If you attended the AMA Superbike races at Road Atlanta last year, or one of the few years prior to that, you can officially start bragging about having seen Ben Spies in action.
The young Texan made the move to World Superbike this season, and he’s taken the series by storm, earning a pole and a win in his very first race. This past weekend was round four of the World Superbike season, the Assen TT in The Netherlands, and Spies was up to his usual tricks...mostly.
Spies started the weekend by snagging the pole for the fourth consecutive time: so far this season, no one has been able to beat him in qualifying. “It went good. Row 1 is good for us but I wish they gave points for this, it’s a couple more feet ahead on the starting line and you have an advantage,” Spies said. “The bike’s working good, the team’s making headway and it’s getting better every session so I think it’s going to be a good battle tomorrow. Assen is a great track and has got a lot of history, so I’m having fun.”
Fun was definitely the word for Spies’ effort in the first of two World Superbike races on Sunday, April 26 at the Assen circuit. He rode to an impressive win, coming back from third place in the final three laps. Spies made the pass for the lead just three turns from the finish line.
Race two was a different story: Spies crashed on the second lap, and he was never a contender for the win. Still, he walked away from the weekend with his fourth World Superbike win of the season. You can bet that Spies is making fans in Europe as quickly as he did in the United States.