Sonoma, CA – May, 2009 – Chaz Davies scored a fourth place finish in Saturday’s Daytona SportBike race one in what could be considered the team’s most difficult weekend of the year. The dark cloud of bad luck returned for Ben Thompson who was fresh off his best finish of the year at Barber Motorsports Park. Despite improving in every session Thompson fell victim to a crash in both races at Infineon Raceway.
Chaz was immediately fast from the beginning of the weekend and the team had high hopes for a podium finish in what many thought would be the worst track for the Aprilia RSV1000R. Chaz qualified in Superpole in the third position with a time of 1:40.010, only a tenth of a second out of second place. Thompson was making steady progress in first qualifying, but crashed out early and had to start from the eighteenth position.
Daytona SportBike race one didn’t start off as planed when Ben Thompson crashed on lap one in turn two with a huge high side. Fortunately, Thompson was virtually un-injured but his Aprilia RSV1000R was destroyed. Davies missed the first lap incident and was running up front with the lead group. Chaz spent most of the race in third place, but was passed by Hacking with a handful of laps to go leaving the Welshman fourth on the final lap. This is the teams second top five in a row.
The Millennium Technologies sponsored Aprilia team worked hard Saturday night to come up with a solution that would allow Davies to move up to a coveted podium position and to repair Thompson’s damaged RSV1000R. It appeared that the set-up changes worked early in Sunday’s Daytona SportBike race two when Davies was able to turn the fastest lap of the race. Again, Davies was right there with the lead group but on lap six his Aprilia RSV1000R overheated and he was forced to pull out of the race. Thompson continued his streak of terrible luck when he was taken out early by another rider.
Chaz Davies – “Although the weekend didn’t end the way we wanted, it was actually very encouraging that the bike worked as well as it did at this track. Infineon is a very tight track that rewards a nimble, lightweight bike and the KWS Motorsport team has done a wonderful job to make the Aprilia RSV1000R competitive here. I am very much looking forward to Road America. Thanks to Rocky Stargel, Jimmy Le, and the rest of the team for all their hard work this weekend. “
Ben Thompson – “It was a bad weekend. This is only my second time at Infineon and we made some mistakes early, but we really started make some progress by Saturday. Every time we started to get some momentum we ended up in the dirt. I really want to thank Michael Godin and Marty Ashmore for all their hard work this weekend. I am very glad that this weekend is over and I wish we could race Road America tomorrow.”
Kevin Hunt (Team Owner) – “Despite all the challenges, it is very encouraging that we can run up front at place like Infineon. If we can run up front here then we can run up front anywhere. Road America should be a good track for the Aprilia and it is the home track for Millennium Technologies so we will put this one behind us and move on.”
The Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team is proudly sponsored by:
Aprilia USA, Millennium Technologies, KWS Motorsports, Pit Bull, LeoVince Exhaust, Motion Pro, Bazzaz Performance, Sebimoto Bodywork, Yoyodyne, Slednecks, EK Chains, Motul, Performance Friction Brakes, Worldwide Bearing, K&N Filters, Zero Gravity Windscreens, Suzuka Tire Warmers, Stomp Grip, Hel Brake Lines, Spider Grips, ETI FuelCel and ASV Inventions.
For Information: http://www.kwsapriliaracing.com