SPEEDtv.com – MARTIN: Close Encounters Of The 5th Kind

MARTIN: Close Encounters Of The 5th Kind

Written by: Chris Martin
Date: 04/08/2010 – 04:41 PM
Location: Iowa City, IA

PROGRAMMING NOTE: The MotoGP season opener from Qatar will air LIVE on SPEED on April 11th at 4:00pm EST.

In approximately 24 hours Ben Spies will embark upon his greatest challenge. Perhaps unlike every other superstar lining this most exclusive grid, breaking into the ranks of the MotoGP elite was not the lifelong ambition of the American. Rather, his ascension was basically mandated by the staggering magnitude of his ability to ride a motorbike as he rapidly outgrew stomping grounds where he would have otherwise been happy to etch out a career.

In many ways Spies is in the exact same position he was at this time last year