Product Showcase: Ben Spies - Taking It To The Next Level

The Ben Spies biography, written by Larry Lawrence and with foreword by Kevin Schwantz, is the story of one young man striving toward his ultimate goal - and the determination of his family to help him achieve his dream.

If you're a MotoGP fan, you already know that Ben scored his first victory in that series in June, riding for Yamaha at the Dutch TT. And that he was named 2010 Rookie of the Year after his sixth-place finish in the Championship.

If you're a World Superbike fan, you know that he won that Championship in 2009 (along with a record number of poles) competing on tracks he'd never seen before.

And if you're an AMA Superbike fan, you're undoubtedly familiar with the three consecutive titles Ben captured in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

What you may not know is that Ben's road to victory really began nearly two decades ago. In Ben Spies: Taking It To The Next Level, author Larry Lawrence reveals how Ben's talent, determination, and strong family ties fueled his ascent. As a journalist and photographer, Lawrence followed Ben's rise through the AMA ranks after his professional debut at age 16. But he also spent months interviewing those closest to the young rider, including his mother, Mary Spies, and his sister, Lisa.

As the book reveals, Spies was a racing prodigy who started winning when he was in second grade. His talent was nurtured by his mother, a single parent who encouraged her children to pursue their dreams. Her support gave Ben the mental toughness to overcome a series of challenges on and away from the track, from the divorce of his parents to the racing death of his closest friend. Ben also suffered a shocking 180-mph crash at Daytona that tested his personal courage as well as his family's resolve.

Along with Lawrence's revealing and insightful text, the book includes hundreds of photographs of Ben in action at the track and behind the scenes with teammates, friends, and family. -David Bull from David Bull Publishing

It also features a foreword by 1993 Grand Prix Motorcycle Champion Kevin Schwantz.:

Going back to the American glory years when Wayne Rainey, Eddie Lawson and I dominated Grand Prix Racing, we were fierce competitors, and each of us was always a threat to win. More than anyone else I've seen since that era, Ben really has that same type of ability to ride around problems and race at the highest level, even when the setup isn't perfect. I know he has the work ethic, and physically and mentally he's as tough as you need to be. Ben's in the right place, he's with a good team, and I think we'll continue to see great things from him.         -Kevin Schwantz

About the Author:

As a longtime motorcycling journalist and photographer, Larry Lawrence had closely followed Ben's rise through the AMA ranks following his professional debut at age 16. But he also spent months interviewing those closest to the young rider, including his mother, Mary Spies, and his sister, Lisa.

Lawrence has been involved in motorcycle racing most of his life, briefly as a competitor and then as a journalist and photographer. Lawrence covered his first race for Cycle News when he was 22 years old and since that time he's written features in dozens of enthusiast publications and newspapers across the world. In addition to writing about modern-day racing, Lawrence is one of the leading motorcycle racing historians in America. For ten years, starting in 1998, he was the biographer for the Motorcycle Hall of Fame and in that capacity wrote hundreds of bios on the seminal figures in American motorcycling history. He was also a chair for the Hall of Fame Election Committee. Lawrence co-authored AMA Pro Racing media guides during the mid-1990s, and was a contributing editor to the books Heroes of Harley-Davidson and Motocross America. Today Lawrence writes a weekly column in Cycle News called Archives, is a regular contributor to Cycle World, and runs the motorcycle-racing website www.riderfiles.com.