Ben Spies

Ben Spies (born July 11, 1984), is an American team principal for a MotoAmerica Supersport (600cc) professional motorcycle road racing team who previously was a racer himself.

He was sometimes nicknamed "Elbows" due to his riding style, in which his elbows protruded outward.

Spies won the AMA Superbike Championship for Yoshimura Suzuki in, and successfully defended it in and.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, and growing up in Longview, Texas, Spies started riding motorcycles at the age of five and racing with CMRA at the age of eight in 1993.

In 1994, he won a YSR championship followed by an 80cc championship the following season.

At age 12, he started riding 125 Grand Prix bikes, traveling to WERA races outside of Texas.

At age 14, Spies started riding 600s, winning more championships.

He signed with Suzuki in 2000 at the age of 15, and began his AMA career.

In 2000 Spies raced with the Valvoline Suzuki team.

In late 2000 he qualified on the front row for his debut in the AMA Supersport Championship series.

Again with Valvoline Suzuki in 2001, Spies won the Pikes Peak round of the AMA 750 SuperStock Championship, and took four additional series podium finishes.

American Suzuki then removed him from the team and placed in with Attack Suzuki.

For 2002 Spies joined the Attack Suzuki team, paired with Jason Pridmore.

He earned three top-five finishes in AMA Supersport, and four top-five finishes in AMA Formula Xtreme.

He was troubled by a knee injury for much of the season.

Now with American Suzuki team, Spies won the 2003 AMA Formula Xtreme Championship with five wins and two additional podium finishes.

He also contested the AMA Supersport series, earning a win at Road Atlanta and taking two additional podium finishes.

His best AMA Superbike result this year was seventh-place at Daytona Intl Speedway

Again with American Suzuki team in 2004, Spies raced in the AMA Supersport Championship, earning a win at Infineon Raceway and taking two additional series podium finishes.

He earned wins in the AMA Superstock Championship races at California Speedway and Road Atlanta, and earned two additional podium finishes in the series.

In 2005 Spies won the AMA Superbike race at California Speedway and earned 13 additional podium finishes.

He was runner-up for the AMA Superbike title, and raced in AMA Supersport, earning five top-five finishes.

Spies joined the Yoshimura Suzuki team in 2006.

He won the AMA Superbike Championship title with 10 wins and seven additional podium finishes.

Spies took six successive wins early in the 2006 season, and went on to win the title over his teammate, 6-time series Champion Mat Mladin, by 649 points to 641.

In total he took 7 poles and 17 podiums, and lead the most laps 10 times.

Spies also raced in select AMA Supersport events, earning a podium finish at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

produced the tightest championship battle in the history of the series, Spies winning a second AMA Superbike Championship by a single point over Mladin.

Spies collected seven wins and 12 additional podium finishes during the season.

He captured Superbike pole position at nine events, and also won the AMA Superstock title with seven wins and seven pole positions.

In 2008 Spies won his third straight AMA Superbike Championship to become only the fourth rider in the history of the series to win the title three consecutive times (after Reg Pridmore, Fred Merkel and Mat Mladin, who accomplished the feat twice).

This included an AMA Superbike record of seven successive wins.

Spies started as a wild-card in place of injured Loris Capirossi at the British GP on June 22, 2008.

For 2009 he raced in the Superbike World Championship series for the Yamaha Italia team; winning the championship in his rookie year by six points over rival Noriyuki Haga.

He started racing on Yamaha YSR50cc bikes with the Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association in Texas when he was 8 years old.

On October 26, 2013, Spies announced his retirement from motorcycle racing after two debilitating crashes left him with permanent shoulder injuries.

On October 17, 2023, Graham Rahal, owner of Ducati Indianapolis and Ducati Cleveland dealerships, named Spies team principal for the dealership-owned Supersport (600cc sportbike) team Rahal Ducati.

An outing that saw him qualify in 8th on the grid and finish in 14th place, scoring his first MotoGP points.

This was in addition to two pre-planned rides at both U.S. rounds.

He took a season-best 5th-place finish at the Pikes Peak International Raceway round of the AMA 750 Supersport series, won the Nicky Hayden Award (then known as the AMA Horizon Award; it was renamed in 2017) for road racing.