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Roadracingworld.com wins the 8-hour Moto-ST race

Posted by Staff
Monday, 22 October 2007
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The No. 18 Roadracingworld.com Suzuki with riders Chris Ulrich, Gary Mason and Cory West captured the second annual 8 Hours At Daytona SunTrust MOTO-ST Series finale at historic Daytona International Speedway Saturday night. “It’s huge, to win at Daytona is huge,” Ulrich said. “It’s huge. It’s Daytona. It’s the World Center of Racing. I’ve been wanting to win some stuff at Daytona for a long time and I finally won some stuff. “This is the most difficult race to win here. It’s so fantastic for the team. It’s our 130 endurance win. It’s great for John Ulrich, it’s great for me and it’s great for everyone involved.” In the final hour, the No. 18 Suzuki was in a tight battle with last year’s 8 Hours winner – the No. 46 San Jose BMW of Richard Cooper, Brian Parriott and Nate Kern. But the No. 46 BMW with Cooper aboard got involved in an accident in the east horseshoe with another motorcycle which was re-entering the track after a visit to pit road. The No. 46 bike was able to return to pit road and continue to compete but suffered too much damage to challenge the No. 18 Suzuki and was forced to settle for runner-up honors. “We were close enough to win but the condition of the bike didn’t let us,” Parriott said. “Those guys (the No. 18 team) were really riding good. Their pit stops were flawless." Cory West was the rider that brought the No. 18 Suzuki to the checkers. “I was just counting the laps down,” West said. “I kept asking the guys over the radio how many laps left. They were just telling me the gap. It was awesome. I kept telling myself don’t lose the front in Turn 1 and just keep it steady. It paid off.” The No. 18 Suzuki led 144 of the 234 laps completed in the 8 Hours At Daytona and won by a margin of 25.838 seconds. Other class winners in the 8 Hours At Daytona were the No. 77 Touring Sport Ducati in GrandSport Twins with Doug Polen, Peter Friedland and Frank Shockley and the No. 87 SpeedWerks.com with Scott Ryan, Brian Kcraget and Hawk Mazzotta in SportTwins. Russell Returns Scott Russell made his return to Daytona International Speedway in the 8 Hours At Daytona. Nicknamed “Mr. Daytona,” Russell, who is tied with Miguel Duhamel with a record five Daytona 200 By Honda victories, competed aboard the No. 92 Kawasaki for Pair-A Nines Racing. At about halfway through the race, Russell high sided in the east horseshoe. “Rider is too heavy handed. I high sided it in the first (east) horseshoe,” Russell said. “I got out there, maybe I was a little bit off lined, just whacked the throttle too hard and it swung me off the top.” Russell finished 33 overall and 14 in the GrandSport Twins class with co-riders Kent Kunitsugi and Brett McCormick. Russell dominated the Daytona 200 By Honda, America’s most prestigious motorcycle race, in the 1990s winning five times (1992, 1994, 1995, 1997 and 1998). But after suffering injuries in a serious accident at DIS in 2001, Russell hasn’t raced professionally. He said that his return this weekend to DIS has been very special. “So much I can’t tell you,” when asked how much fun he had in the weekend. “Just to be back here going around here at a lot less speed. It gave me more time to think about it and reflect on things. It was great.” He hopes for a return, possibly in March for the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series activities during Daytona 200 By Honda Week. “I wouldn’t mind it,” Russell said. “I would love to come back and do some more of this stuff. Who knows what might happen in the future. We’ll see.”

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