Touring Sport Ducati’s PS1000LE kept their GST National Championship points lead after finishing third in last weekend’s SunTrust MOTO-ST race at New Jersey Motorsports Park. The team’s SST National Championship challenge on their Ducati 848 was not so successful. What should have been their second consecutive second place finish turned into ninth (last in class) after the team was disqualified for running a “non-stock wheel”. Though the team remains second in the point’s standings the decision has increased the margin on the factory Aprilia to 16 points. The team is currently appealing the decision. The wheel swap was made after rider Doug Polen crashed in qualifying, destroying the stock 848 wheel, forcing the team to use an OEM Ducati 748 wheel as their spare wheel, despite the fact it is two pounds heavier. The crash also forced them to the back of starting grid, damaged the team’s only [legal] large fuel tank, which was replaced with the smaller factory tank and left Polen injured for the race. Despite this Polen and team mate, Ryan Gordon, rode an incredible race to finish second, only to have it taken from them in, what the team considers, an unfitting punishment. Things went smoother for the GST team of Frank Shockley and Brad Phillips who finished the actual race in fourth place but moved up to third after the winning team’s bike failed to start on the dyno. The finish kept them ahead of the Buell team but reduced their point’s standings lead from four to two. “If I had any idea that the wheel was considered illegal we would never have used it,” said team owner and manager, Frank Shockley. “Unlike the factory backed Aprilia and Buell SST teams we don’t have the budget for a row of spare wheels and are forced to make do with what we have. This was purely an economic decision, which cost us valuable weight during the race but, surely, shouldn’t cost us the race result.” The team has six weeks to prepare for the last round at Daytona and hopes a successful appeal will put both teams back into Championship contention, where they’ve been since the Series began two years ago.