MOTOGP » Spies test sunk

Suzuki will run Ben Spies in at least two MotoGP races in 2008 in a bid to prevent the reigning American superbike champion from being lured to the premier class by a rival manufacturer.

Ben Spies missed out on his first taste of Suzuki's factory GSV-R machine when torrential rain wrecked his hopes of a debut ride in Sepang on Monday.

There is intense speculation already Ben Spies will quit America next year and move to MotoGP full-time in 2009.

Overhype City. Ben has shown himself on a level with Mladin, both being on clearly the best package in AMA. Mladin is good, but not that good, and the field quality of AMA is pretty marginal. When Mladin has raced as a wildcard in WSB, on his home tracks, he's had his butt kicked.
Spies may have potential, but he's yet to prove it in a really competitive environment. Let's see.

Put Spies on a Yamaha or Honda in the Suzuki Cup, sorry AMA Superbike, and then we will see if he really is "The real deal". Mat Mladin has always been a great talent and certainly NOT a "500GP failure" given that he was on a relatively uncompetitive Cagiva and only given 1 year to produce results which is near on impossible. This I am sure affected his dreams/mindset and when you can earn a great living without the **** why would he go back to 500s or MotoGP. Good luck to Ben, I hope he gets his chance, but it will not be easy!

The reason Mladin was fastest at PI was that he was not riding on Pirellis, he was using his more competative Dunlops. That is also the reason why the different track layouts will be used at Miller, as direct comparisons are meaningless when one class has to run using control tyres (tires).

I would put Spies on a WSB first - similar spec to what he is riding at present and enough good talent (Haga, Bayliss and hopefully Kiyo) to see how good he is

Spies talent lies in his ability to adapt to improve, during races. In that respect he is like Rossi as Rossi studies the competion over race period, finds their weaknesses and then applies learned info to pass them. If he is to be judged by what he's done so far then we can expect at the very least, wins should he move to wsbk. Remember james Toseland was seriously questioned about his ability when he came into wsbk with not half the results of Spies to his credit and now look at him, a 2 time wsbk champ. For some riders the switch to motogp is hard because of the mentality in which they approach the competition. They are in awe of the other riders and are affraid to challenge. Spies isnt.

Spies talent lies in his ability to adapt to improve, during races. In that respect he is like Rossi as Rossi studies the competion over race period, finds their weaknesses and then applies learned info to pass them. If he is to be judged by what he's done so far then we can expect at the very least, wins should he move to wsbk. Remember james Toseland was seriously questioned about his ability when he came into wsbk with not half the results of Spies to his credit and now look at him, a 2 time wsbk champ. For some riders the switch to motogp is hard because of the mentality in which they approach the competition. They are in awe of the other riders and are affraid to challenge. Spies isnt.

Spies talent lies in his ability to adapt to improve, during races. In that respect he is like Rossi as Rossi studies the competion over race period, finds their weaknesses and then applies learned info to pass them. If he is to be judged by what he's done so far then we can expect at the very least, wins should he move to wsbk. Remember james Toseland was seriously questioned about his ability when he came into wsbk with not half the results of Spies to his credit and now look at him, a 2 time wsbk champ. For some riders the switch to motogp is hard because of the mentality in which they approach the competition. They are in awe of the other riders and are affraid to challenge. Spies isnt.

Well you yanks would big up spies wouldn't you,he may have impressed you lot over there but he's done nothing to impress the rest of the world.I'm not saying he lacks the talent or skill to do well on the world stage but until he gets his **** out of america he is like mladin,just another big fish in a small pond!

Remember - Everyone has to start somewhere!