Ben Spies

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Ben Spies 2010

Ben Spies [ ˈbɛn ˈspiːz ] (born July 11, 1984 in Germantown , Tennessee ) is a retired American motorcycle racer .

Spies is nicknamed Elbowz because of his habit of stretching his elbows far away from his body when driving .

Career

Beginnings

Ben Spies started riding a motorcycle at the age of five . By his tenth birthday he had won 27 races in a row, and by 1999 he had won three amateur championships.

Spies 2005 in a Suzuki at the Infineon Raceway

American Championship

In 2000 Spies became a professional racing driver and competed for the Valvoline Suzuki team in the US championship. His best placement of the season came in fifth in the AMA 750 Supersport Series at the Pikes Peak International Raceway and won the AMA Horizon Award for road racing. In the 2000 season, Ben Spies also contested his first race in the US Supersport Championship , in which he immediately qualified for the front row. In 2001 he won the Superstock run at Pikes Peak and achieved four more podium finishes.

In 2002 Spies competed for Attack Suzuki together with Jason Pridmore in the Supersport class and was among the top five three times. In the AMA Formula Xtreme , the American continued to achieve four top 5 placements, although he suffered from a knee injury for much of the season . In the 2003 season, Ben Spies won the AMA Formula Xtreme Championship for American Suzuki with five race wins . In the Supersport class, he won the race in Road Atlanta . In 2004, Spies drove the Supersport Championship for American Suzuki and won the run at Infineon Raceway . He won the AMA Superstock Championship at California Speedway and Road Atlanta.

In the 2005 season, Ben Spies made his debut in the Suzuki factory team Yoshimura Suzuki , where he competed on a GSX-R 1000 , in the AMA Superbike Championship . His teammate was the five-time champion Mat Mladin from Australia . Spies won his first AMA Superbike run at California Speedway and achieved 13 more podium finishes. The American finished the championship in his rookie year as runner-up, just 22 points behind Mladin. He also achieved several placements among the top five in the Supersport class.

In 2006, Ben Spies secured the title with ten race wins and seven additional podiums from 19 races. In the final standings, the then 22-year-old was eight points ahead of his team-mate with 649 points.

In the 2007 season, Ben Spies and Mat Mladin, still teammates at Yoshimura Suzuki , fought one of the closest title fights in the history of the US Superbike Championship. Spies was not worse than second in any race of the season and won the title just one point ahead of Mladin with a win in the last race at Laguna Seca . In addition, the American also secured the title in the Superstock class with seven wins.

In 2008, Ben Spies defended his title again and set a new record in the AMA Superbike Championship with seven race wins in a row. The American won the title at the green table after his teammate and main competitor Mat Mladin had both race wins at Virginia International Raceway denied due to an irregular crankshaft and his appointment was rejected during the season under strange circumstances, which helped Spies to an unassailable point advantage . He became the fourth driver in the history of the series to win the title three times in a row.

MotoGP class

Due to his strong performances in the US championship, Ben Spies was also interesting for the motorcycle world championship . In October 2007, he completed his first test on a MotoGP machine in Japan .

On June 22, 2008 , he contested his first race in the MotoGP class at the British Grand Prix in Donington Park . The US-American replaced the injured Italian Loris Capirossi at Rizla Suzuki and finished the race in 14th place. After further tests on the MotoGP Suzuki, Spies contested the two grands prix held in the United States as a wildcard driver. In Laguna Seca he finished eighth, in Indianapolis he took a strong sixth place in the rain, beating both Suzuki works drivers.

As early as 2007, Ben Spies expressed the wish to be able to compete permanently in the MotoGP class in 2009 , for which Suzuki also seemed to be planning him firmly. In August 2008, however, the Japanese confirmed their two drivers, Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi, for 2009.

Spies' management then looked around for other options in the late summer of 2008, for example with JiR Team Scot , the team of Fausto Gresini and a Ducati customer team. Even a change to the Ducati factory team in the Superbike World Championship to replace Troy Bayliss seemed possible. All of these options ultimately failed because of Spies' salary claims, who wanted to keep his high level of earnings from the US championship

In 2010 Spies finally became a permanent starter in the MotoGP World Championship. He had his first season with the French Tech3 team on a customer Yamaha. With 176 points, he finished the year in sixth position. In Silverstone and Indianapolis he also got places on the podium. At the same time, he received the Rookie of the Year Award for the best newcomer performance. Through this achievement Spies was offered a contract in the Yamaha factory team for 2011.

On June 25, 2011 Spies celebrated his first victory in the Moto GP in Assen. He managed to get on the podium several times. Another victory was not achieved, however, as Casey Stoner overtook him on the last straight at the season finale in Valencia and crossed the finish line in second place, just 0.015 seconds behind. He finished the year fifth with 176 points.

In the 2012 season, Spies continued to drive alongside Jorge Lorenzo for the Yamaha factory team, but could no longer meet the team's expectations and was replaced by Valentino Rossi in the 2013 season.

In 2013 he started on a Ducati of the Pramac Racing Team. After falling in the 2012 and 2013 seasons, he had to undergo surgery on both shoulders and was therefore only able to take part in two races in 2013. His contract for 2014 with Pramac Ducati was terminated.

