Motorsport: Legend tips Spies breakthrough

Ben Spies. Photo / Getty Images

One of the most spectacular motorcycle grand prix riders to grace the 500cc world championship, American Kevin Schwantz, was in New Zealand last year for the 30th Anniversary of the New Zealand Classic Motorcycle Festival.

Schwantz arrived on the world scene with a hiss and a roar and was seen as a rider who manhandled and wrestled his bike into submission, rather than ride around like he was on rails. He was one of the most spectacular riders the world had ever seen.

Schwantz won the 1993 world 500cc championship, along the way winning 25 grand prix. He set 21 lap records and was held in such high regard, his racing number 34 was retired from the sport. The first time in history such an honour had been bestowed on a rider.

The Weekend Herald had a chat with him back in February 2009 and asked if there were any young up-and-coming motorcycle racers who might be on the horizon. Schwantz said there was one rider who he was helping and that we should keep an eye on him. His name, Ben Spies.

It was not long before Spies was setting the World Superbike Championship alight and he duly won the world series in his rookie year. This year he has stepped up to the MotoGP class and has proven to be a force to be reckoned with having finished second at his home grand prix at Indianapolis and last weekend continued his good form at the Italian round of the championship finishing sixth.

Spies sits sixth on the table behind former world champions Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi. Spies is held in such regard that he is to replace Rossi on the Yamaha works bike next year when the Italian moves to Ducati.

Superwheels caught up with Schwantz on the eve of last weekend's Italian Misano race.

SW: I remember you mentioning we all had to keep an eye on Spies. You must be pleased with the way it's all going now.

KS: I've known of Ben since he was 12 and known him since he was 15 [Spies is now 26]. Watching the progress he made in all series he raced in, I just felt good he could go all the way. I made a bet/prediction he would win a grand prix this year and with seven races to go he's still in with a good shot.

In the first half of the season there had only been two or three tracks he'd ever been to. In the second half of the season we're in now, he's been to seven or eight of the nine tracks he'll race on. So I feel really good about his opportunities of getting the win. He's been racing really well, getting a podium and setting pole position. He's also staying up front more consistently now.

SW: He's tasted a podium so the natural progression would be to move to the top step. He's shown he's got the goods by winning the World Superbike Series.

KS: I think his progress has been really good and he's been able to move up from seventh and eighth, you know that group just outside the top five, and move up and race with [Dani] Pedrosa, [Valentino] Rossi and [Jorge] Lorenzo whenever they get the bike working well.

I think now that he's agreed to ride the factory bike next year now that Rossi has moved, he'll get more of the upgrades this year for his current bike and that'll make a big difference

SW: Are you still looking after Ben these days?

KS: Not really that much these days now that he's with Yamaha as they have their own guys. But if I'm watching practice and see that there is something he can do to improve I'll give him some advice and help him as much as I can. I'm not in the garage and listening to all the debriefs, or what the bike is doing. I'm not doing as much as I did when he was at Suzuki.

SW: Still, it is pleasing to see how he's developed under your earlier tutelage?

KS: There's a lot there but as I always used to say when I was working with him - he knows how to go fast, he just sometimes needs reminding about what it's like to be there from a racer's standpoint. He's not one of those guys you have to go tell everything to every weekend. He listens, he remembers and makes incredible notes. He's as focused as anybody I've ever seen about racing motorcycles. I wish I had been that focused on what I was trying to accomplish when I was racing.