Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128245
AMA Formula Ktreme Champion Ben Spies Ben Spies is well on his way to being American road racing's brightest hope By S HA N M OO RE P HOT O S BY M OO RE AND H EN NY R A Y A BRAMS I n inet een-year- o ld Ben Sp ies burst into th e Iimelight of th e AMA ro ad racing scene in 200 3 by taking a run aw ay , seven- sec ond w in in th e ope ning round of th e Lockhart-Phillips USA Formula Xtrem e series at Cal ifornia Sp eedway in Fontana , Th e qu iet ly confident Spies backed that up w ith a second wi n at Infineon a mont h la ter. Desp it e suffering pr ob lem s at m idseaso n and sur rendering the serie s lead to A ustralian Da mon Buckmaster, the yo ung Texan rebounded to take three m ore wins and the cha mpionship on his Yoshimura Suzuki. In all , Spies tot aled 10 poles and seven podiums , including his five wins , in the 10 -race ser ies . To top that off, some of Spi es' qualifying times during the season were good enough to pla c e him on the fro nt row in several of th is yea r 's Superb ike even ts , paving th e way fo r speculation that he would be a major c o nt ende r in that cl ass fo r 20 04. With his sights set on a full -o n assau lt of the Superbike cl ass , 2004 look ed to be sha ping up as an even better year for Sp ies wh en on O ctob er 13, at a test at Dayt on a Inte rnational Sp eedw ay , th e rear tire o n his Super b ik e ex p lo de d at 186 mph , sen di ng him headlon g into a six -week peri od of sk in gra fts and doctor visits. Spi es m issed all of the t est ing durin g th e fa ll , but he st aye d been opti mistic through it all . Then, with the relea se of the AMA ru les for next y ear, Sp ie s decided t hat the Superstock class is th e futur e o f AMA road raci ng, and now he w ill pursue that in st ead o f the Superb ike class - at least fo r th e '04 season. Q pretty much th e m an to beat. I've never been th e one ... you kn ow , I just hav e to push m yself to go fast er , and I ha ve always had to chase people and stu ff like that, but now they were chasing m e, and I was setti ng the p ace, and I w a s always a go o d ha lf -se c ond i n front of them . Th at fe lt good , to o, so it wa s a gre at year. A t what point i n t he season did you realize you had a good shot at wi nning the championship? Q Pro babl Y after th e first race. We won by seven seconds , and then at the sec ond race , we won that. We had some p robl ems halfway through the se aso n , and then we got our stuff back together an d started w inn in g . I don 't kn ow how A < HOW does i t feel to w in th e championship? lt feel s rea lly good - it has n't reall y sunk in ye t. It's great to win a ch ampion sh ip , and I'm reall y happy , bu t I'm ready to go rid e aga in and win so me more. A Q HOW is your re covery going , and has the experience changed your outlook on next year? A lt shouldn't affect me at all. I'm getting a lot bette r. They 've schedu led in two m ore tests that I' m gon na miss, but come Ja nua ry th e 10th and February th e 4th , I'm gonna be abl e to ride , so tha t's four two-day test s th at I'll be able t o do . I'll be fine once we get back o n th e bik e, an d co me Dayto na we' ll be as fas t as w e were th is ye ar and as fast as I can be. Texan Ben Sp ie s had a great ye ar in 2003, w inning th e AMA Fonnula Xtreme Cha mpionship on his Yo shim ura Suz uki . m any we won , but I know we won th ree in a row - I th ink we won five, m ay be. I ha d to get m y head back o n m y sho u lders halfwa y t h rou gh th e seaso n and step up a little bit , and we did. Q What were your expectations going into the '0 3 season ? A T O do as good as I co uld o n th e 600 and get a coupl e of podiums - maybe win one ; th en win a few Xtreme races and be in t he batt l e for t he champi onship . When our game wa s on , we were 54 JANU ARY 7 , 2004ยท cue I e Q o a m o n B uc k m a st er seemed to ga in a little m omentum after Pikes Peak and Roa d A m er i - ca . What were you thinking about, and we re there setup i ss ues? ne1lVs At Roa d Atl anta I cras hed, an d we ended up ac tu ally ben ding the bike, and we d idn 't k now it, so I strugg led at Pike s. I had test ed th ere and was actuall y fa ster than Mat [Mladin] and Aaron [Yates] and under th e lap rec ord - th en we went back there, a nd I was struggling . I was slower t h a n both of the m , and I ju st c ou ldn 't get goin g. Th en we wen t to Ro ad America , and I d idn 't do goo d there ei ther. Th en we went to Brainerd . We built a new bike for Br ain erd , and we had been hav ing cl utch problems all y ear long , and we fough t tha t. On ce I won the