Perry Melneciuc’s Project 1 Atlanta (P1A) race team is planning to return to the Daytona 200 AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike race March 15-17 at Daytona International Speedway with talented young rider Joey Pascarella on the team’s Yamaha YZF-R6. But instead of going back simply with the mission of capturing the victory that narrowly eluded them last season, this time P1A is also focused on raising awareness for the March of Dimes children’s charity. In 2011, Melneciuc’s P1A team with rider Jake Zemke made a one-off appearance at the Daytona, qualified their largely-unsponsored Yamaha YZF-R6 on pole position and finished third in the shortened race, just 0.154 second behind winner Jason DiSalvo. The funding the team hoped to attract at Daytona and use to continue in the 2011 season never materialized, and former racer Melneciuc went home to Georgia and looked for new opportunities in 2012. “We were on the sidelines,” Melneciuc told Roadracingworld.com Friday. “We had a couple long-shot things we were working on. It didn’t look like thing were going to happen. Then about eight or nine days ago my buddy Jim Bronson called me up. “Jim was an AMA guy, a really fast Florida CCS guy who raced with [Doug] Polen and the guys back in the day, back in the 1990s and stuff. He called me up and said, ‘I want to hire the team to go down to Daytona and run the 200 to help me raise awareness for the March of Dimes.’ “He said, ‘Where are you at with equipment and personnel?’ I told him we still got lots of stuff. It’s going to be a lot of work. Hopefully, we’ll get some other people to hop on.’ I called the guys, and they got on board. So we have all the usual mechanics. Now the next question was, ‘What do we do for a rider?’ “Jim threw it out there. He said, ‘I noticed there’s some really talented guys on the sidelines. I’ve been following this Joey Pascarella’s career for the last couple of years.’ He said, ‘I like the kid’s style. Quite easily he could slip through the cracks because of the economy and the way racing is now. I’d like to help make a difference for one of these young kids.'” “I’m very fortunate to have this opportunity to showcase my capabilities on a world-class stage in front of all my sponsors and fans, while helping to raise awareness for such a great cause like the March of Dimes,” Pascarella was quoted as saying in a press release issued by P1A. “My sponsors have been enormously supportive of this endeavor including Project 1 Atlanta, the Jon Block Group, and Mach 1 Motorsports. I can’t thank all of these guys enough!” P1A will field Pascarella on the same Yamaha YZF-R6 that Zemke used in the 2011 Daytona 200, and the team will include many of the same crewmembers from that effort, including: Rick Boyles, John France, Chris Hunt, Kelly Melneciuc (Perry’s wife), Bobby Ratcliff, Sam Rayborn and Ed Sullivan. If things go well the team will race again at Round Two of the AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike Championship April 20-22 at Road Atlanta, and according to Melneciuc, if a lot of things go really well and some others fall into place the team may continue further into the 2012 season. Melneciuc explained: “He [Jim Bronson] said, ‘If everybody’s happy and it comes off how we’re hoping, let’s just go do Road Atlanta also, and we’ll take it from there. You never know who will drop out of the trees and get excited or want to be a part of this and want to see it continue.’ “There’s a lot of passion this year for a different reason,” continued Melneciuc. “You know how it is. We’re all addicted to it. It’s in our blood. But this time it’s way different. It’s a different feel because it’s about something more than just racing. I didn’t know a whole lot about the March of Dimes, but I’ve been doing my research. Not to sound corny or anything, but it’s a really noble cause. It’s doing the right thing. It’s trying to raise awareness for a really good cause. “A simple example: One in seven premature babies born in Florida doesn’t make it, one in eight nationwide doesn’t make it. I’m sure you know someone who has been affected by this. I would say 40% of people or more have had been exposed to this experience in their life. It’s for real. It’s out there. It’s important. “When Jim approached us we were kind of done with the racing thing and we were looking at liquidating stuff, but it was always in the back of our mind that we wanted to go back down to Daytona and win the 200. We feel like that was our race last year. We did everything right, but that’s just racing and we ended up getting third. You want to go back and win, but this is more than just beating the other kids in the playground. This is for a good cause. I’m pumped about that, and so are the guys. When I told the guys, they were like, ‘Sign me up. I’m in.’ It sounds good and it feel good.” For more information on the March of Dimes, go to www.marchofdimes.com.