IN
THE
WIND
P42
SPIES BACK
TO NATIONAL
COMPETITION—IN
NATIONAL ENDURO!
F
ormer three-time AMA Superbike and World
Superbike Champion Ben Spies will return
to top-level national competition in 2018, signing
up for the full 2018 Kenda AMA National Enduro
Series.
Spies retired from MotoGP competition in 2013
after suffering career-ending shoulder injuries
when riding for Pramac Ducati, and now his right
shoulder is "about 70 percent," Spies will com-
pete in the entry-level Pro2 class with the hopes
of making the USA team for the ISDE.
"It was really tough after I retired," Spies told
Cycle World. "Unless you've been a racer from a
young age, like I was, you don't really understand
what's it's like to have something like that taken
away from you.
"After a while, I bought a bike and started rid-
ing with my cousin, just to see what my shoulder
could take. I got to the point where I realized I
could ride for two days as hard as I wanted."
Spies will ride 2018 KTM 300 XC machinery
prepared by Steve Leivan, and has purchased
a new motorhome that he will travel around the
countryside with his wife and three-year-old
daughter, Lyla.
"I'm smart enough to know that MotoGP and
World Superbike are impossible, but I love riding
dirt bikes," Spies said. "I'm not Jean-Michel Bayle,
but I really enjoy it. I'd like to see what I can do. I
can travel the country again, not like when I was
18 or 20, but with my family." CN
BOGERS SUFFERS
FOOT INJURY
B
rian Bogers, who recently became Tim Gajser's
teammate on the HRC Honda Team for MXGP,
suffered a foot injury that will keep him off the bike
indefinitely.
He revealed in an Instagram post, November 25:
"Yesterday I was testing the new Honda CRF250R…
but I crashed. I shattered my foot with the crash and
needed surgery—I don't know how long it will take to
heal yet. Anyway we will be back." CN
HRC Honda Team Brian Bogers will be laid
up with a broken foot for quite a while.
Ben Spies is
looking forward to
a new chapter in
his career on dirt.
