Yamaha boss praises 'determined' Spies.

Good luck to both of them. On the point of not knowing the tracks, why don't they simply book in some personal track time over the winter? Seems obvious!

What do you mean? Travel to all the tracks on the calender? Hardly feasible. Most use video games to familiarize them selves to some degree but it can't be that much of a help.

I still cannot believe that Suzuki didn't put Spies in MotoGP. It just seems like a huge mistake. Were they concerned with having too many Americans in MotoGP or something. What would be the reasons for not putting him there when he has clearly shown them that he has the ability and desire?

Whatever the reason, Spies is in position to graduate to the premier class to a winning machine. Suzuki will never challenge for the lead as they are not really in it for that, it must be said after years mid-pack.

So maybe he scared them when he was better than mid-pack in his rides this past season.

Will see how Spies does. I think track knowledge still plays a role in doing consistent laps again and again. He has the speed and determination. Consistancy wins Championships, a flash a brilliance gets you close.

motojoe.......... the reason Spies isnt with Suzuki moto gp is because his wage demands were way to high,thats why no team in Moto gp wanted him. If he really was the dogs ******** then he would be in Moto gp now.

Ok, I hadn't heard that about the wages. I had only heard the Suzuki would not run a third machine. So any idea what kind of money he wanted? Is he getting what he wanted in WSB?

It's one of the reasons why Mladin has stayed in AMA for so long, the win bonuses far outweigh a 'world series' ride...I feel confident that Yamaha have offered a lucrative 'performance based' pay package to Spies plus, perhaps, the possibility of farming him out to yamaha motogp( tech3 once Edwards goes ? )in next year or two..Spies may have dearly wanted a Paul Denning Suzuki seat but the fact remains that he priced himself out of an '09 motogp ride.

Pure speculation - maybe he asked for a lot of money because he didn't want the gig - that is one rumour another is that he lost the Suzuki ride when he refused to race at Assen. Whatever the truth he is now in the Yamaha family - they seem to look after their riders. Maybe he will go to Tech 3 in the future. For now I will enjoy seeing him shine in WSB.

Nobody seems to have any really hard info here on salary demands, but Josh Hayes sez WSS pays a quarter of a comparable ride in AMA. I'll bet that holds for the other series except for Rossi grade riders.

Lets be real about Spies and his salary. Rumor has it that spies asked for 2M. That is a bit of money for a racer but on a grand scheme its a drop. Dorna could have easily kicked in on Spies salary considering they charge a minimum of 10M just to show up at a track. And the teams have 100M budgets just to do a season.

Also i am sure the top riders easily dwarf Spies 2M requirement. I am sure Pedrosa, Edwards, and even Marco & Toseland pulls down big dollars. Spies is a 3x AMA champ so hes entitled to come with a price tag. Hes not some fill in rider.

FGS did it for Biaggi when he came to WSBK and demanded his crazy salary.

Cont.

Cont.

So far Spies has shown he could be a serious title contender in 09. For a rookie to do so well, 2M is a deal.

The bottom line is the Motogp teams were trying to low ball him because hes American and the AMA is a minor league series regardless of his dominant performance. Being cheap is not always the right choice. Spies would have been a much better choice then either Caprix or Chris V.

So Yamaha will be very strong in MotoGP, WSBK, AMA with BBoz and Hayes and Airwaves in BSB. Yamaha sees the future and is going to try to dominate in the next few years because they have a long term vision and they are not cheap.

Suzuki screwed the pooch when they passed in Spies.

Ducman please

If wsbk yamaha could have chosen between chris v or ben spies, I think u all know the answer

I love going back and reading all the comments about Spies: he has only competed in a 'minor' league series against no competition, how Maladin was overrated, how he will suck in Europe. Time will only tell if he can win Championships, but his lap times on a completely new bike & track are as fast as Haga's race laps on the same track. I don't need to say the elite level that Haga runs at.

I can't FREAKIN wait for 2009 WSBK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol, you guys are already crowning him 2009 World SBK Champ after 1 test!

Well it seems to me 2M would have been well worth it for Suzuki to finally put a rider on thier machine that can compete at a top level even if he does not have the best machine.

Yes, Spies over Chris v. without a boubt!

"If wsbk yamaha could have chosen between chris v or ben spies, I think u all know the answer"

Yup, and they made the ideal choice.

Is he going to win the title in 2009, he's very capable of it. But you can rest assured knowing hes going to give that Yamaha a caning day in, day out and show some results to boot. The guy shows up to a NEW track on a NEW bike with a NEW tire brand and does Haga like race laps?!? The talent can't be denied.

While I agree that the AMA series is not as competitive as some other series (mainly due to the efforts of Yoshimura Suzuki) the riders are good make no mistake about that, for Mr Bojangles info Maladin is a top class rider who was good enough to be signed for the Cagiva 500 gp team when still a teenager, however due to language difficulties and crashes he became disilusioned and returned to Australia where he rebuilt his career in Aussie superbikes, then he moved to the USA and made lots and lots of money, he is at the end of his career but he has never denied he is in the USA for other than money, He is a very good rider who could have had success in Europe had he wished,..cont

cont.. As for Ben Spies why don't people wait and see, I believe he will surprise a few people in 2009, Yamaha seem to have faith in him, as for Suzuki I am not sure why they did not want him but rumours are he wanted lots of money which Suzuki were not prepared to pay, the Suzuki moto gp bike has not performed as well as hoped in 2008 so it's hardly fair to bag the riders, don't forget the rumour is Xerox Ducati made Vermuelen an offer to ride the bike vacated by Bayliss so they must think he is capable of winning the WSB championship, personally I think his best placing in Moto gp would be 4th or 5th at best on a good bike