CCS Florida at Moroso Motorsports Park, West Palm Beach, Florida March 20, 2005 The teaming of Marco Martinez of Champion Motorcycle and Edouard Henriquez of Desmomaniacs was successful in obtaining their goal of putting a Ducati on the podium of the Unlimited Grand Prix race at Moroso Motorsports Park. Michael Rouleau was gridded on the front row and nailed the holeshot with his GSX-R600. He proceeded to lead the first lap of the race, while Martinez, who was gridded a little farther back in row three, worked his way through traffic to take over the lead. By lap two, Martinez was out front on the Desmomaniacs Ducati 996 and charging ahead. Initially, he dropped his lap times to near record pace and opened the gap on second place, Jim Pihokken. But, by the time the white flag came out, he had slowed down. Pihokken’s GSX-R1000 succumbed to mechanical difficulties earlier in the day. He borrowed a motor from fellow racer Steve Leckie and the Prieto Racing crew worked like mad to get it installed in his chassis to complete in the remaining races. In the final lap, both of the front runners had slowed and the gap between the two narrowed. But, Martinez had enough of an advantage to take the checkered flag without challenge. Pihokken finished second, followed by Dave McEnery, Darren Luck, and Greg Melka. Martinez is continuing to recover from shoulder surgery earlier this year and was feeling the effects by the end of the day. “I didn’t think I could pull it off,” he commented after the Shootout. “I was really good the first four laps, and then by the end, I was getting really weak. But, I got my head down. And, the game plan was to lead the first lap and try and pull away, so it worked.” “I want to really dedicate this win to Edouard from Desmomaniacs,” Martinez stated. “He built an awesome bike for me and I want to thank him for giving me this ride, this year. I’m happy to make the podium this month. We’ve got a ways to go and hopefully I’ll be able to stand on it each month.” After the Shootout, Pihokken stated, “If it wasn’t for that start. Rouleau, boy. He gets those starts and then you pack up and it’s hard to pass three guys at once. He’s definitely got the starts down. I got a bad start and it’s a miracle that we’re even riding today. I dropped a valve in the GTO race, but crossed the start/finish line. Borrowed a motor, bone-Supersport. I didn’t even think we were going to be able to race today. I did my best. That’s all you can do.” Pihokken won the GTO and Formula 40 races and finished sixth in Unlimited Superbike. McEnery commented, “I wanted to get the holeshot and get out front. But Mike got the holeshot. And he braked deep and I just couldn’t get by him. But Marco got us both, so I tried to follow Marco, then I stepped it out pretty good coming out of the last right and Jim got by. These guys are a class act. Both of them are super fast. There will be more. I’ll get them back.” McEnery finished second in Unlimited Superbike and third in GTO and Unlimited Supersport. Martinez also won the Heavyweight Superbike, Unlimited Superbike, and Supertwins races, and finished second in the GTO, all on the Ducati. And, if that weren’t enough, he ran the Unlimited Superbike and Supertwins races simultaneously. In that combined event, he was gridded in the second wave with the Supertwins classes and worked his way through the entire Unlimited Superbike field of fifteen riders to take over the lead and win the race in a mere six laps.