Ben Spies not worried about future speculation

Ben Spies has said he is not worried about intense speculation about his future as he aims for a second successive victory in Assen’s legendary Dutch TT this weekend.

The Texan’s place next to Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo in Yamaha’s factory squad has been the subject of plenty of paddock gossip with Valentino Rossi, Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow all linked to his YZR-M1 seat.

Spies hasn’t been helped by a bitterly disappointing start to 2012 and starting the seventh race of the campaign in Assen, he has yet to score a podium finish.

His best result of fifth came at the last round in Silverstone but with all the debate about his future, the 2009 World Superbike champion says he’s not overly concerned.

He said: “As soon as Jorge signed everybody is in a big scramble and that’s how it works but right now all I can do is worry about myself and my results.  Whatever happens I’m calm about it.  I’ll go about my business and get everything done and then see how the cards fall for the future.”

A repeat of his brilliant debut MotoGP in Assen this weekend will do his chances of keeping his factory Yamaha ride the world of good.

A year ago Spies stormed to an emphatic start-to-finish victory over Casey Stoner and he added: “Taking a victory this weekend with the way the season has been going, I would almost be p****d off because it hasn’t been happening for me so far. I haven’t had any good results and it is not just bad luck.

“There have been lots of things going on and you have to remind yourself of the past 10 years of racing and what you have done and that things don’t always go to plan.

“It has been a rough start to the season but the last few weeks I have been better with a lot more confidence and the Silverstone race was pretty good although I faded a little bit at the end. At least I felt good on the bike.

“Assen is one of my favourite tracks and I’m looking forward to the weekend and trying to get another good result to build my confidence. Hopefully I can take my confidence from Silverstone and apply it here and keep it going for three weeks.”