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www.moto-st.comDAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (April 10, 2007) -- The winning team from last month's opening round of the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series will feature a couple of new faces as it goes for two in a row at Homestead-Miami Speedway April 13-14.
The Aprilia Tuono 1000 of the Aprilia USA team scored a stunning victory in the DAYTONA USA 300 with Italian riders Federico Aliverti and Giancarlo De Matteis handling the riding duties. Although the pair had never raced at Daytona before, they claimed a 20.2-second victory over the RoadRacingWorld.com Suzuki SV1000S ridden by Chris Ulrich of Lake Elsinore, Calif. and Lee Acree from Greenboro, N.C. Aliverti passed Acree for the lead just nine laps from the end of the 106-lap race.
At Homestead, however, the bike will be in the hands of Henry Wiles and John Francis. Wiles and Francis were due to ride the whole season for the Aprilia USA squad, but Wiles broke his wrist in a SuperMotard racing accident and had to give Daytona a miss. That led to the last minute arrangement that saw Aliverti, a journalist for the Italian magazine Motociclismo, and De Matteis called in as replacements.
"The magazine wanted a story on the bike, so the riders were talking about coming over anyway," said David Lloyd of Lloyd Brothers Motorsports, which runs the two-bike effort for Aprilia USA. "It all came together pretty late. I guess we nailed it down in February."
Lloyd said that Wiles, whose background is in flat track racing, and Francis should be set to go for this weekend's second round at Homestead.
"Henry's been down to Texas and we're getting up to speed," Lloyd said.
Based in Johnstown, Ohio, Lloyd Brothers Motorsports is fairly new to motorcycle endurance road racing. The team's background is in flat track, and last year it ran an Aprilia-powered bike in the AMA Grand National series, with Wiles handling the riding.
The team's second entry, shared between Ty Howard and Troy Green, suffered an unlucky outing at Daytona when its dry break refueling system broke and the crew had to replace the gas tank on the Tuono. Despite that setback Howard and Green placed eighth overall.
If the Aprilia USA outfit is going to make it two wins in a row, it will have to contend with the RoadRacingWorld.com Suzuki crew that placed second at Daytona. Despite running with a stock engine in its SV1000 and having to call in Acree as a last-minute partner to Ulrich, the team almost snatched victory in the season opener. The bike had been mixing it up with the leaders all race and took over the top spot when the San Jose BMW R1200 of Brian Parriott and Nate Kern retired with a broken cam chain sprocket just 14 laps from home.
Team owner John Ulrich also faces a rider dilemma. He hopes to have Venezuelan Robertino Pietri partner son Chris on the Suzuki. Pietri was unable to make it to Daytona to race in the season opener.
"The problem is Robertino needs time to learn the track," said Ulrich, arguably the most successful motorcycle endurance racing team owner in North American history. "Lee can't go, so we will have Michael Barnes as a back up."
Barnes rode with Chris Ulrich and Geoff May to second place in last October's inaugural SunTrust MOTO-ST Series event at Daytona.
The San Jose BMW team will also have revenge on its mind after its setback at Daytona last month. Parriott and Kern led all but 18 of the 92 laps the bike completed, and seemed poised to claim a second straight Daytona MOTO-ST victory. Parriott, Kern and Belgian Stephane Mertens won last October's inaugural eight-hour.
As for last month's Daytona winners Aliverti and De Matteis, Lloyd is hoping to have them come back for this year's season-ending eight-hour and try for a repeat at the fabled Speedway.
In addition to Homestead-Miami Speedway, the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series will also include the VIR 500K, April 27-29 at Virginia International Speedway, the Road America 500K, July 7-8 at Road America, the Iowa Speedway 500K at Iowa Speedway July 12-13, 2007 and the 8 Hours at Daytona Finale, October 19-20 at Daytona International Speedway.
MOTO-ST is organized and sanctioned by Professional Motorsports Productions (PMP) of Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the Grand American Road Racing Association, based in Daytona Beach, Fla., provides the series with administrative and commercial support. The MOTO-ST advisory board features some of the most respected individuals in the world of motorsports, including Hall of Fame members, respected motorcycle racing journalists and renowned officials from various forms of road racing. Learn more about MOTO-ST at
www.moto-st.com.
Tickets for the Homestead 500K can be purchased at the Speedway Back Gate. Admission is free on Friday and admission on Saturday is $10.
