A shame he was a good rider, he blitzed every one in his first year at wsbk, and would still be up there in moto gp on a decent bike http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/s...ber/oct2613-spies-announces-racing-retirement
Was good in WSB but the same as most WSB riders who make the jump to motogp that they have a good first year but then seem to fade away
Ben didn't have much luck in Motogp its another step up too.Some riders just can't quite grasp a motogp bike with more horses and more extreme power than a WSB.James Toseland was the same mould too.Great riders but not quite up there with the boys we have now.
Great rider and made his WSB title look like a walk in the park " Never mind" he can spend some quality time with his mum now !
Cal has done well this year better than any pilot team rider.His points tally would have been better if he had stayed on the bike.I thought him and Dovi were evenly matched last year until Cal upped his game.Be interesting next year on how he gets on.
There is not one WSB holder that made it in MotoGP, most of Motogp champs progressed from the 125-250-500-800-1000 etc: The only GP champ that did not come from the smaller classes was Mick Doohan who was the Australian SB champ in1988 and went straight onto a works Honda.
Sorry to see him retire, but I think it is the right decision. As has been said , many who are successful in WSB fail to make it in MotoGP. MotoGP bikes seem to be a different beast to master, much more electronics for a start which is probably necessary to handle the power hike. I would like to see a few MotoGP riders go into WSB and see how they fare with less gizmos. Some that have done that have been past their best, Marquez would no doubt win whatever bike he rode but Pedrosa and Lorenzo etc might not find the transition that easy. I would really would like to see the top six MotoGP riders, top six WSB riders and top six BSB riders all race against each other on identical stock bikes.
Now that would be an interesting race! Would be interesting how many of the Motogp and WSB stars would be quick round the IOM TT course
Does explain why ive been looking at his replica lid which has been half price for a few weeks maybe its not that much of a surprise to those in the know
