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Yamaha shows off its Valencia Wildcard
The Sterilgarda Yamaha Team have unveiled the special one-off livery for 2009 World Superbike Champion Ben Spies ahead of his wildcard ride at the final MotoGP race in Valencia this weekend. Spies will be riding the Yamaha YZR-M1 prior to joining the Tech3 Yamaha Team next Monday to start testing for the 2010 season.
The American rider has achieved astonishing success in his rookie year in World Superbike, bringing the first ever World Superbike Championship victory for Yamaha. Over the 2009 season he scored 14 race wins and 11 pole position starts in the class, becoming the all-time greatest rookie in the process.
“I’m really excited for the opportunity to race at Valencia this weekend,” said Spies. “I’m fully aware that MotoGP is a big step up from World Superbike and realize it’s not going to be possible to achieve the same results in my first year there. I see this weekend as an opportunity to spend some time on the bike and start learning it for next season, and to have some fun as well!”
Source: YamahaRacing
Spies has had an outstanding rookie year in WSBK, even before winning the championship for Yamaha, and raced very well in his WSBK outing in Valencia in April. All the same Ben will likely be extremely nervous and feeling a lot of pressure to perform as he comes to terms with any number of new elements, not to mention very intimidating new rivals which will be doing their best to shut down the newcomer.
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