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On the Throttle superbike champ sees opportunity in U.s. road racing

Oct 20, 2009
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<p>by Brian Holcombe, Courtesy of our friends at <a href="http://www.velonews.com" target="_blank">VeloNews</a>.</p><p>
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There aren’t many U.S. amateur team bosses who regularly exchange text messages with former Giro d’Italia winners and top classics riders. There are probably even fewer world Superbike champions dumping money into bikes without engines.</p><p>
Ben Spies is doing both.</p><p>
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The 2010 MotoGP rookie of the year is taking the connections he’s built training on the bike near his Italian base in Lake Como to the American peloton. With the launch of Elbowz Racing, Spies has brought a load of his moto sponsors, including Yamaha, Monster Energy Drink and Alpinestars, to make a splash in domestic cycling. With them comes the professionalism of one of Europe’s biggest sports be- hind a group of young Texas-based riders.</p><p>
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“I could have started the first year with double the budget and more riders, tried to go flat out,” said Spies. “But then it’s hard to stay afloat the second and third years. I wanted to approach it differently and build what we could sustain so that we have this for a long time. We didn’t want to go too big, too soon — like some teams have done in the past.”</p><p>
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One of those here-today, gone- tomorrow teams was Rock Racing, and while Spies hopes to resurrect some of the edge that Michael Ball brought to the sport, he plans to do so in a more measured way. There won’t be any tinted Cadillacs or buses — at least not in year one.</p><p>
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“To the outside they did have a cool factor in some ways. That’s the approach we’re taking; not over the top, but different,” he said. “I’m used to being in the motorcycle industry, how big it is, how trick everything is, from our hospitality to our bikes to the way the organization is, all that kind of stuff. Anything that I get into, it’s hard not to go full steam, crazy nuts and buy all the best stuff and do all the cool things.”</p><p>
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Multiple-time New Zealand national champion Heath Blackgrove will lead the team and mentor its young riders. Of the team’s roster of 12, six will travel to National Racing Calendar events. Spies hopes to be a seventh after he earns an upgrade on his Cat. 2 license. And, Spies said, former Giro winner Gilberto Simoni may join the team midway through the season; the recently retired Italian has pledged to ride a U.S. event with the pro- gram in 2011.</p><p>
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“He’s a fan of motorcycle racing,” said Spies. “Obviously he’s got some credentials and even just showing up to ride with the team is huge for our riders — for the respect for our riders and the media attention. I’m in a fortunate position to know a lot of these guys and they’re willing to help this program out.” </p><p>
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For 2012, Spies expects other friends like Katusha’s Filippo Pozzato and Danilo Hondo of Lampre-ISD to join in for training camp. While he’s starting small, Spies says his passion for cycling began on his first road ride more than five years ago and there is no ceiling for his team’s future. “To provide opportunities is really what we started the program for,” he said.</p><p>
“With the sponsors we have with the team, nothing’s impossible. We just need to do it right.”</p>

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