Lexington, OH – July, 2009 – The Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team had another top five weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with rider Chaz Davies. New rider Aaron Gobert had a solid weekend with an eleventh place finish in Saturday’s Race One, and made progress through out the weekend.
The AMA rolling start procedures make a good qualifying position critical to a podium finish in the race. If the rider is not able to latch on to the lead group early in the race, the lap times are too close to bridge the gap. Due to weather on Friday, the normal qualifying session was canceled which lead to a cancelation of the Superpole competition. This left only a twenty-minute final qualifying session on Saturday morning. Chaz was able to get some quick laps in early, but unfortunately, the session was ended early when another rider crashed and Davies never got a chance to put in his fastest laps. In the end, he ended up ninth on the grid on the inside of the fifth row.
The cancelation of the qualifying session on Friday was the last thing new rider Aaron Gobert needed. Gobert only had twenty-one practice laps on the Aprilia RSV1000R before qualifying and desperately need more track time to learn the motorcycle. Despite the lack of track time, Gobert went faster each lap of qualifying to eventually end up in the fourteenth position on the outside of row seven.
Race One saw both riders get boxed in at the start and lose positions going into turn one. Davies and Gobert both put their heads down and proceeded to turn their fastest laps of the weekend at that point. In the end Davies finished in the fifth position and Gobert finished just outside the top ten in eleventh position in his first race for the Millennium Technologies Sponsored Aprilia team.
In Daytona SportBike Race Two, both riders got much better starts with Chaz falling into a race long battle with the second group of five riders. The team had improved the bike on the second day and Chaz was able to turn lap times as fast as the leaders. By the end of the race, Davies was able to get to the lead of the five rider battle but he caught a false natural on the last lap and had to settle for seventh. Gobert once again went faster in the second race, going faster with each additional lap. Unfortunately, Aaron had a bolt break on the shifter and he had to come in for a quick repair. Gobert went back out one lap down and raced with eighth place finishing Josh Herrin for the remainder of the race. In the end, Gobert gained some valuable information for the next race at Heartland Park, Kansas.
Chaz Davies – “We had the pace on the second day to run with the lead group, but we couldn’t get close enough to them because of our qualifying position. It’s a shame that because of some rain of Friday, we didn’t get a chance at the podium on Sunday, but that is the way it goes. The bike worked really well this weekend and I can’t thank Rocky Stargel and Jimmy Le enough for all their hard work.”
Aaron Gobert – “Overall I had a great weekend. The team is really good and the Aprilia has a lot of potential. What I need now more than anything is track time on the bike. We are going to the test this week in New Jersey and this will help immensely. Thanks to my crew, Michael Godin, Marty Ashmore, and Brain Nallin. I am very much looking forward to the last three rounds of the season.”
Kevin Hunt (Team Owner) – “We made it to the podium last week so we want that success again, so we are not completely happy, but it was a solid weekend. We had some good finishes with Chaz and we made a lot of progress with Aaron. I want to thank Ben Thompson for all of his efforts over the past few years and we wish him all the success in the world for the future.”
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.