Villa returns to Roadracingworld.com

From Team Roadracingworld.com

Former Colombian Superbike champion and CCS regional champion Santiago Villa of Colombia will return to race for Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki in 2009. Villa will enter the AMA Daytona Sport Bike class on board Suzuki GSX-R600 machinery.

Crew chief James Lickwar and mechanic Peter Hively will serve as Santiago's crew.

"I'm very excited to race again with the team. With all the changes in the AMA, it's going to be a great season," said Villa, a multi-time champion in his native country who joined Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki in 2008.

"I'm going to have a new crew this year and I think that James and Peter are going to help me achive my goals. I have seen their work and I admire them a lot. I can only expect great things from them."

In addition to his talent, Villa has shown remarkable toughness in his time with the team. After suffering serious burns in a fall 2007 pit lane refueling incident at the Daytona International Speedway while racing for a different team, Santiago worked hard in his recovery to be ready for the 2008 season. Villa showed speed and promise in the early rounds despite still struggling with his injuries, but had another setback when he broke his femur and hip in a mid-season crash.

"The team is really excited to have Santiago back," said Team Roadracingworld.com's Chris Ulrich. "He really made some great progress on the Superstock bike last year before he got hurt again. We were really bummed because he had worked so hard and was really showing something.

"A lesser man might have thrown in the towel after some of the things that happened to him along the way but he's a true racer with more determination and desire than ever. He's one of those guys willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals."