Aprilia USA comes from behind at VIR

From the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series

DANVILLE, VA – The No. 1 Aprilia USA/Lloyd Brothers Motorsports Aprilia Tuono 1000R of Ty Howard and Mike Himmelsbach came from a lap down to win the VIR 500k, the second round of the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series at Virginia International Raceway on Sunday.

After crashing one hour into the two and a half hour race, Howard, from Weatherford, TX came back to take the lead from the No. 75 Touring Sport Ducati 848 of Doug Polen just six laps from the end of the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series VIR 500k.

Howard and Himmelsbach completed 70 laps of the 3.27-mile VIR circuit in two hours, 30 minutes, 38.207 seconds for an average speed of 91.173 miles per hour.

Polen, from Camarillo, CA and teammate James Chance III of Savannah, GA settled for second 11.381 seconds behind at the finish.

The podium was completed by the No. 2 Team RightsForBikers.com Suzuki SV1000S ridden by Modesto, CA’s Justin Filice and Rodolfo Ramirez of Sunrise, FL.

The win was the second straight this year for the No. 1 Aprilia, which also claimed last year’s title in the Buell Motorcycle Company SuperSport Twins (SST) class. Howard put the bike on pole on Saturday in the first qualifying session in SunTrust MOTO-ST Series history.

“I don’t know what happened, the front end just folded under me,” said Howard of the crash. “I rode for six laps with no shifter then I brought in into the pits.”

The team replaced the shifter but elected not to repair a bent clutch lever. Howard and Himmelsbach then steadily worked their way back to the front. They were running fifth overall and third in the SST class when a full course caution, the only one in the race, bunched the field with just over half an hour left and erased a 40-second lead for Polen.

On the restart Howard quickly moved up to second and then slashed an eight-second gap to Polen, setting the race’s fastest lap of one minute, 58.379 seconds in the process.

“I took some time getting used to the bike after the crash,” said Himmelsbach, from Quakertown, PA, who rode the middle stint of the race. “We had no real hiccups after that and I went faster and faster every lap.”

Polen had qualified second for the race and was among the pacesetters right from the start. He looked set to take the win after assuming the lead on lap 50 when the Team RightsForBikers.com Suzuki lost time changing a rear tire on a pit stop.

“We had a win easy,” said Polen, who also finished second to the No. 1 Aprilia at Daytona’s season opener. “But as soon as the safety car came out and closed the gap that was it, I could pretty much see the writing on the wall.”

The No. 1 Aprilia leads the SST Teams standings by six points over the No. 75 Ducati, 70-64.

Fourth overall and first in the Sport Twins (ST) class was the No. 86 SpeedWerks.com Suzuki SV650 of local ace Brian Kcraget of Danville, VA and Chesterfield, VA’s Ben Walters. The pair finished almost 30 seconds ahead of the No. 67 M4 Avteq Racing Suzuki SV650 of Kyle Martin of Dallas and Newalla, OK’s Dominic Dominguez.

Walters was a late call-up to the SpeedWerks.com team after two of its scheduled riders were injured in accidents.

Third in ST and sixth overall was the No. 9 Pair-A-Nines Kawasaki EX650 of defending class champions Jay Springsteen from Lapeer, MI and Jimmy Filice of Daytona Beach, FL, which lost second to the No. 67 Suzuki near the finish when Filice ran off the track.

Victory in the BMW GrandSport Twins (GST) class went to the No. 7 Richie Morris Racing Buell XB12R of Mike Smith of Canton, GA and Clint Brotz from Elkhart Lake, WI, which finished seventh overall. Smith was also a late call up to partner Brotz.

Second in class was the No. 69 Team RightsForBikers.com Ducati PS1000LE of Fort Lauderdale’s Jason Edmunds and John Linder of Tampa.

Third in GST went to the James Gang Racing/Hoban Brothers Buell XB12R ridden by Jeff Johnson of Minneapolis and Paul James from Waukesha, WI.

The SunTrust MOTO-ST Series continues at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI June 7.