Ben Spies to Ride Specially-Modified Ducati Diavel at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Ben Spies will attempt to make his long-awaited return from injury to MotoGP racing action this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but before he gets on his Ducati Desmosedici, Spies will ride a specially-modified Diavel drag racer.

Spies will ride the modified Diavel at 5 p.m. local time on Thursday, Aug. 15 on the back straight of IMS between Turns 9 and 10.

Advanced Motorsports Ducati Dallas prepared the one-off Diavel, lowering it a couple of inches and trimming about 40 pounds off its stock weight. The engine has been upgraded with the lighter crankshaft, titanium conrods, pistons and titanium valves from the Ducati 1098R. The result, AMS Ducati Dallas tells Cycle World, is a 25 hp improvement to 170 hp at the rear tire.

Other changes include a number of aftermarket parts including a carbon fiber headlight fairing, machined aluminum handlebars and grips, enough to push the value of the Diavel to about $30,000.

The red, white and blue Ben Spies livery was painted by Paul Dalton of Café Classics. The bodywork will later be autographed and auctioned at AIMExpo this fall in Orlando, with proceeds going to support injured racer Dave Stanton, a friend of Spies and his crew chief Tom Houseworth.

[Source: Cycle World, Ben Spies (Facebook)]

By Dennis Chung