Ben Spies began his professional career at age 15 in 2000. He was crowned AMA Superbike Champion for Yoshimura Suzuki in 2006, successfully defending the title the next 2 years until his move to World Superbike in 2009, where he won the championship in his rookie year by 6 points over rival Noriyuki Haga. Having impressed with 3 wildcard appearances in 2008 with Suzuki, which included 6th place at Indianapolis, the switch to MotoGP with the Tech 3 team was smooth and in 2010 Spies scored 2 podiums, a pole, and the Rookie of the Year title while competing on tracks he had never seen before. A move to factory Yamaha for 2011 saw his first win come at Assen with additional podiums the same year at Indianapolis and Valencia. The Texan remained with the team for 2012, yet struggled for form and suffered numerous technical faults. In Laguna Sec he announced his split from the team at the end of the season, and in 2013 joins the Pramac Team to contest on a Ducati for the first time.