Let’s admit it contracts are really complicated bitches especially if you’re a MotoGP rider and you’re only interest is racing fast, winning championship titles and socking away some money for when you have to retire and you don’t personally follow your own business affairs, and you leave that sticky business to someone else, as Ben Spies has found out.

The Texas Terror has been ordered to pay, after losing an arbitration case for wrongfully terminating his contract with former agent Doug Gonda (Protac, Inc.) and has ordered that Speez Racing, LLC pay $1.9 million in damages and arbitration costs.

Speez Racing LLC is Ben Spies’ personal management company run by the 2 times AMA and WSBK champion rider’s mother Mary, who owns 51% of the company, while Spies stake is 48% and his sister Lisa is 1%. The case was centered on the fact that Protac was unable to get Spies into MotoGP in 2009. Spies asking price was deemed to expensive and he was considered a relative unknown by all the MotoGP teams and despite having Kevin Schwantz also going to bat for him, he was turned down not only by Suzuki, but also by Yamaha and Ducati and that resulted in Speez Racing arguing that Protac had breached its contract having failed in getting a MotoGP ride for him therefore were not entitled to their 15% commission nor any commissions on any increase in endorsement fees from pre-existing sponsors.

The arbitration panel decided against Spies’ management company stating that the contracts were in a bad faith modus, where the group would agree to contracts knowing that terms agreed to could not occur.

Protac will receive 15% of Spies 2009 earnings plus an ulterior 15% of his estimated earnings for 2010 and 2011 and the arbitration costs.

$1.9 million is peanuts compared to what Alex Barros had to pay back in 2005 when he breached his sponsorship contract with Altadis (French-Spanish tobacco company). The former MotoGP rider dished out more than $3.2 million in damages, including interest and costs.

Source | roadracingworld via motomatters.com

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