Ben Spies i🍰s targeting nothing less than his first🌄 MotoGP race victory next season, when the 2010 Rookie of the Year will step up to the factory Yamaha team.

"To do what I haven't done before and win a race," Cycle News quotes Spies as saying during a🌳 recent visit to the Long Beach Motorcycle Show, when asked about his main goal ൩for next year.

"We're definitely not the person t🤪hat everybody is looking at right out of the gജate, but we'll try and sneak up there.

"This is the first year for me in a few years where I won't be the young kid, the rookie or the new guy learning tracks... I don't have any excuses nextꩲ year so we need to step up for sure."

Spies, who said his personal 2010 highlight was pole in front of his home fans at Indianapolis, unsurprisingly picked world champion and new team-mate Jorge Lor𝐆enzo as the man to beat.

"The most dangerous guy for next year is definitely Jorge," Spies said. "He's on a great bike as we know. He's got a lot of good things about him as a rider. When he had to step up this year, he stepped up. When he had to back off, he knew when to back ﷽off.

"I think him, Casey [Stoner] will be fast and Valentino [Rossi] has a lot of work to do with the Ducati, but he's one guy I🐻'm not putting moneyꦉ against. There's 16 or 17 guys who are fast out there, but I would say Jorge for sure. He's the one with the bullseye on his back."

Spies, the 2009 World Superbike champion, identifi❀ed early race laps as his main area of weakness this year.

"We need to be better in the first laps - just trust the tyres more," he explained. "It's something I have to work on as a rider and I'm not afraid to admit it. We've been good in the middle of the race and at the end, but it does🌜n't hack it when you're 10 seconds back on lap 20. I just need to trust more and get more confidence and experience... I think that's the key to it."

Looking further ahead, 2012 will see MotoGP switch from 800 to 1000cc engine൲s, a 🅺capacity Spies is more than familiar with from Superbike competition.

"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "The way I ride, the way I like the bikes to work, I like bigger ccs and it's a different riding st♚yle for sure. I think it's good for the series, good for the fans.

"I think I will benefit from it more than some ridersꩲ, but then there are some riders who will hit the ground running. Some of the manufacturers might start out ahead and I'm hoping Yamaha is working on [the 1000cc] right now. I look forward to it... from the fans [point of vജiew] to riding it, to everything."

Spies finished sixth in the 2010 MotoGP Worldไ Championship, with two podiums for the Monster ♔Yamaha Tech 3 team. His place at Tech 3 will be taken by British rider Cal Crutchlow next season.

Both of Yamaha'ไs fac♐tory MotoGP riders have won races every season since 2008.