How good is Ben Spies

In a little over half a season, he has tied Chris Vermuelen in wins. Has passed the likes of Fred Merkel
[2 time champ] Ben Bostrom and every rider on the grid today in wins except Haga. At his his current pace, by the end of the year he will have passed Hodgson, Kocinski, Toesland and Russell. If he does this, which is more than possible, he will have moved into the top 8 in all time wins in WSBK history. He is already 8th all time in polls and will most likely move into top 4 in that category by seasons end. The stats this kid is putting up is mind blowing.

How good?....pretty ....... good from where I see it. Damn, this past weekend race 2 was boring, reminded me of a MotoGP race (yet another Yamaha out front). Race 1 was interesting until Spies decided to kick up a notch at which point I'm sure Biaggi was like WTF!

One of the thoughts on my mind all year has been, sure am glad Suzuki didn't extend an offer to him to ride their MotoGP bike. I bet Merigalli sure is happy he hired him. At preseason, I picked Ben to be at best top 5 throughout the year, which I felt would have been quite good for a rookie, certainly never the likes of what we have seen. It's contract time, if not already past it for some, and I am really curious where Spies will be next year. Another year of WSBK (with a chance to win if he doesn't this year, or double championships?) or off to MotoGP on a undetermined ride?

Not to steal thunder from Spies, but Haga has really impressed me this year as well, with exception of this recent off, the bad weekend of Miller, and his bird incident at Monza, he has been winning or getting a podium every race. Quite a turn around from the hot and cold past Haga, certainly Xerox Ducati has been a huge factor and of course his desire for championship rather then race glory.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (povol @ Jun 30 2009, 06:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>In a little over half a season, he has tied Chris Vermuelen in wins. Has passed the likes of Fred Merkel
[2 time champ] Ben Bostrom and every rider on the grid today in wins except Haga. At his his current pace, by the end of the year he will have passed Hodgson, Kocinski, Toesland and Russell. If he does this, which is more than possible, he will have moved into the top 8 in all time wins in WSBK history. He is already 8th all time in polls and will most likely move into top 4 in that category by seasons end. The stats this kid is putting up is mind blowing.
And yet incredibly, there are some on here who continue to insist that it's all down to having the best bike

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Arrabbiata1 @ Jun 30 2009, 02:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>And yet incredibly, there are some on here who continue to insist that it's all down to having the best bike

No that's motogp

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Spies is real good, but could he switch his form to MotoGP?
Toseland is struggling, thats the man who beat haga oh and Bayliss.
Edwards is nearly there but we all know he wont do it.

Not sure.

Im not sure he has the style to be a winner in GP but he is an animal on a Superbike. What would he be worth to Yamaha come contract time.You can bet someone is going to have to pony up this time around. I wouldnt mind seeing him stay forever in WSBK and rewritting the record books. Of course at this pace, he could go off to GP for a couple of years and if that didnt pan out, he could come back and resume the ... kickings and still get the records.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dion @ Jul 1 2009, 07:13 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Spies is real good, but could he switch his form to MotoGP?
Toseland is struggling, thats the man who beat haga oh and Bayliss.
Edwards is nearly there but we all know he wont do it.

Not sure.

Spies can challenge Rossi for a win provided he is on Factory Yamaha or Honda. Maybe on Factory Ducati. Not on Suzuki or Sattelite Bikes.

seeing what spies did on the rizla suzuki and what hes doing now its only a logic step to bring him onto GP. hes a fantastic rider.

put him on a factorybike in GP and U have rossi, lorenzo, stoner, spies and pedrosa fighting for victories (in that order)...

my opinion...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (povol @ Jun 30 2009, 06:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>In a little over half a season, he has tied Chris Vermuelen in wins. Has passed the likes of Fred Merkel
[2 time champ] Ben Bostrom and every rider on the grid today in wins except Haga. At his his current pace, by the end of the year he will have passed Hodgson, Kocinski, Toesland and Russell. If he does this, which is more than possible, he will have moved into the top 8 in all time wins in WSBK history. He is already 8th all time in polls and will most likely move into top 4 in that category by seasons end. The stats this kid is putting up is mind blowing.
Not bad for a guy whos scared of flying!

i love spies, he and rossi are by far my favourite riders.. whether or not he wins the championship, (i dont really mind, like haga too) next year he just has to move to motogp! though i do believe he will win, in his rookie year, and also yamaha's first sbk title. he may even break another record, of most wins in a season. dont know who holds it, but i think it wont be far from the 10 he has so far..

for someone, in order to bring out his 100% he has to be pushed to the limits, he has to try to surpass his own limits! that's what mladin did to spies, or lorenzo to rossi now.. spies is much faster than the rest of the sbk field, and in order to get even better he has to be pushed more, by the fastest riders in the fastest bikes! i think he can do well in motogp.. ok i honestly dont know, probably he wont be as fast as the top four, but i'm sure he will be close, in the first 6 or 8.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rickyduck @ Jul 1 2009, 09:13 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Not bad for a guy whos scared of flying!
So was Dennis Bergkamp as I recall

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (bill88 @ Jul 1 2009, 06:34 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>i love spies, he and rossi are by far my favourite riders.. whether or not he wins the championship, (i dont really mind, like haga too) next year he just has to move to motogp! though i do believe he will win, in his rookie year, and also yamaha's first sbk title. he may even break another record, of most wins in a season. dont know who holds it, but i think it wont be far from the 10 he has so far..

