Ben Spies interview on his first season in MotoGP - Sport Rider Magazine

Ben Spies started playing down expectations from the minute it was announced he’d be moving to MotoGP. Winning the World Superbike Championship was great, but now it was time to play with the big boys, almost all of whom were world champions in their own right and several in MotoGP.

Whenever he was asked about his expectations, he’d say that “a podium would be a miracle, but it’s a miracle as in it would have to be a perfect race for me.” In order to get on the podium, one of the ‘aliens,’ Rossi, Stoner, Lorenzo, and Pedrosa, wouldn’t finish the race. “Great start. I latch on. It would just have to be, everything would have to be perfect to get a podium. And one of the top four guys, I don’t think, would be in the race, if I’m going to be on the podium.”

Spies, it turns out, would be right. At the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Spies earned his first podium by finishing behind Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) and Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda). Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro) was fifth and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) eighth. Rossi was out after breaking his leg in Mugello. Six races later, Spies earned his first pole in Indianapolis, then finished second to Pedrosa with Lorenzo third and Rossi fourth, with Stoner tucking the front on the eighth lap. But, at the time, Spies was second and Stoner was 4.47 seconds back in sixth.

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