Flying Elbows: Spies Set To Begin His WSBK Tour of Duty

American Ben Spies leaves for a season of world championship racing next week. He\'ll be testing at Phillip Island and then hanging out off-shore until the World Superbike opener in Australia on March 1. Spies probably won\'t be back on US soil until a few weeks before the Miller Motorsports Park round on May 31.

While he\'s going to be hitting some fantastic, classic race tracks in the coming months, Spies is actually counting the days until the series reaches Utah for the Miller Motorsports Park round on May 31.

\"It\'ll probably be my only race on US soil in 2009,\" Spies said of the Miller World Superbike races, \"so I really want to do well at Miller, \"I\'m going to try and win it. The Miller track has been good to me in the past, I think I\'ve only been beaten there once since the place opened, when (Jake) Zemke won it. I intend to keep that going.\"

Spies hopes that American fans will visit the Miller Motorsports Park race and see the WSBK series and their American entrant. \"American fans should come to this race. It\'s World Superbike and as they say, a little different for a world championship. Open, fun, friendly. I know a lot of my friends are planning to the come to the race and a lot of people from Yamaha are flying in. I hope the fans can make it happen. I\'m going to try my hardest not to let them down.\"

Well-aware that the US and much of the world are in a recession and money is tight, Spies sees value in attending the Utah WSBK round. \"We all just have to get through this and curling up in a ball isn\'t going to help. I think fans will be surprised in 2009 as to how hard the tracks and the promoters are going to go to make sure they have a really good time while at the track.\"