Millennium/KWS Suzuki Finishes Eleventh at Daytona

Daytona, FL – March 2008 -- Millennium/KWS Suzuki sponsored by Suzuki of Orangeburg finished eleventh in the AMA Superstock race Thursday at Daytona International Speedway with rider Ben Thompson. Thompson also finished seventeenth in the Superbike race on Saturday. Through out the weekend the team showed great speed but had some problems during the races that affected the end results.

The AMA Superstock class is Millennium/KWS Suzuki’s focus for 2008. This was Thompson’s first visit to the Daytona International Speedway on a Superstock bike and he raised a lot of eyebrows by qualifying on the second row with time of 1:39.530. This was good enough for seventh position. In the race, Thompson got an excellent start and was circulating in sixth place with the lead group when he overshot the chicane. Thompson tried to battle his way back to the front but the bike developed a shifting problem that caused instability on the ultra-fast Daytona banking. Thompson rode a smart race to bring the Pit Bull sponsored Millennium/KWS Suzuki home in eleventh place and get valuable championship points.    

The Daytona Superbike race is traditionally a war of attrition so the team didn’t put a lot of emphasis on qualifying. Instead the team used the session to develop a race set up and Thompson was still able to qualify in nineteenth position with a time of 1:40.379. At the start of the race Thompson moved up to the twelfth position and was battling at the tail end of the factory riders. On lap two Thompson had suffered a small problem going into the new horseshoe and dropped back to the twentieth position. Thompson was able to fight back to finish in the seventeenth position.

Ben Thompson – “I was happy with our Superstock qualifying time and we had made good progress with the setup of the bike. When it came time to race, I got off to a good start and was right there with the lead pack. The Millennium Technologies/KWS Suzuki had a really good motor but I immediately started having some shifting problems in the race. I made a mistake on the second lap and missed the chicane which caused me to lose about seven positions. The mechanical issues got worse as the race went on and I rode as hard as I could while just trying to bring it home in one piece. The team did a great job this weekend, and put me on some very competitive bikes. I can't thank them enough for all of their hard work. I really look forward to the next race and I think we will be able to run at the front of the pack at Barber. I would like to thank Bell, Fieldsheer, Puma, and K&N for all their support.”

Kevin Hunt (Team Owner) – “The team did really well this weekend and the results don’t show it. Ben rode really well and was fast enough all weekend to finish in the top five in Superstock and the top fifteen in Superbike. We had some problems and Ben did an excellent job adapting to those problems and bringing the bike home in one piece and getting some points. Both Ben and the team showed a lot of potential and I am very excited to go Barber Motorsports Park in April and show what we can do.”

Millennium/KWS Suzuki is proudly sponsored by:

Millennium Technologies, American Suzuki, Suzuki of Orangeburg, Dunlop Tires, Pit Bull, LeoVince Exhaust, K&N Filters, GP Tech, Galespeed, Active, Bazzaz Performance, Sebimoto, Yoyodyne, VP Fuels, EK Chains, Wiseco Pistons, BG Lubricants, Webcam, Performance Friction Brakes, Shock Doctor, Worldwide Bearing, Zero Gravity, XT Racing, APE, CTR Suspensions, Chicken Hawk Racing, Hel Brake Lines