Aprilia USA wins at Daytona

From Professional Motorsports Productions

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – Aprilia USA/Lloyd Brothers Motorsports remains 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.

Ty Howard of Weatherford, TX and Mike Himmelsbach of Quakertown, PA rode the No. 1 Aprilia Tuono 1000R to a 4.573-second victory over the No. 75 Touring Sport Ducati 848 of Camarillo, CA’s Doug Polen and Columbia, SC racer 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. Although the team also won the Daytona season opener, Howard was not part of the winning crew.

“I’ve been here so many years and it seems I’ve always been the fastest guy, but I never seem to finish up front,” Howard said. “It’s great to finally be here in victory lane.”

The No. 4 BMW Motorcycles of Atlanta BMW R1200 of Englishman Richard Cooper and Marietta, GA’s Nate Kern finished third overall and in SST.

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.”

The No. 20 Wagner Motorsports Racing Ducati 1000 SS shared by Mark Reynolds of Woodstock, CT and Boston’s Gus Holcomb won the BMW GrandSport Twins (GST) class after the top two finishers on the road were penalized for exceeding the class horsepower limit of 90 hp.

The No. 70 James Gang Racing/Hoban Brothers Buell XB12R of Minneapolis rider Jeff Johnson and Paul James of Waukesha, WI claimed the runner-up position and third went to the No. 7 Richie Morris Racing Buell XB12R of Elkhart Lake, WI racer Clint Brotz and Tripp Nobles of Macon, GA.

The No. 43 Cycle Dynamics Kawasaki EX650 of James Rispoli of Attica, NY and Atlanta’s Ted Cobb claimed the Sport Twins win after a good battle most of the way with the defending champion No. 9 Pair-A-Nines Kawasaki EX650.

The win was an emotional one for Rispoli, whose mother died recently.

The SunTrust MOTO-ST Series continues with the VIR 500k at Virginia International Raceway on April 27.