DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. A world class field of endurance racers is set to take to the track later today for the first time in preparation for this weekend’s inaugural 8 Hours At Daytona. The event is the debut event for the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series. A two-hour practice session on the 3.56-mile 14-turn Daytona International Speedway road course starts at 5:00 p.m. ET today. The session will give the riders their first experience of the track in nighttime conditions as they prepare for Saturday’s eight-hour race, which begins at 1:00 p.m. ET. This will be the first motorcycle night race at Daytona since 1985. The entry of over 100 riders includes former World Endurance champion riders Stephane Mertens of Belgium and Australian Warwick Nowland, and legendary U.S. endurance squad Team M4 EMGO Suzuki. Mertens has enjoyed a long and varied motorcycle road racing career. He finished second in the World Superbike Championship in 1989 and placed third in 1990. He was World Endurance Champion in 1995. Mertens is part of the San Jose BMW team this weekend riding a BMW R1200 with Brian Parriott of Calistoga, Calif. And Nate Kern of Cherry Hill, N.J. Nowland is a two-time World Endurance Champion and will be riding a BMW Motorcycles of Daytona-backed BMW R1200, teamed with Mike Ciccoto of Sebastien, Fla. and John Haner of Austin, Texas. Team M4 EMGO Suzuki has 13 WERA National Endurance Championships to its credit and 128 endurance race wins. The team’s riders include Michael Barnes of Boca Raton, Fla., Gainesville, Ga.’s Geoff May and Chris Ulrich from Lake Elsinore, Calif. The 39 teams entered will be competing in three classes. The Buell Motorcycle Company SuperSport class (SST) includes motorcycles producing between 90-118 horsepower, the BMW Grand Sport Twins class (GST) covers motorcycles producing 75-90 horsepower, and machines under 75 horsepower will battle in the Sport Twins category (ST). Starting positions for the race will be by order of entry in each class, with motorcycles in the SST class placed first, followed by GST and then ST. 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 and horsepower limits will be enforced by a Dynojet chassis dynamometer, and the starting grid will be determined by the order in which race entries were received. Saturday’s schedule calls for brief warm-up sessions for all classes beginning at 8:00 a.m. ET, followed by an autograph session at 10:00 a.m. The 8 Hours At Daytona is scheduled to take the green flag at 1:00 p.m. ET. Live Timing and Scoring data for all sessions will be available via the official web site of the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series, www.moto-st.com, and a one-hour highlight package from the race will air on SPEED at some point in the fourth quarter of 2006. Tickets to the 8 Hours At Daytona may be purchased online at www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com or www.racetickets.com or by calling 1-800-PIT-SHOP. MOTO-ST is organized by Professional Motorsports Productions of Toronto, Ontario, Canada and is sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) of Pickerington, Ohio. 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 AMA 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.