MotoGP

Bio

Ben Spies, also known as “Elbowz” due to his riding style where his elbows protrude outward, is a professional motorcycle road racer who turned pro in 2000. He won the AMA Superbike Championship for Yoshimura Suzuki in 2006 (only the second time since 1999 that his team-mate Mat Mladin had not won it), and successfully defended it in 2007 and 2008.

For 2009 he raced in the Superbike World Championship series for the Yamaha Italia team; winning the championship in his rookie year by six points over rival Noriyuki Haga. He started racing on Yamaha YSR50cc bikes with the Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association in Texas as a pre-teen.

Yamaha were clearly impressed with his performances and this year made his first official step into the MotoGP top class with the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha team. And in his rookie year at the MotoGP level Ben has seen some serious success with a third place at Silverstone in the UK and most recently a second place at Indy Motor Speedway, where he also took the pole!

Spies currently lives near Lake Como, Italy during the MotoGP season to cut down on all the travel from his hometown of Dallas, Texas.