Catalunya MotoGP: Ben Spies looks to revive fortunes

Ben Spies is confident he can put a disappointing start to his second season in the MotoGP world championship behind him in this weekend’s Catalunya clash near Barcelona.

The Texan is currently languishing down in 12th position in the overall points having crashed out of two of the opening four races.

Spies was on course for a podium in Jerez when he crashed out in treacherous conditions and he also fell during the Portuguese round.

A fuel clamp accidentally on his factory YZR-M1 distracted Spies and he crashed out while battling inside the top ten.

He’s only managed to claim two sixth places so far but he’s hoping to show more of his potential this weekend in Spain.

The 2009 World Superbike champion, who finished Rookie of the Year in MotoGP last season, admitted: “It has been tough. It is great to see all the journalists in the same room together because I haven’t seen too many of them this season. That’s the way racing is and it is not always great. The start of the year was okay in Qatar but I made a mistake in the rain in Jerez and we had a small problem at Estoril and we got a result in Le Mans. 

“It was good to finish that race at a track I don’t really care for too much. It wasn’t a great result but to see the points again was a good feeling. But now we come to a stretch of races and some tracks that I do like and I just want to get some confidence going again. I believe we can get back closer to the front. I probably won’t go out tomorrow and beat a couple of guys at the front but we need to start a new championship.

“I believe in the team and Yamaha is working as hard as it can, so I just need to get some confidence going again. When you have a couple of bad weekends, with these riders and the speed they go with so much talent in the field, if you’re not on your A game and you’re missing a little bit, you can start to struggle. I haven’t lost confidence in myself but we need to start getting the ball rolling again.

“Racing isn’t perfect every week for everybody but it is all about how quickly you can bounce back and get going again. I’m just looking at this weekend as the start of the year to start slowly moving back up the championship with some good results.”