Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies crashed Monday, October 13 during Dunlop tire testing at Daytona International Speedway when the rear tire on his GSX-R1000 Superbike suffered a catastrophic failure while he crossed the start/finish line at a radar-measured 186 mph.
“I was right at start/finish and the tire blew,” Spies told Roadracingworld.com Tuesday in his hospital room at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Riding the same 2003 GSX-R1000 he rode to the 2003 AMA Formula Xtreme Championship, Spies said he was doing a string of mid-1:48 laps and had just passed his team’s radar gun at 186 mph when his bike’s rear tire blew and he fell at maximum speed. He slid down the escape road at turn one, essentially continuing down the speedway tri-oval and heading toward the outer speedway wall, which he hit.
“When I was gonna hit the wall, I thought, ‘this is it,'” said Spies, who said he dug his right hand into the pavement to spin to hit the wall feet-first. “When I spun, I thought I was gonna be alright, but it was gonna hurt bad.”
Spies bounced off the wall, slid nearly to turn six at the exit of the infield road course and amazingly popped right up on his feet. “I stood up and realized I was on fire,” recalled Spies. He wasn’t literally on fire, but he did suffer second- and third-degree burns on his left elbow, left shoulder and left hip – all of which lost skin.
Spies, 19, underwent surgery at 2:30 a.m. this morning at Halifax to clean his wounds. He was discharged from the hospital at 2:00 p.m. this afternoon and has just left Daytona Beach in his motorcoach.
According to his mother Mary Spies, plans are for Ben to be evaluated Friday at either Baylor University Medical Center or Parkland Memorial Hospital, both near Dallas, Texas, and have surgery soon after. Spies suffered no broken bones in the fall, and hopes to be back on a bike in one month.
The crash occurred during Dunlop tire testing on the 3.56-mile road course at Daytona International Speedway. Yoshimura Suzuki was the only team present, and only brought Spies and teammate Aaron Yates for the test. The test was scheduled for two days (Saturday and Sunday, October 10-11), but off and on rains forced the test to be extended into Monday, which was stopped after Spies’ crash at 3:30 p.m. local time.
Spies said, “I’ve never been a big fan of this place. It’s scary as hell. People who don’t ride Superbikes would know what we’re talking about if they rode one here.
“It’s wrong for Dunlop to have to come up with a tire for this place. Dunlop is trying to make good tires, but it’s asking too much. The fact is our bikes are going too fast around here. The Superbikes are not safe at Daytona.”
Of the crash, Spies’ Crew Chief Tom Houseworth said, “I’ve never seen anything like it.” Houseworth said the team was testing “tires primarily and some other components.” The other components were believed to be standard throttle bodies, but Houseworth declined to comment further. He also deferred all question relating to the tires to Dunlop.
In other Yoshimura Suzuki news, former Miguel Duhamel wrench Greg “Woody” Wood has joined Spies’ Superbike crew as a chassis technician and was present for the test.
Those wishing to send “get well” messages to Spies can do so at [email protected].