Spies won two races at Elkhart, and crashed big

Elkhart definitely had its ups and downs. It was a rough weekend for us, but we made it through just fine. We had an okay weekend going, and then all hell broke loose with the weather. A lot of people get all psyched out with the rain. I don't really wish for it, but I know when it happens, it's all right with me, because we've seemed to go okay in the rain in the past.

The first race, it was raining in the morning, so we didn't get any dry practice. So they gave us a few laps before the race. There was one wet patch on the whole track, and I was pulling to the inside it every lap. We got the checkered flag, and at that point, we're racing about ten minutes after that checkered flag. We had made a couple of changes to the bike before that, and I was kind of trying them out. I was just thinking in my head going through turns one, two and three -- about what I wanted to change, what wasn't so good, maybe a different tire, just a bunch of little stuff. Before I knew it, I had totally forgot about that wet patch.

I saw the crash on video. It was completely my fault. I just ran right over it. The thing launched me pretty good. It threw me down on my head pretty hard. And my back, and kidney, and then the bike hit me pretty hard. At that point I got up and started walking, and my leg started hurting worse and worse and worse. I ended up having a hematoma on my quad. I couldn't really walk, but I could ride the bike okay. My kidney was real sore, and I had a slight concussion. I really had to get it done in that race, and it wasn't the best scenario.

So right away, I had to race. We'd been having a certain problem with the bike all weekend, and we had it a lot during that race. I was having to mess with the bike every straightaway. Mat had the race pretty much under control, but we put on a little bit of a charge, and just after I turned my fastest lap of the race and got it within, I think, 0.6 second at the line With what I was doing, I accidentally killed the motor on the middle straightaway. I had to re-start it, and lost a little over a second in that one lap.

But just to be in contention and be within a freakin' minute, after that wreck, was fine with me. Obviously, that night I didn't sleep too well. I was having some back problems, and my kidney as well.

The next day, it was raining. As soon as I woke up I saw it was going to be a rain day, and I started getting myself in that mindset of being smooth, and concentrating, and just getting that mindset of, "This is what it's going to take." We got in the race and pulled out a pretty good lead. And won the race.

That's the first time I've crashed two times in a weekend. The second crash was completely my fault. I'll definitely own up when I do something stupid and make a mistake. The first crash was not a mistake by anybody on my team or anything. My guys have done a wonderful job all year. But it was definitely not my mistake. I fell down because of it - it wasn't a big crash, but what happened with the bike, it definitely hurts your confidence riding the thing the next time, and the time after that. But it was nobody's fault. Just something happened - we don't really know what. I just kind of ran off the track and fell down.

The second wreck was completely me being spaced out, thinking about ten minutes later in the race, and doing all that nonsense. I got caught out, and luckily did not get seriously, seriously hurt. It was a big, big, big crash. So just to be somewhat in contention in that race, after that, wasn't too bad. I'm actually more proud of finishing second in Saturday's race than winning on Sunday. Because I knew I'm pretty strong in the rain. I was just worried about ... Eric's gone good in the rain, Jamie's gone good in the rain, and Tommy. There's a lot of good rain riders. I was just going to ride my race, and we did that. That was definitely good.

But to be there on Saturday, and run some of the fastest laps that I ran, right after that happened, on my backup bike -- It turned a bad weekend into an okay weekend. We've got the points lead, but it's not like it's a huge gap. We've been playing it a little safe this year, and trying to do the smart stuff, but we know if we're going to win the title, we've got to win races. It's going to be that time now from here on out, when we get on the bike, it's go time, and put it on the edge every time.

I'd rather do that than play it safe. Last year I didn't ride like I was going to win the title until I broke my hand at VIR with just a few races to go. Because it was only my second year riding Superbike, I wasn't "supposed" to win the title. Maybe I'm still probably not supposed to win the title, with Mat being however many time champion, and me being the young kid that's juggling two classes. If we can win the title, I think that says a lot. Because it's funny -- we took on the two classes to win both titles, and then you hear people say that riding two classes doesn't hurt, because at least you're on two 1000s. That didn't come from Mat, but there are people who say that. Well, when you're at that level, trying to get everything out of a Superbike, when you're riding two bikes and you're spending that much more track time -- four more hours of track time in a weekend, of wear and tear on your body -- it makes a difference. It makes a huge difference. People that ride Superbike only, or any one class, "bam, bam, bam." It's more straightforward. And we're going to try to do it with both classes. We're still proving ourselves, and even if we don't win a title this year, I wouldn't say it was a bad year. I would obviously be upset, but it's still only my third year in Superbike. I don't know if anyone else has won a title in that class their second try in it, but I'm certainly one of the earliest.

