race since Colin Edwards in 2002.
AMA Superbike Championship Statistics (1976 – 2008)
Compiled by Larry Lawrence
(From; http://www.benspies.com)
Youngest riders to win the AMA Superbike Championship
1. Nicky Hayden Age 21 yrs., 12 days.
2. Fred Merkel Age 22 yrs, 1 mo., 7 days.
3. Ben Spies Age 22 yrs., 2 mos., 20 days.
4. Troy Corser Age 22 yrs., 9 mos., 22 days.
5. Wayne Rainey Age 22 yrs., 10 mos. 25 days.
Youngest rider to win second AMA Superbike Champion
1. Fred Merkel Age 22 yrs., 11 mos. 27 days.
2. Ben Spies Age 23 yrs., 2 mos., 5 days.
3. Wes Cooley Age 24 yrs., 3 mos., 8 days.
4. Eddie Lawson Age 24 yrs., 7 mos.
5. Wayne Rainey Age 26 yrs., 10 mos., 7 days.
Youngest rider to 10 AMA Superbike wins
1. Nicky Hayden Age 20 yrs., 8 mos., 8 days.
2. Freddie Spencer Age 21 yrs., 2 mos. 22 days.
3. Fred Merkel Age 21 yrs., 11 mos. 12 days.
4. Ben Spies Age 22 yrs., 24 days.
5. Wayne Rainey Age 25 yrs., 7 mos. 21 days.
Youngest rider to 20 AMA Superbike wins
1. Ben Spies Age 23 yrs., 9 mos. 16 days.
2. Fred Merkel Age 23 yrs., 10 mos., 5 days.
3. Miguel Duhamel Age 30 yrs., 11 mos. 7 days.
4. Mat Mladin Age 31 yrs., 2 mos., 28 days.
Fastest to 10 AMA Superbike wins
1. Eddie Lawson 21 starts
2. Freddie Spencer 22 starts
3. Fred Merkel 23 starts
4. (tie) Mike Baldwin 28 starts
5. Wayne Rainey 28 starts
6. Anthony Gobert 29 starts
7. Ben Spies 31 starts
8. Nicky Hayden 33 starts
9. Doug Polen 37 starts
10. Scott Russell 38 starts
11. Miguel Duhamel 42 starts
12. Mat Mladin 51 starts
13. Eric Bostrom 63 starts
14. Doug Chandler 73 starts
Fastest to 20 AMA Superbike wins
1. Fred Merkel 44 starts
2. Ben Spies 60 starts
3. Miguel Duhamel 67 starts
4. Mat Mladin 94 starts
Most wins in a single season
1. Mat Mladin 12 (2007)
2. Mat Mladin 11 (2005)
3. (tie) Ben Spies 10 (2006 & 2007), Mat Mladin 10 (2003), Fred Merkel (1984). 10
AMA Superbike winning percentage (minimum of 5 wins)
1. Eddie Lawson 0.466
2. Kevin Schwantz 0.428
3. Wayne Rainey 0.38
4. Ben Spies 0.373
5. Nicky Hayden 0.369
6. Mat Mladin 0.358
7. Fed Merkel 0.333
8. Freddie Spencer 0.272
9. Mike Baldwin 0.263
10. Anthony Gobert 0.234
AMA Superbike podium percentage (minimum of 10 podiums)
1. Ben Spies 0.921
2. Eddie Lawson 0.774
3. Wayne Rainey 0.714
4. Bubba Shobert 0.681
5. Mat Mladin 0.672
6. Nicky Hayden 0.652
7. Kevin Schwantz 0.636
8. Fred Merkel 0.623
9. Wes Cooley 0.552
10. Mike Baldwin 0.55
All-time AMA Superbike wins
1. Mat Mladin 72
2. Miguel Duhamel 32
3. Ben Spies 28
4. Fred Merkel 20
5. Nicky Hayden 17
Longest AMA Superbike winning streaks
1. Ben Spies 7 races
2. (tie) Ben Spies, Mat Mladin, Wayne Rainey 6 races
3. Wayne Rainey 5 races
AMA Superbike poles
1. Mat Mladin 55 poles
2. Ben Spies 24
3. Doug Polen 18
4. Freddie Spencer 17
5. Wayne Rainey 15
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