MotoGP: Ben Spies to Miss Phillip Island Round

As if crashing out of the Malaysian GP wasn’t bizarro enough, Ben Spies has announced today that he will be missing the Australian GP, as it has become evident that he injured his shoulder in his wet-weather tumble at Sepang. Although found to have no injuries by the Clinica Mobile staff at the circuit, after undergoing tests in Kuala Lumpur post-race, Spies found that he had sustained an AC shoulder separation, a cracked rib in the upper-chest area, and bruising to his lung.

Returning to the US for treatment on Tuesday, Spies will accordingly miss the MotoGP’s next stop, which is at Phillip Island. His participation in the last round of the season, the Valencian GP, is now in question as well, though it could be possible for the American to be healed enough to race within that time frame.

Though this season has been a string of highly suspicious instances of bad luck for the factory Yamaha rider, Valencia will be important round for Spies, as the post-race test will be the first opportunity for him to ride the Ducati Desmosedici race bike.

Suffering a variety of poor finishes, mechanical failures, and crashes, a layer of intrigue has been cast on the relationship between Yamaha and Spies, which can only sour the latest news of Spies’ injuries. Accused by some within Yamaha of not giving 100%, Spies has struggled against the satellite Yamaha riders when he has been able to stay on his bike, which confusingly has not been very often this season.

“I’m lost for words. We’ve had such a tough season with an unbelievable amount of bad luck. We have always gone out there to give it 100% and it was the intention of both myself and my team to continue to do so at Phillip Island,” said Spies. “I took a really hard knock on Sunday and it’s now clear from today’s tests that I have some injuries that require immediate attention.”

“It’s disappointing to be heading back to the USA now instead of to Phillip Island but it’s obviously important to get the right treatment as soon as possible,” Spies continued. “I’m sorry for my team and thankful for all the hard work they and Yamaha have put in so far; our current situation is not where we should be.”