Following the announcement on Thursday that Ben Spies will move to MotoGP in 2010, Yamaha now announces that it will enter the Texan as a wild card into the season-ending Grand Prix of Valencia.
25-year-old Spies will participate as a single rider entry of a Yamaha Factory Racing Team, using YZR-M1 test bikes brought over from Japan. The Valencia MotoGP race takes place 6-8th November, two weeks after the final World Superbike round at Portimao, Portugal.
The wild card entry will provide an opportunity for Spies to get in extra circuit time prior to his inclusion in the Tech 3 Yamaha Team for the two-day MotoGP test on the Tuesday and Wednesday after the Grand Prix.
Rumor has it that Michael Jordan will sponsor the one-off ride for Spies in Valencia. Jordan has been running his own team in AMA Superbike for some time now, but with two American riders on Monster Tech3 Yamaha, there’s some chatter over whether the basketball superstar will make a jump into the premiere class of racing.
After getting the motorcycle bug, Michael Jordan has become a large supporter of motorcycling’s effort in the United States. We can only imagine that effort would be furthered by his involvement in MotoGP next year.
Source: Yamaha
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