LLOYD BROTHERS MOTORSPORTS AND APRILIA USA WINS SUNTRUST MOTO-ST SERIES SEASON OPENER AT DAYTONA FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW
Defending Champions, Aprilia USA/Lloyd Brothers Motorsports, remain the team to beat in the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series following their second straight victory in the Daytona 300 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, March 2 2008.
Ty Howard of Weatherford, Tex. and Mike Himmelsbach of Quakertown, Penn. rode the No. 1 Aprilia Tuono 1000R to a 4.573-second victory over the No. 75 Touring Sport Ducati 848 of former World Superbike Champion, Doug Polen and Peter Friedland in the 108-lap race around Daytona’s 2.90-mile road course.
The Aprilia USA/Lloyd Brothers Motorsports team won the Buell Motorcycle Company SuperSport Twins (SST) Team championship in last year’s SunTrust MOTO-ST Series with Italian riders, Federico Aliverti and Giancarlo De Matteis
“I’ve been here so many years and it seems I’ve always been one of the fastest guys, but I never seem to finish up front,” Howard said. “It’s great to finally be here in victory lane.” Howard took the lead on lap 96 when Polen had to make a final stop for fuel with the Ducati. He then cruised to the finish, easing up in the final laps as he tried to conserve gas. “We were more or less out of gas on the stop before, so I backed it down at the finish just to be safe,” Howard added. “With that sort of lead there was no sense in pushing it.”
“To start our championship defense with a win in the first race is more than we hoped for.” exclaimed team co-owner Michael Lloyd. “Our entire team put in long hours to make this happen and Ty and Mike put it all together on the track today”, continued David Lloyd. “Without all of our sponsors none of this would be possible. It takes a large team to be able to field two bikes in an endurance series. In addition to our head mechanic Chuck Looper, we are very fortunate to have the help of Ed Cook and Jon Francis from AF1 Racing Aprilia and Bill Himmelsbach from Martin Euro-sports. In addition to Dean Phelps on the gas filler and Steve Stivers on the fire bottle, we are thankful to Seve Mora, Fred Chapman, Mrs. Himmelbach and David Gamble as well. Without all of their help in the pits, we couldn’t have done it. I especially want to thank them as well as our financial and parts sponsors who helped us facilitate this win!”
“The Aprilia is strong all around and with a new Penske shock that was built for the bike, I could get into the corners even deeper and ride more aggressively in the infield than anyone else,” explained Howard. “The bike is easy to ride fast and doing double stints was no problem at all. Our crew got us in and out so fast…we got ahead of everyone.”
The No. 6 Aprilia USA/Lloyd Brothers Motorsports Aprilia 1000R ridden Henry Wiles and teammate Zac Chapman of Weatherford, Tex finished strong in fourth place, just missing a podium finish.
Team Hooters Aprilia finished sixth with riders Mike Luke, Aprilia AMA Unlimited Supermoto Champion, Benny Carlson, and Andrew Deatherage.
Aprilia USA/Lloyd Brothers Motorsports would like to thank all sponsors: Aprilia USA, American Agip, Af1 Racing Aprilia, F3 Motor-sports, Penske Racing Shocks, Motion Pro, K & N Filters, Vesrah, Diamond Chain, Vortex, Leo Vince, Dynojet, Suzuka Tire Warmers, Martin Eurosports, Sharkskinz, Daniel Kalal, Yuasa Batteries and Arai Helmets.
The SunTrust MOTO-ST Series continues with the VIR 500k at Virginia International Raceway on April 27.
The SunTrust MOTO-ST Series 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. Learn more about MOTO-ST at http://www.moto-st.com/.
