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MotoGP
MOTOGP: Speaking With Spies, Pt. I
American MotoGP hero Ben Spies sat down with SPEED.com to talk about the future of Grand Prix racing and his continued development.
Yamaha Factory Racing's Ben Spies (Photo: Yamaha Racing)
After enduring a rocky start to a sophomore season that opened with huge expectations, American Ben Spies has finally found his groove.
While the opening six rounds of the season saw him finish outside the top five on five occasions, including three DNFs, Spies has been on a relative tear ever since scoring his maiden MotoGP victory in dominating fashion at Assen. He's finished inside the top five in seven of the eight races since that time (the solitary outlier being a sixth), while qualifying in the top five for each of those races.
However, despite Spies' strong form, there is also no denying that 'his groove' is still a tick behind the front-running pace established by Repsol Honda teammates Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, and his identically-armed Yamaha teammate, Jorge Lorenzo.
While firmly amidst the next group, which also includes the HRC-backed duo of Andrea Dovizioso and Marco Simoncelli, Spies is working tirelessly to bridge the gap in order to not only become a regular podium finisher and race winner, but a legitimate world championship contender.
While readily admitting that there remain aspects of his game that still need refining, the overall game might just come back in Spies' direction a bit in 2012.
The lanky Texan is likely to be one of the bigger (no pun intended) beneficiaries of the impending 1000cc era. While not expecting a radical shift in the order, Spies is hopeful that there is proves to be just enough of a shakeup to ease that next step in his Grand Prix ascension.
"It's definitely going to change a few things," Spies said after testing Yamaha's '12 prototype. "We saw with the 800s for the first time, Ducati hit it straight on. They had it great. I think it's going to be more of a balance this time. I think all the bikes are going to be good and I look forward to it.
"It's going to change the racing up a little bit. There are going to be more passing opportunities I think, and the way you ride the bikes is going to be a little bit different.
"With the electronics and with the tires, a lot of things are going to be very similar, I think, but you've got the grunt power out of the corners, so the bigger guys like myself and Simoncelli and Colin (Edwards)… I don't think with the 1000s we're going to be at such a disadvantage as we are on the 800s. I look forward to that."
While the opening six rounds of the season saw him finish outside the top five on five occasions, including three DNFs, Spies has been on a relative tear ever since scoring his maiden MotoGP victory in dominating fashion at Assen. He's finished inside the top five in seven of the eight races since that time (the solitary outlier being a sixth), while qualifying in the top five for each of those races.
However, despite Spies' strong form, there is also no denying that 'his groove' is still a tick behind the front-running pace established by Repsol Honda teammates Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, and his identically-armed Yamaha teammate, Jorge Lorenzo.
While firmly amidst the next group, which also includes the HRC-backed duo of Andrea Dovizioso and Marco Simoncelli, Spies is working tirelessly to bridge the gap in order to not only become a regular podium finisher and race winner, but a legitimate world championship contender.
While readily admitting that there remain aspects of his game that still need refining, the overall game might just come back in Spies' direction a bit in 2012.
The lanky Texan is likely to be one of the bigger (no pun intended) beneficiaries of the impending 1000cc era. While not expecting a radical shift in the order, Spies is hopeful that there is proves to be just enough of a shakeup to ease that next step in his Grand Prix ascension.
"It's definitely going to change a few things," Spies said after testing Yamaha's '12 prototype. "We saw with the 800s for the first time, Ducati hit it straight on. They had it great. I think it's going to be more of a balance this time. I think all the bikes are going to be good and I look forward to it.
"It's going to change the racing up a little bit. There are going to be more passing opportunities I think, and the way you ride the bikes is going to be a little bit different.
"With the electronics and with the tires, a lot of things are going to be very similar, I think, but you've got the grunt power out of the corners, so the bigger guys like myself and Simoncelli and Colin (Edwards)… I don't think with the 1000s we're going to be at such a disadvantage as we are on the 800s. I look forward to that."
Grand Prix of The Americas
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