Canadian team eyes Daytona glory

From Riders Choice.ca

TORONTO, ON -- The Riders Choice.ca MOTO-GT team will be one of the top squads contending for the win at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday (Oct. 17) in the 8 Hours of Daytona.

The team will feature Canadian Superbike racers Matt McBride, Andrew Nelson and Larry Orde, who will race a Suzuki GSX-R600.

Nelson (Kars, ON) is coming off of a Canadian Superbike season where he consistently ran in the top 10 and finished fourth in Superbike and eighth in Pro Sport Bike points. McBride (Mississauga, ON) ran a partial season in Canada and still managed to rank eighth in Superbike and 13th in Sport Bike. The veteran of the team is Orde (Peterborough, ON), who raced only at the Mosport round during the Canadian Superbike championships but has competed at Daytona several times before.

Longtime racer Pat Barnes has organized the Riders Choice.ca all-Canadian effort that will see him service as the fourth and alternate rider. Barnes worked with some of the best Canadian builders and technicians in preparing the 2007 Suzuki GSX-R600 that was raced in the Canadian Amateur Sporbike Championship by Richard Have.

The bike was rebuilt and prepared by the likes of Yuji Kikuchi (MotoGP mechanic), Tony Russell, Ben Gartner, Stuart Shaw, Gord Bush, Jon Cornwell and Scott Miller.

According to Barnes the team is confident they have the equipment, crew and group of riders to run up front and win the event. McBride is the most experienced of the riders at Daytona having won the MOTO-ST Grand Sport Twins class at the inaugural 8 Hours of Daytona race in October, 2006.

Matt’s father John McBride will serve as team manager and the pit crew will included Arther Drozoz, Bob Shaw and Barnes.

The Riders Choice.ca racing effort that will carry a “We Support Our Troops” banner on the fairing in promoting support for Canadian Forces troops in Afghanistan. Sponsors of the team include Arai, Armour Bodies, Dainese, Orde Timberframe, Scarborough Toyota, Gord Bush Engines, Z-1 Cycle Tech, Hindle, Suzuki Canada, Inside Motorcycles, Prostar Motorsports, Peter & Carol/Motorhead Services, Tirox Chain Cleaner, Laurel Consulting Group and Q107 Radio.