Yamaha recently announced that FIM Superbike World Championship points leader Ben Spies has signed a two-year commitment to stay with Yamaha for one more year in World Superbike followed by a switch to MotoGP, but open-ended wording in that announcement has been feeding the media rumor mill and causing Spies’ phone to ring off the hook with reporters asking questions.
The release read, in part: “The program foresees a season in 2010 with the Yamaha World Superbike Team…and a switch to Yamaha’s satellite MotoGP team for 2011.”
The word “foresees” has led many media outlets to speculate that Spies may actually go to MotoGP in 2010, replacing either Colin Edwards or James Toseland on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 satellite team, but that is not the plan, according to Spies’ mother Mary Spies, who serves as his personal manager but not his business manager.
“Ben has only signed for World Superbike for 2010 and MotoGP in 2011. That’s what we’re signed for,” she said Friday morning. “He wants to be the Champion in World Superbike, and we’re committed and concentrating on that.”
Spies’ new deal even includes provisions that Tom “House” Houseworth will continue as his Crew Chief and that Greg “Woody” Wood will also continue working on his Superbike crew.
Mary Spies said she did not want to add further fuel to the rumors, but she did acknowledge that nothing is impossible, that Yamaha may change its plans and her son may end up going to MotoGP in 2010 after all.
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