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WSBK: Spies Returns Home A Rock Star
Written by: Chris Martin   
05/30/2009
Tooele Valley, UT
 
Yamaha Motor Italia's Ben Spies (Photo: Yamaha Racing) ยป More Photos

Back on his home turf and with all eyes focused firmly on him, the pressure and expectations couldn't be much greater for Yamaha World Superbike hero Ben Spies. However, despite a week-long marathon of press and near universal predictions of a double victory leading up to the USA round at Miller Motorsports Park, the Texan seems completely unfazed.

Asked what it was like to be back racing in front of his home crowd, Spies made it sound more like a vacation than a pressure cooker. "It's less crowded. You don't have the fans yanking on you but the fans that are here are great. They're cheering for me and all that stuff. It's good."

And as for those non-stop interviews, which
included feature spots in numerous mainstream media outlets that typically ignore motorcycle racing… "Yeah, but not as much as I would have done in Italy. It's just different."

Yes, the 24-year-old Spies has quickly become acclimated with the rock star status that has accompanied his instantaneous global success.

"It's a good problem to have," Spies remarked. "It's pretty gnarly sometimes. It is what it is. I like it. It's good coming home and nobody still knows who the hell you are and that's fun too. But now when I go into coffee shops (in Italy), the 40-year-old woman knows who and am and it's like, 'wow!' A little reality check but it's great."


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