for someone, in order to bring out his 100% he has to be pushed to the limits, he has to try to surpass his own limits! that's what mladin did to spies, or lorenzo to rossi now.. spies is much faster than the rest of the sbk field, and in order to get even better he has to be pushed more, by the fastest riders in the fastest bikes! i think he can do well in motogp.. ok i honestly dont know, probably he wont be as fast as the top four, but i'm sure he will be close, in the first 6 or 8.
He has a way to go to break the record set by another of my favorites. Doug Polen won 17 races in a season that to this day is the most dominant season in WSBK history

From Crash.net article LINK

Spies: I know what I want to do next year

Ben Spies says he knows where he wants to race in 2010, but refused to leave any hints as to whether he is remaining in the World Superbike Championship or graduating to MotoGP.

Having been originally earmarked for a move to MotoGP with Rizla Suzuki straight from AMA Superbikes last season, Spies joined Yamaha in World Superbikes when the deal fell through.

Since then, speculation about Spies' future has been rife following his explosive arrival on the World Superbike scene, the American's rookie season having yielded eight pole positions and ten wins in 18 races thus far.

Having been linked to a number of teams, both in World Superbikes and MotoGP, Spies was nonetheless remaining coy about his future plans, laughing off some of the 'wilder' speculation in the process.

“No decision has been made,” he told Crash.net Radio. “People have been making a lot of offers, but at the moment I am focused on trying to win.

“It is good to have people coming to you, but it gets frustrating too with all the rumours. I think it is funny that I am hearing I'm about to sign with a team I haven't talked to, and then there are other teams that I have that no-one is making rumours about. But that's media and that is what they do!

“It's a good problem to have at the end of the day. I know what I want to do next year, but I'm not letting anyone in on it. Something will come out soon enough…

Spies's double win at Donington Park has put him within 14 points of Noriyuki Haga in the overall standings.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Bootsakah @ Jul 1 2009, 07:41 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>From Crash.net article LINK

Spies: I know what I want to do next year

Basically an article about nothing. Just something to start a silly season discussion.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (povol @ Jul 1 2009, 01:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>He has a way to go to break the record set by another of my favorites. Doug Polen won 17 races in a season that to this day is the most dominant season in WSBK history

oh, then i was wrong! he has to win almost every race from now on, in order to beat this! not impossible though! well if someone can do it, that's mr spies!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (bill88 @ Jul 1 2009, 07:47 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>oh, then i was wrong! he has to win almost every race from now on, in order to beat this! not impossible though! well if someone can do it, that's mr spies!

Can't see that happening, although it seems they have the bike dialed in an a good crew is with him it's possible. But there are too many tracks left that he hasn't seen or been too. And many are Ducati tracks that Haga also does well at.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SackWack @ Jul 1 2009, 04:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Can't see that happening, although it seems they have the bike dialed in an a good crew is with him it's possible. But there are too many tracks left that he hasn't seen or been too. And many are Ducati tracks that Haga also does well at.
With all due respect Sacky, the guy has this extraordinary technique/capacity for learning new circuits. He say's that he finds it easier to attack it from the first session, run off where necessary and push to find the limits very early on. This seems to have been vindicated by his outstanding results on some of the more technical circuits - Phillip Island, Valencia (forget the crash), Donington, Assen.

So what's left? Brno - admittedly, Haga and Fabi own the place, Nürburgring, Imola, Magny-Cours and Portimão. Spies will LOVE Portimão - I predict a double - especially if the championship goes down to the wire. Nürburgring - some of the high speed turns suit the Ducati, but another very technical track that Spies will love to crack. Can you seriously see him struggle at Imola? - but again Fabi and Haga will be very strong. Magny Cours...anyone's guess. Don't really like it myself - although it supposedly saved Aussie Steve Martins life!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Arrabbiata1 @ Jul 1 2009, 08:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>With all due respect Sacky, the guy has this extraordinary technique/capacity for learning new circuits. He say's that he finds it easier to attack it from the first session, run off where necessary and push to find the limits very early on. This seems to have been vindicated by his outstanding results on some of the more technical circuits - Phillip Island, Valencia (forget the crash), Donington, Assen.

So what's left? Brno - admittedly, Haga and Fabi own the place, Nürburgring, Imola, Magny-Cours and Portimão. Spies will LOVE Portimão - I predict a double - especially if the championship goes down to the wire. Nürburgring - some of the high speed turns suit the Ducati, but another very technical track that Spies will love to crack. Can you seriously see him struggle at Imola? - but again Fabi and Haga will be very strong. Magny Cours...anyone's guess. Don't really like it myself - although it supposedly saved Aussie Steve Martins life!

I don't see Spies struggling anywhere. I was responding to the question of whether he can break the single season victory record which Polen holds at 17. Spies would need to win eight of the last ten races. All I am saying is that the odds are stacked against him. I wouldn't put it past him to achieve the record though. We have seen what happens at tracks that Haga loves, like Valencia, he dominated. Although the circumstances and momentum is clearly now on Spies' side, he will have to work hard to get victories at Ducati tracks that Haga does well at. Given of course that Haga can ride with his injuries. And then there is of course the Fabrizio factor whom is coming on strong as well and he could pull a one of victory at any track. One thing is for certain, I can't wait to see Potimao again. That track is awesome.