TEAM HOOTERS APRILIA UPDATE

When Team Hooters Aprilia last left off, we had completed 2 rounds of the Moto ST National Endurance Series competing in the season-opener at Daytona and the second round at Virginia International Raceway. The Virginia round was combined with the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series creating many new motorcycle roadracing fans that may have come to the event to watch the Rolex car racing.

Round 3 saw Team Hooters Aprilia heading to the high speed Road America Circuit in Elkhart Lake, WI. This event was historic because it would be the first time that the Moto ST Series would combine with the AMA PRO Superbike Series. The significance of this combined event was that the AMA PRO Roadracing Series has recently been purchased by the originators and operators of the Grand Am ROLEX Sports Car Series and the Moto ST Series – the Daytona Motorsports Group (DMG) headed by Jim France of NASCAR / International Speedway Corp (ISC) and his partner Roger Edmonson. (These two gentlemen are leaders in the top forms of Motorsports in America today.)

Road America is considered one of the fastest road courses in America with straightaway speeds exceeding 180 mph. These talented riders downshift, brake and lean their bikes into some turns at over 100 mph while dragging knee. It is an exciting balance of courage, skill and daring.

Team Hooters Aprilia was looking to continue our march toward the championship and sat in first place for timed practice. Inclement weather played a part with off and on rain showers wreaking havoc on the crew concerning chassis set up for qualifying. The 20 minute qualifying session saw the Hooters bike suffer a crash in the opening lap. Our team’s rider brought the bike in for quick repair with time to re-enter, managing a top 10 qualifying position for the race.

On the following day when the race began and on a wet but drying race course the Hooters Aprilia had to come back in for a quick adjustment causing the #25 Hooters bike to enter the race in 47th position. With riders David Anthony, Benny Carlson, and Mike Luke doing an amazing job of riding, combined with flawless pit stops, the team managed a 5th place finish by the end of the race.

Round 4 of the Moto ST Series was at the beautiful Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL for the Barber 500K and was combined again with the Grand Am ROLEX Sports Car Series. Searing heat posed many difficulties for crew chief Mike Fischetti and lead mechanics Ryan Kelly and Nate Johnson concerning tire choices, suspension settings and engine tuning. For this event, riders Benny Carlson and Mike Luke displayed strong performances with Benny Carlson riding through a severe back cramp due to the heat and Mike Luke showing his determination with a solid consistent ride. The team finished 4th overall (less than 20 seconds from 3rd place) and is currently 4th in the Moto ST Endurance Series Championship. And, with more development possible on the Aprilia RSV1000 the team expects to be on the podium at Round 5 at the Heartland Park 500K in Topeka, KS.

Two weeks after the Kansas event the team will be competing in Millville, NJ for the Thunderbolt 500K. Stay tuned to read about our team’s future successes.

WELCOME to Team Hooters Aprilia’s new website. We have designed this site to be informative as to the Team’s current progress, to keep you informed of future events and to offer an inside view of the Team’s current structure.

This website will also offer many features including live wire which allows the “at home” fan to monitor the team’s practice and qualifying times live action as well as the entire race. All the fan has to do is monitor the time zone related to what part of the country that the team is competing in (eastern standard, central time, mountain or pacific) then look for the practice / qualifying / race times schedule provided on this site and click the LIVE WIRE link provided.

Another feature offered on this website is the weather channel link provided. This will take you directly to the weather for the current or upcoming race event. You can research what weather the team will be competing in.

In addition, we will offer media links to important roadracing publications as well as manufacturer and sponsor websites.

Coming soon will be a new link for live webcasting in and under the team’s paddock tent. The team’s custom 48’ stacker trailer is outfitted with a 48’ x 21’ snaplock floor as a 48’ x 21’ custom enclosed awning. This serves as our working pit garage. Our fans can expect to see the mechanics at work, hospitality and everything in between through these live webcast cameras coming soon.