Congratulations to Ben Spies for holding on to win the WSBK championship. It came down to the last race of the season in Portugal, where Spies watched Max Biaggi pass him several times only to run right off the track. “It was kind of freaking me out”, were the Texan’s words about the worries he faced with the possibility of being crashed out of the race by Biaggi.

Ben Spies started race 1 with a deficit of 10 points, which meant he would have to take first in both races. He struggled in race 2, but luckily had a buffer by that point because Nori Haga crashed out of race 1 and Spies took first, which meant Spies gained 25 points — putting him in the lead by 15 points going in to race 2. Haga managed a second place finish and Spies finished off of the podium, but only lost 9 points in the race.

Ben Spies won the WSBK championship in his first year in the series. The AMA champion had never ridden many of the tracks on the circuit and had to quickly learn the turns using practice sessions before races, and video games. He now takes his championship win and moves on to MotoGP, where there is a Grand Prix motorcycle waiting for him at Tech 3 Yamaha. Congratulations to the Texas Terror, Ben Spies!