Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

2003 AMA Formula Xtreme Champion Ben Spies, 20, is recovering from recent surgery and plans to return to full fitness in time for a December Superbike test at Fontana.

On November 8, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Arthur Ting made repairs to torn cartilage in Spies’ left knee, a remnant of a 186-mph crash during Dunlop tire testing at Daytona International Speedway in October of last year.

(Due to his low level of activity while recovering from the serious skin abrasions suffered in that crash, Spies said he didn’t notice the problem with his knee until it was too close to the start of the 2004 season to have the required corrective surgery.)

During the same surgery session, Spies also had a condition commonly referred to as “arm pump” corrected.

Spies’ 2004 season saw him finish fourth in the Supersport Championship with one win and fifth in the Superstock Championship with two wins.

“With the bikes not working super good this year and me not being 100 percent, if that’s what we did, that’s pretty good,” Spies told Roadracingworld.com Monday. “It’ll be pretty good to be 100 percent, in 2005.”

Spies said he is aggressively working toward being fit in time for testing on his new GSX-R1000 Superbike.

“Oh yeah! I’ll be fully fit for our Fontana test in December,” said Spies, who added that he walked out of Dr. Ting’s clinic following his knee surgery, and with the help of physiotherapist Tuan Nguyen, has progressed to riding a stationary bicycle.

Spies said he plans to train for the next three weeks with five-time Tour de France competitor Jonathan Boyer, who was the first American to compete in the famous bicycle race.

(After Spies brought up Boyer’s name, Roadracingworld.com checked the Internet for background information on Boyer and found several press reports revealing that Boyer is currently serving five years of probation after pleading guilty to 10 felony counts of child molestation and lewd conduct–involving a girl who was 11 when the molestation began–and serving time in the Monterey County Jail in lieu of a 20-year suspended prison sentence. Publications running stories on the case included The Salinas Californian, The Monterey Herald and Bicycle Retailer And Industry News.)

Completing a laundry list of off-season medical work, Spies had his wisdom teeth removed before the knee and arm surgery, and had a root canal procedure done afterwards.