High Speed Skills and Sheer Grit
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A weekend of wheel-to-wheel combat, high speed skills and sheer grit awaits race fans when Round 1 of the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series swings into action at Daytona International Speedway, March 3-4.
The kick off event for the famed Daytona 200 Week by Honda, the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series features three classes; The Buell Motorcycle Company SuperSport class (SST) which includes motorcycles producing between 90-118 horsepower, the BMW Grand Sport Twins class (GST) covering motorcycles producing 75-90 horsepower and Sport Twins (ST) for machines under 75 horsepower.
The first race of the season is always truly exciting. It is the one time of the year, when everyone shares the exact same opportunity. No one has any points. Every team is on equal footing. Riders don’t have to worry about catching up, so they can use all their energy to run in front to try grab as many points as possible.
Two riders extremely eager to excel in this first race of the year are Nicole Hoffman of Palm Coast, Fla., co-riding with Robert Fisher for Team RightsforBikers.com and Melissa Berkoff of Washington, D.C., co-riding with Brian Kcraget for Team Speedwerks.com.
In her first year of team racing, Hoffman, who works as manager of interactive marketing at NASCAR, showed fans just how good she and her teammates were by taking top ST honors in the inaugural SunTrust MOTO-ST 8 Hours At Daytona.
“I’m really excited about this upcoming season,” she says with obvious enthusiasm. “Coming off of our ST class win in October is a huge momentum builder for this upcoming weekend. We definitely want to pull off another victory and keep on winning throughout the year.”
Equally as determined is Berkoff who, in 2004, earned the distinction of being the first female to take home a national endurance podium finish, in fact, she actually took home three that year. Currently working as a computer programmer and technician, Berkoff was a prior BMW mechanic and graduated at the top of her class at AMI.
“This is a great new series,” says Berkoff, who also competed in the inaugural race. “I’m really pleased to be part of it and our team is looking forward to a successful season.”
And not only are Hoffman and Berkoff determined to win, but so are a full field of top riders from all over the United States, Europe, Canada and South America. There is no doubt that the action will be fast and furious when the Green Flag signals the start of this highly contested 500 K season opener at Daytona International Speedway.
To date, this year’s SunTrust MOTO-ST Series will include the 500K season opener, March 3-4 at Daytona International Speedway, the Homestead 500K, April 13-14 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the VIR 500K, April 27-29 at Virginia International Raceway, the Road America 500K, July 7-8 at Road America, the Iowa Speedway 500K at Iowa Speedway July 12-13, 2007 and the 8 Hours At Daytona Finale, October 19-20 at Daytona International Speedway.
MOTO-ST is organized and sanctioned by Professional Motorsports Productions (PMP) of Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the Grand American Road Racing Association, based in Daytona Beach, Fla., provides the series with administrative and commercial support. The MOTO-ST advisory board features some of the most respected individuals in the world of motorsports, including Hall of Fame members, respected motorcycle racing journalists and renowned officials from various forms of road racing. Learn more about MOTO-ST at www.moto-st.com.
Tickets to Round 1 of the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series may be purchased at the gate.