With the season coming to a close, the rest of the field is looking forward to the 07 season, but Suzuki’s Ben Spies is living a dream. The 22 year old Texan needs only 1 win to match Mladin’s record set last year and then one more to put himself in the record books. It would be quite an accomplishment. But as we all know, things in racing can change in the blink of an eye, so Spies says that he is not going after the record, but after the Championship. From the AMA-
It took 21 years for Fred Merkel’s record of 10 wins in a single AMA Superbike season to fall. Now, less than 12 months after Mat Mladin finally broke the long-standing record with his 11-win season, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies comes to Virginia International Raceway’s Big Kahuna Nationals presented by Parts Unlimited in Alton, Va., on August 18-20, with the opportunity to match or better the historic mark.
Spies, 22, of Longview, Texas, leads the AMA Superbike Championship presented by Parts Unlimited with a comfortable 45-point margin over defending champ and teammate Mladin. With five rounds remaining in the 2006 season, including the Suzuki Big Kahuna doubleheader, it appears likely that Spies will break the single season win record, but VIR fans will have the first opportunity to watch history in the making.
Spies has followed AMA Superbike racing for most of his life. Legend has it that at just nine-years-old he offered two-time World Superbike champ and fellow Texan Doug Polen racing advice. So he understands the significance of breaking the all-time single-season record.
“That would be a huge accomplishment,” Spies said. “Right now, the championship is the biggest thing in my mind. It has been all year long. Even in the position we’re in, what do you do, because you don’t have to be on your best day from here on out. But if the bike’s good I won’t do anything different than what you’ve been doing all year. The championship is the first thing that we’ve got to keep shooting for, and whatever comes after that’s just a bonus.”
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