Ben Spies

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cliché guevara said:
most probably cal. dovi is a great rider but riding style and matching bike aside, he had a few years on a factory honda. cal on the other hand is still relatively new to the scene and showing some real talent. if he keeps up with dovi til the end of the year , he'd be my choice.

just on the basis that i think there might be more to come where as with dovi we all know what hes capable of.
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So if Dovi beats Cal (which he's doing) you think the factory bike should still go to Cal? Hhhmm, how's that work? Cal has looked pretty decent. He was underwhelming in SBK and so far he's managed some front row stuff in GP. Good progress but nothing spectacular. But if his teammate bests him, I'm not following the logic that he still deserves the best factory machine on the grid??
 
levigarrett said:
So if Dovi beats Cal (which he's doing) you think the factory bike should still go to Cal? Hhhmm, how's that work? Cal has looked pretty decent. He was underwhelming in SBK and so far he's managed some front row stuff in GP. Good progress but nothing spectacular. But if his teammate bests him, I'm not following the logic that he still deserves the best factory machine on the grid??
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Because Dovi has had three years on a factory Honda and failed to win the title Cal is on his second year on a satalite bike so is on the way up,Dovi is doing no better than he did on the Honda but Cal is getting better all the time. work it out
 
thedeal said:
Because Dovi has had three years on a factory Honda and failed to win the title Cal is on his second year on a satalite bike so is on the way up,Dovi is doing no better than he did on the Honda but Cal is getting better all the time. work it out
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I suspect that Dovi will comfortably beat Cal this year. Dovi didn't cut it on the factory Honda yet he is ahead (and I believe will stay ahead) of Cal. If the guy beating you did nothing on a factory machine, it stands to reason that you won't improve upon his record. Cal has talent, he pushes very hard and he's extremely likable. Occasionally when he keeps it on two wheels he can push for podiums. That about sums him up. I think filling the second seat at Yamaha is going to be a challenge. None of the suiters lined up for that seat appear to be "challenger" material. Not Spies, Dovi or Cal.
 
I have not read all the posts in this thread. Been really busy at work. Sorry for not following it indepth and I am certain it has been mentioned....

Didn't Lin Jarvis say Yamaha expect 2 wins from Spies this season ? If he doesn't do it, which at present doesn't look possible, will he get the bullet ?



As a Brit, pretty sure we are all loving Cal, but I do still have a feeling Dovi will best him over the season
 
13 races to go ladies... Eot
<
 
Looks like Yamaha did what Honda did last year, four factory bikes...



I've thought all along Spies needs a crew chief with lots of experience in GP, not House, as good as he may be....



Also looks like Yamaha are half way through their engines, ALREADY!?
 
Jumkie said:
Well there is a reason for it, you just cited the two most connected and politically dominant riders who have certainly attempted to skew the "teams". But you're too blind of a bopper to every recognize the reality. Need I remind you the reason Rossi left Yamaha?



Yeah, it is funny, but I'm laughing at you.
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Oh, hello Jum... I knew you would bite.
<


Laughing is good for health, but only when it is a good humored laugh; when it is bitter, it works the opposite.



Rossi left Yamaha because he could not beat Lorenzo in 2010. Had he beaten him, he would have stayed and Lorenzo would have left. But of course you have a conspiracy theory in this case too. Yawn.



You are mostly wrong in all your assumptions, yet you insist. You are driven by prejudice, not reality. One example for all: you solemnly announced and denounced that Nicky Hayden would have been transformed in a test mule for Rossi at Ducati: nothing was more wrong than that, it is now plain for all to see, but never mind -- go on. I certainly find you amusing.
<
 
Jumkie said:
Levi, I can relate to not being a fan in the classic sense, but Spies Wsbk championship made me as close to a fan as you can get without me going out and getting the tshirt (well, theres not much space between the Nicky, Schwantz, and Haslam shirts in my closet). Pop in the 2009 Wsbk review. Remind yourself just how special he can ride. He continued this on Tech3 for a year and backed it up with a race win on the factory seat last year (was almost a double grand prix winner had it not been for Hondas superior acceleration). His factory ride is deserving and I suspect is simply having a bad start to the season, no more no less. Dovi/Cal have certainly been revelations this year, but I don't rate them better than Spies (for the record, I think Nicky is a better rider than Spies, but I'm sure you knew that already). If Yam Factory send him packing, it will be a mistake. He'll come good.
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There is no question Ben is if not an alien, darn close to being one. I think he really has just had a run of bad luck. The guy has won everything for so long and now it just IMO is par for the course of having some crappy luck. If Yam gets rid of him, it will be a huge mistake to do so, cause whoever picks him up will most likely benefit from coming out of his slump. It happens to the best of us.
 
