Ben Spies has immense talent on the racetrack, of that there is no doubt. The young Texan has also proved wise in making career decisions:

First, he jumped from AMA Superbike, back when it was called AMA Superbike. Having become Mladin’s nemesis and besting his teammate/rival in three consecutive seasons, it was time to move on and he did. Had he stayed on another year to watch American road racing devolve… it would certainly have been wasted.

Second, Spies opted for World Superbike instead of MotoGP. It was long expected that Spies would move to MotoGP next, presumably with Suzuki. In fact, I interviewed Spies a couple years back and he specifically said he had no interest in ever racing World Superbike. But look how well it’s turned out. Spies has stepped into the championship vacuum created by Troy Bayliss and appears poised for a possible title in his rookie season. With 12 wins, so far, Spies is dominating much like his AMA days and doing it on a new machine, the cross-plane Yamaha R1. Clearly, Spies is doing better on the Yamaha in SBK than he would be doing on the GSV-R in MotoGP, where veteran Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen have struggled.

Third, Spies has opted to stick with Yamaha for another year in WSB and then bolt to GP in 2011. The consequences of this decision are yet to play out, but it would seem that Spies has aligned himself with the most competitive mount in MotoGP – at least in the hands of the ultra-talented Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. But will delaying GP by a year effectively remove him from MotoGP contention another season, as he will campaign aboard the Tech 3 satellite squad his rookie GP season?

It would seem Ben knows what he’s doing, making wise moves at the best time. And looking at the future, there is a real possibility that the American will enter the 2011 season with five consecutive championships to his credit!