Superbike World Championship

On 1 October 2008 has been officially confirmed that Ben Spies in 2009 in the Superbike World Championship compete and for the in Italy -based Yamaha -Werksteam Yamaha WSB by Massimo Meregalli would drive. His teammate there was the British Tom Sykes .

Spies achieved ten pole positions at the 13 events held so far , setting the record set by his compatriot Doug Poland in 1991 . He won 13 of the 26 races on the all-new Yamaha YZF-R1 . On September 6, the US-American took the lead for the first time after finishing first and second at the Nürburgring . In the overall standings he was ten points behind the leading Ducati driver Noriyuki Haga before the last two races .

On October 25, 2009, Ben Spies won the title in the last run of the SBK in Portimao. In the first run he achieved a dominant start-to-finish victory, while Noriyuki Haga was retired after a crash. In the second race he withdrew from the duels of the leading group and finished 5th. Haga finished second in the second run and was 6 points behind in the final result. This makes Ben Spies the first rider to become Superbike World Champion in his rookie season and also the first Yamaha Superbike World Champion.

statistics

title

In the motorcycle world championship

season class team motorcycle run Victories Second Third Poles Nice Race laps Points position
2008 MotoGP Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R 3 - - - - - 20th 19th
2009 MotoGP Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha YZR-M1 1 - - - - - 9 20th
2010 MotoGP Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha YZR-M1 17th - 1 1 1 - 176 6th
2011 MotoGP Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha YZR-M1 16 1 1 2 - 1 176 5.
2012 MotoGP Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha YZR-M1 16 - - - - - 88 10.
2013 MotoGP Pramac Racing Team Ducati Desmosedici GP13 2 - - - - - 9 21st
total 55 1 2 3 1 1 478

In the Superbike World Championship

season team motorcycle run Victories Second Third Poles Nice Race laps Points position
2009 Yamaha WSB Yamaha YZF-R1 28 14th 2 1 11 6th 462 World Champion
total 28 14th 2 1 11 6th 462

References

Web links

Commons : Ben Spies  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
  • Official website (English)
  • Ben Spies on the official website of the motorcycle world championship (English).
  • Ben Spies on the official website of the Superbike and Supersport World Championship

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Yoshimura Road Racing. (No longer available online.) Www.yoshimura-rd.com, archived from the original on April 2, 2009 ; accessed on March 22, 2009 (English).
  2. ↑ Ben Spies Bio. www.motorcycle-usa.com, March 22, 2008, accessed March 22, 2009 .
  3. ↑ 2005 AMA Superbikes. (No longer available online.) Www.motorsm.com, archived from the original on June 1, 2008 ; accessed on March 22, 2009 (English).
  4. ↑ 2006 Ben Spies, AMA Superbike Champion - Checkers. www.motorcyclistonline.com, accessed March 22, 2009 .
  5. ↑ Evan Williams: Clash Of The Titans: Spies Wins Laguna Seca Fall Classic. (No longer available online.) Www.superbikeplanet.com, September 16, 2007, archived from the original on June 22, 2008 ; accessed on March 22, 2009 (English).
  6. ↑ Johannes Orasche: Heartbeat finals: Spies wins the US Superbike title! www.motorsport-total.com, September 19, 2007, accessed on March 22, 2009 .
  7. ↑ Markus Schocker: Mladin blown off. (No longer available online.) Www.motorsport-aktuell.com, September 11, 2008, formerly in the original ; Retrieved March 22, 2009 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.motorsport-aktuell.com
  8. ↑ Johannes Orasche: Spies: First MotoGP test! www.motorsport-total.com, October 8, 2007, accessed on March 22, 2009 .
  9. ^ Roman Wittemeier: Spies puts Suzuki in the limelight. www.motorsport-total.com, September 15, 2008, accessed on March 22, 2009 .
  10. ↑ Marco Helgert: Suzuki and Spies: Nobody should disturb. www.motorsport-total.com, October 28, 2007, accessed on March 22, 2009 .
  11. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: Suzuki plans for 2009 with Capirossi / Vermeulen. www.motorsport-total.com, August 29, 2008, accessed on March 22, 2009 .
  12. ↑ Britta Weddige: Officially: JiR and Honda go their separate ways. www.motorsport-total.com, September 26, 2008, accessed on March 22, 2009 .
  13. ↑ Johannes Orasche: Suppo: "Spies is interesting for us!" www.motorsport-total.com, June 2, 2008, accessed on March 22, 2009 .
  14. ↑ Johannes Orasche: Is Ben Spies too expensive? www.motorsport-total.com, August 20, 2008, accessed on March 22, 2009 .
  15. ↑ Johannes Orasche: Ducati: "No, thank you, Mr. Spies". www.motorsport-total.com, August 28, 2008, accessed on March 22, 2009 .
  16. ↑ Britta Weddige: Spies: With Yamaha in the Superbike World Championship. www.motorsport-total.com, October 1, 2008, accessed on March 22, 2009 .
personal data
SURNAME Spies, Ben
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American motorcycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH July 11, 1984
PLACE OF BIRTH Germantown