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Forgotten Spies Photo Series by Jon Kanter 6/3/2010 The year is 2007, and defending AMA champion Ben Spies is locked in a points battle with the fiercest man in the paddock, his teammate Matt Mladin. Spies managed to grab pole position for the race and seemed to be looking to sweep the weekend. Instead, the unthinkable happened. Spies proved that he is human after all. On the warm-up lap for race one on Saturday, Spies enters turn 3 and highsides himself off the bike and halfway to the moon. The bike is junk. His body is junk from landing on the pavement from a height witnesses put at about 7-8 feet in the air and moving at about 70-80mph! I was standing in the pit lane to photograph the start when I heard the announcer tell the story. So I followed his crew over to the pit stall to wait for the safety crew to bring him in. Spies is battered, seemingly incoherent and visibly in pain, EVERYWHERE! After a few moments to recover and catch his breath, his crew has his back-up machine warming up and his girlfriend at the time (and future playboy model Laticia) brings him some rather large looking pain meds! His now famous crew chief from not only his AMA titles but his current world championship Tom "HOUSE" Houseworth leans in to check on him. With some help he is lifted on to his new ride (got on the bike from the right side, tried the left and couldn't lift his leg up to get on). Spies barely makes the start in time and falls from his pole position to second place behind his teammate. What would have been disaster turned into a hard fought second place and minimal damage to his narrow point lead. He would then go on to win Sundays doubleheader with Mladin finishing third thanks to his pal, Jamie Hacking, putting the Kawasaki in the #2 spot making it a points gaining weekend. It's crazy to me the superhuman effort he put in to save that race on Saturday, and anyone standing there would have said there is no way in hell he is going back out at that moment. It's the stuff World Champions are made from and now that he is (as a rookie no less), lets hope he can put in a show this year in MOTOGP against the best on the planet. This series of photos I forgot I had and figured I would share, from the pit lane breather, the start, victory lane, and the junk bike being brought in after the race, I thought it made for a great story. |
Home Page  Ben Spies, ready to go again after a warm-up lap crash. [Jon Kanter Photo]  [Jon Kanter Photo]  [Jon Kanter Photo]  [Jon Kanter Photo]  [Jon Kanter Photo]  [Jon Kanter Photo]  [Jon Kanter Photo]  [Jon Kanter Photo]  [Jon Kanter Photo]  [Jon Kanter Photo]  [Jon Kanter Photo] Recent News From Road America 
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