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MotoGP
WILLIAMS: Finding The Next Spies
The AMA Pro Road Racing paddock is proud to see one of their own become a MotoGP race winner but how will the next Ben Spies be discovered in today's climate?
Yamaha Factory Racing's Ben Spies (Photo: Yamaha Racing)
It’s been a crazy week for Ben Spies, the latest American to win a MotoGP race. As everyone knows by now, the Texan won for Yamaha last Saturday at Assen in the Netherlands.
Before last weekend, it was clear that Spies had a good chance to win this season. The former AMA Pro and World Superbike champ is far enough along in his learning curve that he had a shot to triumph at one of his good tracks if the race fell his way. He’s only been in MotoGP full-time for less than a season and half but Spies is already very good on worn tires, has shown he can do well in qualifying, and impressed the factory team enough that his deal was extended before he won last weekend.
Some successful riders top out at some level or have limitations riding certain types of racebikes but Ben isn’t one of them. One could have pinned the sobriquet “Superbike guy” on Spies given his background but the connotations were wrong in this case. He can ride anything and can adapt his style to fit. This win proves it.
The AMA Pro paddock looks on the win with affection, as Spies is “one of theirs.” Spies raced in America for nine seasons. Plenty of folks can still remember a teenage Spies from the days he wore a cowboy hat around the pits with a sticker from his manufacturer on it -- long before he won three straight Superbike crowns.
In America, Ben was an accessible rider who many in the paddock considered a friend, from his fellow riders and training buddies to journalists. Ben also scored in 2009 when, while racing in World Superbike, he publicly stood up for the AMA Pro riders who felt the regime wouldn’t let them voice their opinions and concerns in what was a disastrous season for racing in America.
Folks are proud.
What can we learn from Spies’ success? Continuity matters. Ben likes familiarity and people he can trust. Today Spies has the same crew chief (Tom Houseworth) that he did in 2003. And it isn’t just Houseworth. Greg Wood worked with Ben at Yoshimura, then at Yamaha World Superbike. Mike Watt, his suspension man, is an old AMA Pro vet, too. Electronics ace 'Eki' Siukola worked with Yoshimura back in the days when journalists weren’t supposed to know what he actually did.
Before last weekend, it was clear that Spies had a good chance to win this season. The former AMA Pro and World Superbike champ is far enough along in his learning curve that he had a shot to triumph at one of his good tracks if the race fell his way. He’s only been in MotoGP full-time for less than a season and half but Spies is already very good on worn tires, has shown he can do well in qualifying, and impressed the factory team enough that his deal was extended before he won last weekend.
Some successful riders top out at some level or have limitations riding certain types of racebikes but Ben isn’t one of them. One could have pinned the sobriquet “Superbike guy” on Spies given his background but the connotations were wrong in this case. He can ride anything and can adapt his style to fit. This win proves it.
The AMA Pro paddock looks on the win with affection, as Spies is “one of theirs.” Spies raced in America for nine seasons. Plenty of folks can still remember a teenage Spies from the days he wore a cowboy hat around the pits with a sticker from his manufacturer on it -- long before he won three straight Superbike crowns.
In America, Ben was an accessible rider who many in the paddock considered a friend, from his fellow riders and training buddies to journalists. Ben also scored in 2009 when, while racing in World Superbike, he publicly stood up for the AMA Pro riders who felt the regime wouldn’t let them voice their opinions and concerns in what was a disastrous season for racing in America.
Folks are proud.
What can we learn from Spies’ success? Continuity matters. Ben likes familiarity and people he can trust. Today Spies has the same crew chief (Tom Houseworth) that he did in 2003. And it isn’t just Houseworth. Greg Wood worked with Ben at Yoshimura, then at Yamaha World Superbike. Mike Watt, his suspension man, is an old AMA Pro vet, too. Electronics ace 'Eki' Siukola worked with Yoshimura back in the days when journalists weren’t supposed to know what he actually did.
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