Buell team takes second win

From the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series

TOPEKA, KS -- The No. 8 Bruce Rossmeyer’s Daytona Racing Buell 1125R of Oconomowoc, WI rider Shawn Higbee and Boca Raton, FL’s Michael Barnes won its second SunTrust MOTO-ST Series race of the season in the Level 5 Heartland Park 500 presented by Hooters at Heartland Park Topeka on Sunday.

Higbee and Barnes took the lead for the final time on lap 92 of the 119-lap race around the 2.5-mile Heartland Park Topeka circuit and survived a late pit stop to beat the No. 75 Touring Sport Ducati 848 ridden by Camarillo, CA’s Doug Polen and Ryan Gordon of Clemson, SC by one minute, 36.262 seconds.

Benny Carlson (West Bend, WI), Mike Luke (New Smyrna Beach, FL) and Andrew Deatherage (Boca Raton, FL) finished third on the Team Hooters Aprilia Tuono 1000R, three laps behind the winners.

Higbee and Barnes completed the 119 laps in 3:30:42.572 for an average speed of 84.714 miles per hour.

“This new 1125R is something else,” said Barnes, who was making his first start for the team. “I’d like to give a shout out to [team owner] Richie Morris, who couldn’t be here because he’s a bit under the weather. I hope he’s feeling better.”

The Bruce Rossmeyer’s Daytona Racing team, which triumphed in the third round of the series at Road America in June, managed to win despite having to make four pit stops, compared to only three for the No. 75 Ducati.

“Early on we were worried about the tire wear on the front,” said Higbee, who was celebrating his birthday at Heartland Park Topeka. “We couldn’t go the full fuel load on the tires so we had to go with a different pit strategy and run a fast enough pace to make up for the extra stop. We were able to maintain a fast enough pace.”

Both Polen and Gordon were feeling the effects of suspected food poisoning, and Polen lost time as he battled a leg cramp late in his second stint on the Ducati.

“We had the bike set up to run consistently through a whole stint,” Polen said. “But I got a big leg cramp nine laps before the end of my stint and I was trying to work it out. I wanted to make sure we got through the stint so we could stay on our three-stop strategy, but we lost about two seconds a lap there.”

The No. 75 Touring Sport Ducati team did make up ground in the battle for the SST Teams points championship, however, as the No. 1 Aprilia USA/Lloyd Brothers Motorsports Aprilia Tuono 1000R of Ty Howard (Weatherford, TX) and Mike Himmelsbach (Quakertown, PA) could only manage a fourth place finish following a pair of crashes by Howard.

The No. 1 Aprilia team now has 162 points to the 159 of the No. 75 Ducati team with two races remaining in the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series. The No. 8 Buell squad moved into third in the standings with 142 points.

In a dramatic finish the No. 77 Touring Sport Ducati PS1000LE of Frank Shockley (Greenville, SC) and Brad Phillips (Greer, SC) claimed its second straight win in the BMW GrandSport Twins (GST) class.

Shockley took the lead from Justin Filice on the No. 69 RightsforBikers.com Ducati PS1000LE just nine laps from the finish as Filice battled with a badly worn front tire. The No. 69 Ducati squad was hampered by a lack of crew and was forced to run with the same front all race.

Filice suffered a fall in the closing stages but was able to bring the No. 69 Ducati, which he shared with Rodolfo Ramirez (Sunrise, FL) home in second spot.

Walt Sipp (Kansas City, MO), Paul James (Waukesha, WI) and Jeff Johnson (Minneapolis, MN) completed the GST podium on their No. 70 James Gang Racing / Hoban Brothers Buell XB12R.
The win for the No. 77 Ducati team moved it into first place in the very tight GST Team standings with 156 points to the 152 for the No. 70 Buell team and 149 for the No. 69 Ducati squad.

Fourth place overall in the race and first in the Sport Twins class went to the No. 67 M4 Avteq Racing Suzuki SV650 ridden by Dustin Dominguez (Newalla, OK) and Ryan O’Donnell (Lewisville, TX).

The pair spent the first half of the race running in company with teammates Dane Westby (Tulsa, OK) and Kyle Martin (Dallas) on the No. 66 Suzuki before Martin suffered a fall in the last turn while leading the class. Martin was able to rejoin in the lead but needed to pit for repairs and the bike was then slowed by tire troubles near the end.

Despite its second place finish the No. 66 M4 Avteq Racing team moved into a tie for first place in the Sport Twins Teams standings with the No. 9 Pair-A-Nines Kawasaki EX650 squad on 157 points each. Jimmy Filice (Daytona Beach, FL) and Jay Springsteen (Lapeer, MI) brought the Kawasaki home third in ST after battling a clutch problem for most of the race.

The SunTrust MOTO-ST Series continues at Thunderbolt Raceway New Jersey Motorsports Park on Aug. 29-30.

Point Standings
TEAM (SST): 1. No. 1 Aprilia USA/Lloyd Brothers Motorsports - 162; 2. No. 75 Touring Sport Ducati - 159; 3. No. 8 Bruce Rossmeyer’s Daytona Racing - 142; 4. No. 25 Team Hooters Aprilia – 137; 5. No. 6 Aprilia USA/Lloyd Brothers Motorsports – 109

TEAM (GST): 1. No. 77 Touring Sport Ducati - 156; 2. No. 70 James Gang Racing / Hoban Brothers - 152; 3. No. 69 RightsforBikers.com - 149; 4. No. 7 Richie Morris Racing - 142; 5. No. 20 Wagner Motorsports Racing – 110

TEAM (ST): T1. No. 9 Pair-A-Nines - 157; No. 66 M4 AVTEQ Racing - 157; 3. No. 67 M4 Avteq Racing - 133; 4. No. 42 Grease Monkey Racing - 122; 5. No. 17 Mid-Illini Motosports / Repsol – 120