We're still in contention right now, and I believe we can win the title again this year. Mat is riding really good right now, and so are a lot of other people. But luckily, I have a decent point lead in Superstock now, where I can put a little bit more focus on my Superbike and go with it. It's going to be a tough year.

But getting back to Road America, the results turned a bad weekend into a good weekend. I got to win two of the three races, and finished second in the other one. And one of my best friends, Jamie Hacking, got on the podium after the year he's been having. That was good to see, for sure.

Miller is next. Last year we had some problems, but the first race, when everything was on an even playing field, we were strong. We got the race win. It was really tough. Jake was riding good, Mat was riding good, and we just sat back. We didn't take off and win it by much, but we barely got it at the end and got the win. Then the second day, we had a pretty good lead, and then the red flag, and a bunch of little drama went on, and we didn't get the win on the second day. That was a little frustrating. But we had a good test there this year, and learned a lot.

We actually learned quite a bit on a couple of things on the bike at the Ohio test a couple of days after Road America. I only rode half a day, because I wasn't feeling too good, but we found a couple of really key things that I've been struggling with on the bike. If we can put that to use when we go to Utah, then I think it's going to look really good.

I've put my team through a lot. I had a nice, easy crash at Sears Point. I just lowsided, and it really messed the bike up and they had to build me another one. Then we get to Road America and I hiked another one down the road really big, and they had to stay there until one in the morning putting the bikes together. So I've put my team through a lot, but they know I'm giving my all right now and doing everything that I can.

I keep hearing rumors that I'm going to MotoGP. I think everyone else knows a little more than I do. All I know is that Kevin Schwantz looks like he's trying to put together a team. I'm contracted to race over here in '08. I do know that I'm one of the top two candidates for the ride, and I think it could happen if I want it to. That's all I really know. Definitely when it comes time to test and maybe get a wild card, I'm going to give it a go, and see how it is. I'm not saying I'm going to do that. Because I might not even like it. I have no clue. The rumors are the rumors, and I really don't know exactly what is going on. It's still going to be a little while before that gets all figured out.

Since the last race, I'm mostly just trying to heal. I'm still having a little bit of problems with some stuff, but I've been able to train a little bit, so it's not like I'm losing much. It was a really weird feeling. On the bike, it didn't affect me much. Really, the race on Saturday -- I mean, I was hurting, but I'll go on the record and say it wasn't like I was all beat up that I didn't win. I knocked my head really good, and just from getting thrown down that hard and bumping your head, and just getting thrown down and racing ten minutes later, it's hard to come back from that. I don't care who you are. And like I said, I didn't care if I was going to win the race, I was just going to do the best I could.

The way I limped when I walked, it looked a lot worse. I know a lot of people were like, "Oh, he's trying to get a lot of attention, blah, blah, blah." But in certain ways, when you walk, the way you weight your leg, the muscle I bruised basically would not work. So I couldn't even sit down in a chair with that leg. But when I was on the bike, it didn't affect me too much. It was just a little bit of pain, but not much. I actually had a little bit more problems the day after, from my back and not sleeping. It broke my back protector in three places, so it slammed me down pretty good. But it's done. We came through. It wasn't a Cinderella thing where we come back and win the race, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. Like I said, it ended up being an okay weekend for us.

I've actually taken on a project. Jamie's always been into cars, and I've been into cars too, but I've never really done anything. He's the king of eBay. And Summit Racing needs to sponsor Jamie Hacking. He got me going on the idea of a Toyota Supra. I bought one of those and put it in the shop, and I'm building it from the ground up. I've always loved those cars, and they make big power. I finally got my hands on a real clean one, and it's going to be pretty cool. It's a '97 model with 100,000 miles on it. I got it real cheap. I'm gutting the whole thing - motor, tranny, everything is coming out. It's going to have about 750 horsepower at the rear wheels in about three months. It's going to be pretty fun to drive. It's going to have a MoTeC computer. It's going to be pretty bad. It's not going to be done any time soon, but it's something I get to have fun with and just play around with.

Other than that, I'm just trying to kick back and have fun. It's going to be crunch time for the rest of the year. It's setting up for a tough title chase. Mat and I have showed this year that we both have the same speed, and in the races it's just he's got out to some leads, so we haven't got to have a real good showdown yet. But I'm sure it's going to come this year. He's been riding really good this year. I'm getting a whole lot of motivation. It's going to be a good year. It's not just me that wants me to do well, I hear it from a whole lot of people who are kicking me in the butt to put it on the line and get it done. It's good to have a lot of people behind me. All my fans that support me. That's nice. We know what we've got to do to win the title, and we're going to give it everything we've got. At the end, if it doesn't work out, I gave it everything I had.