Spies gets a taste of next year at Brno

Ben Spies was handed the responsibility of testing an early prototype of the 2011 Yamaha YZR-M1 machine at the official MotoGP test at Brno on Monday, and the American rookie was happy to have contributed to what he said had been a “productive day” at the Czech track.

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider is being lined up to make the graduation to the factory team next season, and he completed 36 of his 42 test laps on the 2011 prototype, setting the sixth fastest time of the day as he aided the development of the new bike.

“It was a good day. I can't say too much about the new bike and honestly I'm not sure exactly what I rode, I just got on and rode what was given to me,” said Spies. “I didn't set any blistering lap times today but that was not the objective. Today was all about giving feedback and getting some data on the new bike.”

“The good thing is that I was pretty much on the pace of the bike I've been riding since February and that is a big positive because we've got plenty of time to work on that bike. We got lots of information so it was a productive day.”

The test rounded off a successful weekend for Spies, who finished fourth in the race having started from the front row of the grid for the first time. Next up is Indianapolis where he is targeting a season’s best result in front of a strong home support.

“It was a good weekend with my first front row start and a strong fourth place in the race and after today I'm heading to Indianapolis for another home race full of confidence. I love racing in front of my home fans and hopefully I'll be able to get my best result of the season at Indy,” he concluded.