Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki's Ben Spies and crew chief Tom Houseworth (Photo: Brian J Nelson) » More Photos

There’s a tinge of regret in Spies’ voice over that fact, but he remains firmly focused on continuing his development in preparation for a full-time assault on the world championship in 2009.

“If I could have rode GP next year, I probably would have but it wasn’t in the cards. I’ll have another year with American Suzuki and the goal will once again be to win the AMA Superbike title.

“We’ve got a job to do and even though I’m looking to go to MotoGP in ’09 and do select GP races this year, the goal never changes. I’ve got to focus on what I’m doing on each particular weekend. If I’m racing at Laguna or Indy or wherever, I’ll just do the best I can and try to finish on the podium or in the top ten or whatever happens to be the best I can do. In the AMA, we’ve got to win another Superbike title.”

Ben is not concerned about his skills stagnating by sticking around the States for another season as the challenge presented by Mladin forces him to either continually improve or face defeat.

“Mat’s riding the best he ever has in my opinion. To know that we’re competitive with him week-in and week-out and beat him about as often as he beats us while coming out with the last couple of titles makes me feel good. There are not many people who have done that. Ever.

“I’m glad that I’m racing against Mat at my age with him at his level right now because that’s only going to make me better in the future. We’re always pushing to make the bike better. Sometimes people only do what they need to do to win but right now to win these races, everything has to be perfect. Mat’s very good with bike set-up and he’s obviously a very talented rider and I’m forced to match that.”

After a couple of rained out tests, Spies finally got his first taste of a MotoGP machine at Valencia on the Monday following the conclusion of the 2007 Grand Prix season. To say he impressed in his brief stint on the very unfamiliar GSV-R would be an understatement.