Spies nearly ready to return to action

After a lengthy absence from the Ignite Pramac Racing Team garage, Ben Spies today made an appearance at the Laguna Seca circuit and confirmed that he will return to the championship from the Indianapolis race (August 16-18) onwards.

Ben Spies - Ignite Pramac Racing Team

Now is the first time in a long time that I’m really happy because my fitness is coming along well. At the beginning of the season, we came back too soon, and I had another injury at Austin because I wasn’t strong enough to ride. Sometimes injuries make more injuries. Ducati and I and the Italian doctor and my American doctor made the best decision to come back in the right way and not push things. I wish this race were about two weeks later so that we could be here, but I saw the doctor two days ago and everything is right on schedule, so I look forward to coming back at Indy and being 100%. We’ve missed a lot of the season, but I’m looking forward to basically starting my season at Indy and getting back to where we need to be.

Now, I have confidence in myself in terms of fitness, but of course I know I won’t be back up to speed in one session because I haven’t ridden the bike lately. I know there have been a lot of rumours, but I know that this break that we took to get me back to 100% was the smartest thing to do. Now I can go to Indy and know that I’m where I need to be with my health, and all I need to do is work on getting back up to speed. It’s the first time in eight months that I’ve had that feeling.

I’ve been doing rehab three to four days a week at the best rehab place in Dallas and one of the best in the U.S. They look at me from day to day and see what I need to work on. When they see that something needs to be stronger, they change the program. People don’t see me at the races, but I’ve been working my butt off at home to get back to where I need to be. It’s taken a lot longer than I or anybody wanted it to, but there’s nothing we can do about that.

Pramac Racing Team