http://www.worldsbk.com/images/stories/spies_portimao_day3_podium.jpg

Don't know if anyone else follows WSBK, but I'm super excited to see him pull this off. I've been a big fan for years, and expected a lot from him this year, but this was great. It was a great year of racing. It all came down to the last race weekend.

Haga kind of gifted the championship to him in Race 1 when he fell, but Haga was pushing hard to make up for his poor qualifying effort. Spies then only had to finish 6th if Haga won race 2, and finished in a relaxed 5th (Haga finished 2nd), but I'm sure if Spies had to he could have been competing for the win in race 2 as well. He played it smart, and did what he had to in order to win.

Can't wait to see how he does in motogp next year, and for his wildcard ride in a couple weeks.

Poor Haga, I think he thought it was his year being with Ducati. Good for Spies thou, really cool. Haga will have it next year, since Ben wont be around to defend the title.

Rossi locked it up too, good for him and yamaha :thumbup:

That guy was blowing me away winning pole on a racetrack that he had never been to. Truly talented.

He set a record for the most poles in a year, and the most consecutive poles.

It is too bad for Haga, but he will be there next year. Looks like he will have some tough competition from Fabrizio, and Rea though.

I watched on Speed every chance i got. :thumbup: :thumbup:

Here's a link to a funny Ben Spies vid posted earlier http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=28763

Ben Spies did a fantastic job this season. :happy80:

He amazed everyone with repeated pole positions, and of course race wins. At times he dealt with, and overcame, unexpected bike issues that in the past we've seen other riders blame their poor finishes on for the rest of the season. And, Ben did almost all of it on tracks that he'd never seen before!

With him, and some talented riders coming up from 250, MotoGP should be very interesting next year!

congrats 'elbows!'

:party:

been following it all season - sucks that Haga fell to lose. I wanted Ben to win it but not with Haga dumping it. Look forward to Valencia

A cool picture from the WSBK site.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh87/camaroz1985/sbk_ceremony_bigthree.jpg

Some pictures of Ben's MotoGP bike are up on yamaha's website.

Looks like he will be going back to number 11. Glad I didn't order a hat this morning like I was going to (says Elbowz 19).

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh87/camaroz1985/Ben%20Spies/P20091104124049218.jpg

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh87/camaroz1985/Ben%20Spies/P20091104124124984.jpg

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh87/camaroz1985/Ben%20Spies/P20091104124155828.jpg

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh87/camaroz1985/Ben%20Spies/P20091104124234187.jpg

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh87/camaroz1985/Ben%20Spies/P20091104124329859.jpg

^^ is he on one of the factory bikes for valencia or one of the tech3 bikes? off to google...

^^ it looks like a factory bike for Valencia before starting his rookie GP season w/ Tech3

Sounds like it:

Spies will be riding the Yamaha YZR-M1 prior to joining the Tech3 Yamaha Team next Monday to start testing for the 2010 season.

What I've read is that the effort for Valencia is funded by Michael Jordan, but it definitely looks like it is a factory effort.

I'm hoping for a good result in valencia. I'm thinking top 5 or 6.

I have never heard of any Michael Jordan connection with any MotoGP racing team(s). Any info?

There was a pre-event press conference with Rossi, Lorenzo, Stoner, Pedrosa and Ben Spies! (http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2009/Spies+new+livery) It explains a few details about his number and sponsorship. http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Nov/091105rydernotes.htm

He's picked up a lot of fans in Europe with his impressive year in WSBK.

Maybe that's not actually what happened, but that was what initial reports were saying.

That report pretty much confirms that he is riding a factory bike for Valencia though.

Good to hear he is sticking with the number 11 for the coming season.

Can't wait to see what happens once they get on track. I know it is a testing session for him, and am glad he sees it as such, but by the end of race weekend and the following tests we should have a pretty good idea of how he adapts to the MotoGP bikes.

MotoGP discussion continued here (http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?p=119442).