Ben Spies has signed to ride with the Yamaha factory World Superbike Team next year.
The American rider from Dallas just took the crown in the 2008 AMA Superbike Championship and is ready to fight to win in the next championship in 2009.
Ben road also in MotoGP this year to replace the injured Loris Capirossi at the British GP, finishing a good 14th place and scoring his first MotoGP points.
After the British GP he scored 8th place at Laguna Seca and an even more impressive 6th at Indianapolis, both with wildcards.
“I’m very excited about joining Yamaha in World Superbike,” Spies said.
“This is a positive step for the direction of my career.
I’ll have a great opportunity to race on many of the top road racing circuits in the world.
Riding with a company as passionate about racing as Yamaha is going to put me in a good position to contest for a world championship right from the start.
”“We’re very excited to have Ben join the team,” said Yamaha Motor Europe Racing Division Manager Laurens Klein Koerkamp.
“He’s proved to be a top rider with his AMA titles and recent rides in MotoGP, we believe he’s got a long future ahead of him at the highest levels in motorcycle racing.
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