Winning the 2009 Superbike World Championship in his rookie year of racing the series, Monster Energy’s Ben Spies was on top of the motorcycle road racing world this past summer. The closely-fought battle, waged on some of the world’s greatest racing circuits, saw Spies edge Japanese great Noriyuki Haga by a mere six points (over 14 rounds, 28 races). The series was highlighted by Spies’ record 11 pole positions in qualifying and 14 overall race wins. Not bad for a kid who began his road racing career in Texas racing CMRA events in 1993 at the tender age of eight.

In ’94 Spies won a YSR championship, followed by an 80cc title the following year. By age 12 he was racing 125cc Grand Prix bikes and moved out of his adopted home state of Texas to race against national competition. Signing with Suzuki and turning pro at 16, Spies won the AMA Horizon Award for the top rookie rider in 2000. In ’03 he would capture his first AMA title – the Formula Xtreme Championship. The following year Spies was the runner-up in the AMA’s premier Superbike class. Two years later (’06) he topped Yoshimura/Suzuki teammate Mat Mladin for the overall AMA Superbike crown, and did so again in 2007 – while adding an AMA SuperSport championship for good measure – and won his final AMA Superbike title in ’08 before applying his great road racing skills against the world’s best in Europe.