Ben is unlucky yes, unlucky that tech 3 have very similar machines at present and two top riders. Unlucky in that Yamaha would have no problem at all replacing him. Maybe lucky that Stoner has retired, otherwise he might not have had a chance to stay in Motogp next year at all.
 
Talpa said:
Ben is unlucky yes, unlucky that tech 3 have very similar machines at present and two top riders. Unlucky in that Yamaha would have no problem at all replacing him. Maybe lucky that Stoner has retired, otherwise he might not have had a chance to stay in Motogp next year at all.
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100% agree
 
I also think his head is not in it 100%. Worldsuperbike already took him around the world, though it just seems to be wearing on him. If I recall correctly, Hayden had a hell of a time adjusting to the euro lifestyle. Maybe the US has to wait for mamola jr. to take the gp world by its balls....hope I'm wrong, though I feel im right.
 
Spies needs to relax and focus. Nothing wrong with him, it just the pressure from Cal, Dovi and of course JLO.He is fast but made mistakes. I think he will stay at the Factory Yamaha for at least another year, unless he wants to go back to WSBK.
 
thedeal said:
I dont see it getting any better for Ben while his mum is running the show.
<
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I don't like his mum any more than you do, but its his mum who got him to the show. He might have been ...... with Suzuki had he not taken a different direction and held on to that brand detrimentally as has Hopkins. I think his mom had a lot to do with his decision to go to Wsbk and then be a hot item for GP.
 
god forbid if ben was now hoppers teammate at crescent

props to ben for realizing national championships and wsbk/gps are very different from each other.

if ben doesn't come back in a major way to silence all the critics (as i believe he will do, he has all the talent to win a couple of gps each year) i'd like to see him and hopper on a new r1 in wsbk in 2013/14
 
levigarrett said:
I can't envision a scenario unless something dramatic takes place whereby Ben keeps his ride in 2013.
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I can't envision a scenario where he loses it.



Who else in the field has his pedigree? Who would Yamaha replace him with? Dovi?



He has one win in 5 seasons in GP, Ben did the same in two.



Spies finished 6th in his rookie season, 5th in his first on a factory bike.



He has had a bad start to the season - new bike, equipment failures, bad weather. He didn't become a bad rider over the winter.
 
JohnnyKnockdown said:
I dont think replacing Spies with any of these two is an upgrade. If anything, at best, it is a lateral move.

Spies still has time to save his .... If he finishes the latter half of the season with a string of podiums then his misfortunes will quickly be forgotten. Hes shown he has the speed so Im confident that soon he will be consistently at the front or at the least beating the Tech boys.
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I agree.



He is a known quantity, he has had good results, he has had some bad luck this season so far.
 
Ngads said:
In my opinion i think spies just lost his confidence...at least leading up to catalunya. He was haunted by a bunch of crashes and problems and because they were one after the other it just looks awful. That being said, in catalunya he was looking really fast but just got ahead of himself. We all know that the yamaha is a great package this season. I wouldn't rule him out yet for a turn around for the rest of the season. If not, i have to say that his ride is gone to the Tech3 rider with the most points at the end.
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He explained his season pretty well in the GPWeek article. Two equipment failures, a rookie mistake and a lack of judgement adds up to four bad Sundays.



Dovi hasn't shown he can hang with the big boys. He is fighting for 5th place with Crutchlow. His third at Catalunya was 10 seconds adrift. Why would Jarvis risk taking him on?



Don't forget, they (Yamaha and Tech3) started the season on equal hardware - that won't continue. Yamaha will have upgrades for Spies that Tech3 won't get.



If Spies has a good race this weekend it will be indicative of his current pace. His FP times were right up there - only 0.070 off Lorenzo's time.



I think he's pretty sick of having bad days... time to hook it up.
 
BHarvey said:
Looks like Yamaha did what Honda did last year, four factory bikes...
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They were all the same at Qatar, apart from things like brakes. Yamaha will pull away as they develop the bike further during the year.



Also looks like Yamaha are half way through their engines, ALREADY!?
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I hadn't seen that - if true, that is a serious problem for Jorge... didn't he have problems with engines last year as well?
 

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