| MOTO-ST SERIES
AT DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
Team HurtByAccident.com Scores Sport Twins Class Victory
at Daytona
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (October 21, 2006) -- In what turned out to
be the tightest and most exciting class battle of the inaugural
MOTO-ST Series 8 Hours At Daytona, a speedy late-race pit stop by
Team HurtByAccident.com enabled rider Steven Breckenridge to cruise
to victory on the No. 16 Jostens/Czaia & Gallagher, PA Suzuki
SV650, alongside Floridians Nicole Hoffman and Mark Crozier.
Breckenridge rode the final stint of the race, dueling Robert Wilkey's
No. 17 Kawasaki Team Green Kawasaki EX650 well into the seventh-hour
of the eight-hour enduro. Wilkey, running second at the time, brought
the No. 17 machine down pit road on lap 209 of the 228-lap event
for a late splash of fuel, handing controls to teammate Derick Keys.
One lap later, Breckenridge brought his No. 16 bike down pit road
for fuel, hurrying back to the track to maintain the lead. Unfortunately
for Keys, he was forced back down pit road just one lap into his
stint with apparent issues on the No. 17 bike, enabling Breckenridge
to enjoy a 24.205-second cushion once the checkered flag flew. Keys
finished second alongside co-riders Wilkey and Matt Lapham. In total,
the ST class saw 30 lead changes among four bikes, a testament to
the close competition on the track.
"This was just amazing," said Breckenridge. "The
history of this place, the competition on the track, everything.
I watch the Rolex Series endurance races on SPEED and see the SunTrust
car at the front of the pack. Now, to ride at Daytona in the SunTrust
series and win, this was great."
All three riders on the No. 16 battled for the lead throughout
the race, one that saw the lead change hands virtually every lap
for eight hours. The No. 16 bike led a race-high 87 laps. Hoffman,
one of two female riders in the field, is a NASCAR employee and
is certainly relishing her victory at the 'World Center of Racing.'
"This was a coming home for me," said Hoffman. "All
of my friends and family were here. It was wonderful. The crew did
a great job, our pit stops were fast, and I can't say enough about
Mark and Steve. They were outstanding throughout the whole race."
"It was such a great battle between us and the (No.) 17 guys
for about two-and-a-half hours," added Crozier, from Palm Coast,
Fla. "We saw this as sort of a tortoise and the hare situation.
We might've been lacking a little bit in horsepower, but we know
that if our stops were good and we raced smart and clean, we'd be
there at the end."
Pirelli has been named as the sole supplier of SunTrust MOTO-ST
tires for the inaugural 8 Hours At Daytona as well as the first
full season of competition in 2007. All competitors will use Sunoco
GT unleaded fuel. Horsepower limits are enforced by a Dynojet chassis
dynamometer.
A one-hour highlight package from Saturday's race will air on SPEED
at some point in the fourth quarter of 2006.
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