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Breaking News: Ben Spies Announces His Retirement from Racing

It is a rather sad racing weekend as Ben Spies of Pramac Ducati is announcing his retirement from racing.
Bem Spies retires from racing 1 photo
Photo: MotoGP.com
The Texan, 29, is under a 2-season contract with the satellite Ducati team, but it looks like it will end prematurely, as the injuries sustained during the last year took their heavy toll on the popular rider.

Spies injured his right shoulder back in 2012 in Malaysia when he was riding factory Yamaha, and needed an extensive period of recovery and rehabilitation. However, 2013 was not to be his year, as he was once more sidelined after crashing in the free practice at Indianapolis.

He then needed double surgery for both of his shoulders and Ducati brought in the former PBM rider, Colombian Yonny Hernandez to substitute for him.

Paolo Ciabatti, Ducati MotoGP Project Director added: “We had high expectations when Ben joined Ducati in MotoGP this year and we really hoped that he would fully recover from his Indianapolis crash injuries and continue to race for us in the future However, we understand the reasons for his decision and respect them.

It is really a shame for our sport that Ben will not be racing anymore because in our opinion he is one of the most talented riders in the world. We will miss him and wish him all the best for his future life.”

On his behalf, Spies also commented: “I had such high hopes for racing for Ducati and Ducati has been incredibly supportive of me during this challenging year, so I am tremendously disappointed that I have not been able to fulfill my personal goals and team goals with Ducati.

I want to thank everyone from racing organizations, factories, teams and all my fans for helping me and supporting me throughout my career. I never dreamed that I would reach the level of success that I have over the past 20 years of racing, but the time has come to stop and I do so with great sadness.”

We thank Ben for all the thrills and joy he brough to the motorsport fans and wish him a full recovery and all the best of luck in everything he sets out for from now on.

Source: MotoGP.com
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