Three-time AMA Superbike champion Ben Spies (Photo: Suzuki Racing) » More Photos

He spoke about his surprise debut and his hopes for a bit of redemption at Laguna Seca. "That was a pretty tough weekend for me but I did as good as I could. After we had, for the first week, a pretty good qualifying result in the rain, I knew as soon as it went back to dry that we were going to be in trouble. We had a whole lot of fast weekend behind us.

"But given the amount of time we had, the end of the race went pretty good. The position wasn't what we wanted and a letdown for that, but the last ten laps of the race, I was happy with that and it started coming together. And then we got to test a couple days in Indy and got some more time on the bike. Now I get to go to a track that I'm familiar with so I'm pretty happy with that. I'm going to try to do good for Suzuki, me, and America, and hopefully I can get a good result."

Asked about the difference between his #1-plated GSX-R1000 Superbike and the #11 GSVR GP bike, Ben explained, "It's night and day -- between the forks, brakes, tires, frame… everything. It doesn't feel like you're on the same manufacturers bikes. It's really cool but it's different and we're going to be having to jump back and forth from the Superbike to the GP bike this weekend. That's going to make things a little difficult. But I'm just glad I get to ride this bike on a track I know. Against these guys I need it because they're the fastest guys in the world and I'm just happy to be in this race and competing against them."

So does Spies see this weekend as a potential springboard to a full-time MotoGP gig in 2009?

"I hope so, I'm not really sure yet. It's a little early for that. Donington was so unexpected and Laguna, I'm happy because this is a track we've done decent at. You've got to have results and after Donington that wasn't too good. A lot of people were questioning a whole lot of things after the race I think and I think after this race… I can't say what the result is going to be but when it comes to being comfortable on the bike, I'm going to be a whole lot more comfortable. What that will translate to in terms of position, I have no clue. I could be running up front or maybe just trying to stay in front of 'the Doctor' for the first lap. I have no clue, but we're going to try our hardest, that's for sure."