Ben Spies speaks.

Casey can make up whatever excuse he likes. Anyone that is married knows why Casey is calling it quits. The wife looked at him and said we now have a kid and you saw what happened to Marco.

All the bullshit aside I'd put my money on that being the reason everyday of the week and twice on Sunday.

 

Did you forget

 

I don't believe it for the simple reason that I never understood why someone who makes that decision for that particular reason finishes the season. It makes no sense. Maybe they want to believe that's the reason, but it can't be. There has to be something else. Even if it's buried in their subconscious.

 

Well, he did ask "if" MJ could afford him.

 

Contracts usually have penalties for not holding up your side of the agreement. Perhaps the penalty for not completing the season barring no injury was too steep so he opted to finish.

 

I wasn't just talking about him. It happens all the time at our lowly level.

 

Jordan could afford to hire the entire motogp grid to pull him in a chariot and have money left over to out hooker and blow Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan with the money in the ashtray of his car.

 

As for Spies saying what he is or isn't doing, I'd imagine his contract with Yamaha and Jarvis prevent him from saying much before a certain date. He blabs, he gets sued or doesn't get paid.

Flipping burgers, riding around on his bicyces, pounding nails at one of his flip houses or riding a suzuki for schwantz in motogp, he'll be fine.

 

BMW in WSBK.

 

Before or after the divorce?

"He ain't half the man he used to be....."

 

Ya know, Ben always has something up his sleeve. This guy endured Mladin's attacks (both personally and physically on track) and came out smelling like a rose. And then goes on to WSBK to hand the field their asses as rookie. Moves from there to do well in the standings on the Tech 3 bike.

His bad luck has been silly to say the least this season. However, I wouldn't question his fortitude. Why would he remain at Yamaha when his environment was shitty to say the least? Look at his resume'. The guy has been full of win his entire career, with the exception of this year. I don't believe for a second that he is ready to give up the goal of World MotoGP champion. I could be wrong, but he doesn't seem like the type to just walk away from a goal without achieving it.

The mistakes that have been made by his crew this year are the kind of shit you would see in a "come together at the last minute with no plan" endurance club racing team. Tool left on a bike, swing arm failure (should never happen at the world level), broken subframe, tire chunking in the first few laps (not a crew failure), the list goes on. Then you have Jarvis putting the screws to him because he can't manage a good result? If I am Ben, I would be wondering wtf is gonna happen next and where on the racetrack. No place I would want to be, especially at the world factory level. We all know that Ben is better than what he's posted this year.

Ben's point in this article is that he realizes that racing will eventually dry up for him like it does with all racers. As humans, we age. He is planning for his future. How many racers do you know that have put their life into it and not diversified their portfolios or learned another craft, blew the money, and now have dead end jobs? Or God forbid, they get injured permanently and it takes them out of the sport with no other job skill to fall back on.

 

Those were my thoughts exactly! Also, did anaybody watch WindTunnel when they spoke to Scot Russel. Scott had spoken to Ben, who mentioned to him that he felt like a test rider for Yamaha because they were focused with Jorge setups. They were not committed to make the major changes on the bike that Ben wanted.

And talk about "bad luck"!

 

Link to the Scott Russell interview.

http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/video-motogp-scott-russell-on-wind-tunnel/

 

You mean he reads my posts? I feel so honored!

 

Beats delivering packages in a dogshit brown truck while wearing funny looking shorts.

 

Reading Ben's comments all I can think is that this isn't the man we want gunning for another American Moto GP championship. If you're bored or scared you will not cut it at the top level.


Yes, I agree. Please go do something else Ben.


Next.

 

This image hasn't been used in a while....

 

No way an Italian company is going to miss a chance to have 1 American and 1 European over 2 Americans.

Just not smart marketing, which lately, is about all Ducati does well.

 

Where have I seen that before? O it's the same thing I've been saying!

 

Ya, because the line of contenders that are better than The Ben is so long. You say "next" but next who? I have not seen anyone in America that I think would have a better chance.