No MotoGP for Spies in 2009

[bostongixxer]

Suzuki GP bike is not that bad of a place to be, there are worse bikes out there short of works Honda or Yamaha teams.

Well, it seems to me that Spies did fairly well on the second Suzuki bike in his wild card rides, which suggests that he'd be competitive in MotoGP (I assume he'd be the lead rider). I would think that Spies would relish the chance to be competitive in GP, meaning that money must have had a role to play in being drawn to world superbike.

[Crash Dummy Denno]

Tell you what, I'll ask him. Serioulsy. I should see him at the Suzuki Show this coming weekend in Vegas. I have a slight relationship with him ever since we got trashed 4 years ago in Dallas...

name dropper...

[scottieducati]

I love Capirossi, but it was a huge mistake for Suzuki to sign him instead of Spies. The only reason is that Capirex brings a LOT of attention to the table with the Italian media and Long, LONG time personal sponsors, and dollars.

Spies has cred here, but his marketability abroad is still unproven. It'd be interesting to know how much sponsor $$ he BRINGS to the team. In MotoGP the riders are often chosen by how much money they BRING to the team, not how much money they will be paid.... if Ben was "accepting" a pay cut to ride in MotoGP but brought no significant $ to help fund the team... I can see why Suzuki passed... it can't be cheap running a MotoGP squad.

Not saying those are facts at ALL but it's the only logic I can find behind Suzuki's decision to go w/ Loris and Chris the V instead of Spies... especially Loris... although I do love the guy. My bet is Loris brought more exposure, media attention, and personal sponsors to the table than Spies did.

Maybe a few years in WSBK getting a reputation on the world stage will give Spies the reputation and backing he needs to bust into WSBK.

Too bad Bayliss is retiring, I would've loved to see him spank Spies around the track And then to see Spies learn from the master and improve.

[GixerJockey]

name dropper...

Damn skippy...







Schwantz was in on it too...

[cdovego]

I know there's a lot of secrets and behind the scenes workings that we never hear of, but the only consistent piece of info from Spies and in any rumors for the last year and a half is that Ben wanted to ride MotoGP in 09

If you take the word "Suzuki" out of your statement, we agree.

[Trackday Guru]

Well, it seems to me that Spies did fairly well on the second Suzuki bike in his wild card rides, which suggests that he'd be competitive in MotoGP (I assume he'd be the lead rider). I would think that Spies would relish the chance to be competitive in GP, meaning that money must have had a role to play in being drawn to world superbike.

I disagree. Although I do agree that Ben had successful races on the Suzuki MotoGP bike this year, I don't think there's any way Spies would be the lead rider, Chris the V would as he has much more experience on the bike and the tracks the series runs on, and is already a proven MotoGP race winner. I think that once Loris was rehired and the possibility of Ben getting the job disolved, the natural choice for Ben to get on the world stage would've been to (re)contact the Team Suzuki Alstare squad (who's owner Francis Batta displayed much interest in July at Laguna in obtaining Ben for 2009), but it seems Yamaha Italia had more success attracting Ben for some reason - probably by offering him a bigger paycheck.

[Brian675]

I'm waiting for something to be 100% a done deal.

[wingerdor]

I'm still trying to figure out why the hell Suzuki wasn't at Indy supporting thier Boys!?! Even BMW showed up with a tent and NO Suzuki with 3 GP riders.

I think they are too focused on SBK and AMA to worry about GP.