Sunday… MotoGP is back! And I’m more excited for this season than I have been since I first started watching back in 2004. Why? Ben Spies. After blowing through World Superbike last year on his way to a championship in his ROOKIE SEASON, Ben is now teamed up with Colin Edwards for Yamaha, and I can’t wait to see what he can do against Rossi, Lorenzo, and Stoner.

Click the image to watch MotoGP highlights from Qatar in 2009

And best of all, MotoGP this year will be broadcast on Speed Channel in HD – finally! I’m truly looking forward to seeing how this season plays out and have been getting myself pumped up by watching GP videos on Youtube. If you like motorcycle racing, these are great short highlight videos and are a blast to watch.

Here’s hoping for a fun, competitive season.

from www.asphaltandrubber.com

Sweet. Yamaha’s MotoGP weapon, the YZF-M1, in full factory livery glory. I may be biased (ok, I ride a Yamaha, so I for sure am biased), but the blue and black combo on this bike fits so perfectly.

Ben Spies will be a wild-card entrant in the Valencia round of MotoGP on a Yamaha bike – could this be what his ride will look like? It would certainly be fun to see Big Ben on this blue beauty.

For more info check out Asphalt and Rubber. Those guys have a pretty sweet site going on.

Wow! Round 10 of the ’09 WSBK Championship started off with a bang in race one – the bang of Michel Fabrizio’s Ducati clanging right into Ben Spies on the #19 Yamaha and taking them both out of the race. Ben, riding hard in first place, was caught totally unawares as Fabrizio cut inside him too fast on a pass attempt. When Fabrizio tried to slow, he lost his front end and swept Spies off the track.

And boy, was big Ben pissed. Fabrizio immediately ran over to Spies to offer his apologies, but Ben shoved him away and pointed to his head as if to say “Use it next time, you idiot!”

Benefiting from the mishap was Max Biaggi, who instantly went from 3rd to 1st and held on for his first race win aboard the new Aprilia RSV4. And don’t forget points leader Noriyuki Haga, who is riding injured and managed to finish in 8th. With Ben Spies, number 2 in points, out of the race, Haga must have been ecstatic to be able to increase his points lead on a day in which he figured to see his lead shrink or even disappear.

Race 2 was a whole different story – it played out as race 1 should have. Big Ben swept into first place after the first two turns, and pushed to stretch his lead. Fabrizio aboard his Ducati and Max Biaggi on the Aprilia again worked hard to keep up, and thus began a battle for second between the two of them that lasted several laps. Time and time again Max pushed hard with speed into corners and moved past Fabrizio, only to run wide and watch as Fabrizio swept past him back into second. It was like a dance that played out again and again until finally Max mad a pass and held on. Immediately Max began creeping closer to Spies, and with 3 laps left it looked as though Biaggi would make a move for the win, but Ben was incredibly late on the brakes through every corner, blocking Biaggi’s change at a passing move. At times it looked almost as though Ben was stopping his bike mid-corner before jamming on the throttle to launch his #19 Yamaha R1 blasting out of the turn. Ben had just enough to hold off Max and take the win in race two. Points leader Haga finished in seventh place – again, very respectable for someone who’s shoulder may have been dislocated two weeks ago.

With the day’s result, the points gap between Haga and Spies is down to 7 points. The fight for the championship will be incredibly interesting, and I am absolutely looking forward to the conclusion of the season after the summer break. Definitely tune in to Speed Channel on Sundays for some great race action- you won’t be disappointed.