Ben Spies

Ben Patrick Spies is an American motorcycle road racer turned team principal, born on 11 July 1984 in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Longview, Texas, who was sometimes nicknamed Elbows for the way his elbows protruded when riding. He began on Yamaha YSR50cc bikes with the Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association in Texas at eight, signed with Suzuki at 15 and began his AMA career in 2000. He won the AMA Superbike Championship for Yoshimura Suzuki in 2006 and defended it in 2007 and 2008. In 2009 he won the Superbike World Championship in his rookie year for Yamaha Italia, by six points over Noriyuki Haga. After two crashes left him with permanent shoulder injuries he announced his retirement from motorcycle racing on 26 October 2013, and in 2023 he became team principal of the Rahal Ducati Moto Supersport team.