AMA Superbike Championship point leader Ben Spies, 22, confirmed to Roadracingworld.com Friday at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) that he has committed to stay with Yoshimura Suzuki for 2007 and 2008.

“I’ll definitely be riding Superbike, but I’m not sure about another class,” said Spies, who said he hoped the second class would be Superstock rather than Supersport. “I’m really happy. I’m happy with my team and my group of guys.”

When asked if he was staying with Yoshimura Suzuki to continue working with Spies, Crew Chief Tom Houseworth said, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Spies said that he had no direct negotiations with other teams, in America or elsewhere, but heard “through the grapevine” that several teams were interested in his services.

Spies has raced for American Suzuki during his entire six-year professional racing career.

im kinda dissapointed, well it will be fun to see if he can keep it going,

he busted up his hand pretty good today, i hope it doesnt effect him too much

I'd like to see him make a jump to Moto GP or WSBK.

Guess he wanted to stay with a dominating team. Always money when staying on top.

yea, and sadly he'll be "to old" for motoGP at the ripe old age of 23.

Man I'm sick of this "if you're not a world champion by the time you're 12, you'll never be in motoGP" bullshit.

this kid is a real and geniune talent, he's beating Mladin at his own game, on the same bike, and Mladin doesn't have any injuries, even Mat says that the kid is a real talent and that he's giving all he has and can't catch him, no excuses. I don't think Mat has ever before straight up said that somebody was faster, fair and square.

And now, because he's not a teenager, he likely will get turned down for a motoGP ride. Sigh, I'm about ready to boycott motoGP on the grounds that it's getting stupid. All the reasons people hate F1, motoGP is getting to be even worse. WSBK anyone?

^No your right he will be only 23, but that is still young enough to join GP and kick some ass.

"yea, and sadly he'll be "to old" for motoGP at the ripe old age of 23.

Man I'm sick of this "if you're not a world champion by the time you're 12, you'll never be in motoGP" bullshit."

Much of this is speculation to be honest. We don't know what offers and from where the kid got. He decided to stay in AMA because Yoshimura pays him good money and he hasn't yet accomplished much. After winning the championship this year (if he does) then he will have some bargaining tools. You cannot blame the teams in motogp for wanting the next big thing as soon as it becomes apparent they have talent. The changes at Honda this year made the championship more interesting in my opinion. Pedrosa is what...25 points from the championship lead on his first year on a motogp bike. Also for now, and this was not always the case in the past, it seems the young guys from the 125 and 250 are able to adapt quicker and able to ride better the prototypes then the superbikes guys. I am not trying to say Spies does not have a place in Motogp but in my eyes at least I think he has a much better shot at WSBK, and that's a good think as far as I am concerned. Nothing against Bayliss, Corser, Haga and the likes but they are getting older and I don't see any major new talent in that series for now.

yea, it's true, but hey man, I've run the math before, the age you're most likely to win a championship at is 32, and yet I can count on 1 hand the number of guys that are 32 or older in motoGP right now. I mean shit, we've got, Roberts, Edwards, Loris, Checa..... I think that's it.

yea, it's true that Spies doesn't have much for bargaining chips untilt he end of thise season, but as far as "snatching them up as soon as they show talent" I think he's more than proven that he has what it takes. He's rocking the socks off one of, if not THE best SBK rider in the world, and poor Mat is left saying "nothing I can do, he's faster"

32? in GPs? if that used to be true in the schwantz/doohan/rainey period it is not true today anymore. Rossi is only 26 and he's been winnning it for a while now, and the next guy in line is going to be even younger. Checa, Loris, Roberts, Edwards, Barros, Biaggi.....all these guys have proved that experience is not always enough to win championships. I know Roberts won it in 2000 and that Loris, Edwards and Biaggi have multiple championships but they failed to do it in the 990 era. The new guys are right there now, Nicky is probably going to win it this year and Pedrosa is already very copetitve. Stoner will be there too and Vermuellen also once he gets off the Suzuk(or when Suzuki builds a competitive bike). All these guys are young and I think this trend is going to be accentuated in the future. Lorenzo, Dovi, Aoyama....these guys will be next.
As far as Spies is concerned, and as I said it before, I would love to see him in WSBK but there were either no contracts for him there next year(which is possible) or he thinks AMA is the way to go for the next 2 years(money,champ opportunities). Whatever the scenario, he is the one that made the choice. It's probably a smart choice, nobody wants to go learn new tracks on probably inferior machinery. It would be a smrt move for the Yosh team to support the kid and move from the AMA pond to WSBK. There was speculation that the Yoshimura squad was interested in a world championship effort a few years ago, maybe it's still on the table.