PRESS ROOM
TOURING SPORT DUCATI RACING TAKES MOTO-ST PODIUM -
March 4, 2007
Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL, March 4, 2007—The number 77 Touring Sport Ducati Racing Team led for 30 laps and posted a successful 2nd place class finish at Sunday's DAYTONA USA 300—the opening round of the 2007 SunTrust MOTO-ST Endurance Roadracing Series. The team, which is made up of Frank Shockley (Greenville, SC), Pete Friedland (Columbia, SC) and Brad Phillips (Greer, SC), competed in the Grand Sport Twins class with their Ducati SS1000DS—the same machine that brought them a Lightweight Superbike win at last year’s WERA Grand National Final 4-hour endurance round at Road Atlanta in Brasleton, GA. However, due to Shockley's commitment to a team in the SST class, Friedland and Phillips tackled the GST class as a pair in this particular outing.
The DAYTONA USA 300 is the first of a seven-round 2007 MOTO-ST schedule which includes Miami Homestead International Speedway, Virginia International Speedway , Road America , Iowa Speedway and an 8-Hour of Daytona Season Finale. Entries are limited to two-cylinder machines and feature three classes: Super Sport Twins (SST), which includes motorcycles producing between 90-118 horsepower, the Grand Sport Twins (GST), covering motorcycles producing 75-90 horsepower, and Sport Twins (ST), for machines under 75 horsepower. Each class also has a respective minimum weight allowance as well as an across-the-board fuel capacity limit of 4.5 gallons. Unlike the inaugural event at Daytona last year, this year’s first round used the 2.95-mile infield layout used by the AMA Superbike and Formula Extreme events later in the week.
With a NASCAR-style rolling start, Friedland began the race from row 13 and quickly got up to pace and turned the fastest team lap of 1:56.201 on lap 10. On lap 19 Friedland took the GST class lead which he held until pitting for fuel and a rider change. Based on fuel consumption testing during practice, the pit-window for refueling was roughly 23-25 laps with the low fuel warning light indicating the need to pit within 2 laps. The pit crew worked flawlessly as fuel went in and tires were checked for damage or wear caused by the ruthless 31-degree high-banking of Daytona.
The DAYTONA USA 300 is the first of a seven-round 2007 MOTO-ST schedule which includes Miami Homestead International Speedway, Virginia International Speedway , Road America , Iowa Speedway and an 8-Hour of Daytona Season Finale. Entries are limited to two-cylinder machines and feature three classes: Super Sport Twins (SST), which includes motorcycles producing between 90-118 horsepower, the Grand Sport Twins (GST), covering motorcycles producing 75-90 horsepower, and Sport Twins (ST), for machines under 75 horsepower. Each class also has a respective minimum weight allowance as well as an across-the-board fuel capacity limit of 4.5 gallons. Unlike the inaugural event at Daytona last year, this year’s first round used the 2.95-mile infield layout used by the AMA Superbike and Formula Extreme events later in the week.
With a NASCAR-style rolling start, Friedland began the race from row 13 and quickly got up to pace and turned the fastest team lap of 1:56.201 on lap 10. On lap 19 Friedland took the GST class lead which he held until pitting for fuel and a rider change. Based on fuel consumption testing during practice, the pit-window for refueling was roughly 23-25 laps with the low fuel warning light indicating the need to pit within 2 laps. The pit crew worked flawlessly as fuel went in and tires were checked for damage or wear caused by the ruthless 31-degree high-banking of Daytona.
Phillips blasted out of the pit-box after a blazing 12-second pit-stop and got back out on track—losing only one position in the process. Within 5 laps, Phillips quickly put the Touring Sport Ducati back in the lead but soon realized that the low fuel warning light had remained lit due to interference by the inside-tank fuel-displacing ballast used to comply with the MOTO-ST 4.5 gallon capacity rules. Without use of 2-way radio communication to inform the team, Phillips was forced to physically count laps while keeping an eye on the clock at the top of the scoring tower. The ability to adapt is where endurance races are won and lost—calculated fuel stops and timed pit strategy, which typically work to a teams favor, had begun working against the Touring Sport Team.
While counting laps and watching the time board, Phillips held the lead from lap 30 to lap 44 until the number 8 machine got past Phillips for one lap, but then had to pit. Phillips came in four laps later and made the rest of the team aware of the problem with the fuel-displacing ballast. With the fuel topped-off, Friedland bumped the starter and pulled away hard with the wheel in the air to get back out on track. It was lap 49 and the number 77 Touring Sport entry had lost two spots and was now in now in 3rd place due to the time-consuming pit conversation regarding the fuel indicator issue.
>Friedland pushed hard but struggled with an unclear view of the scoring tower timer and, thus, was forced to make a mental note of each completed lap in order to estimate the next fuel stop window. On lap 63, Friedland gained the GST class lead back from the number 8 of Higbee and Bilansky and the number 70 of James and Avello. Friedland held the lead for another six laps until he pitted about five laps early (losing count at least three times, Friedland chose to error on the safe side to avoid running out of fuel). Phillips went back out on lap 69 and on lap 73 got past the number 70 machine again to put the team in 2nd position—where they remained for the remainder of the 300 mile race. On lap 85, Phillips came in for the last time and Friedland finished the race, taking the checkered flag after 100 total laps. Touring Sport Ducati ended up in second place—only 73 seconds behind the GST class winners.
The Touring Sport Ducati Team and their Ducati SS1000DS proved to be a very competitive and reliable package which completed 100 laps around the 2.95-mile road course with only 3 pit-stops for fuel and rider changes on only 1 set of Pirelli tires. It was a very successful result and, other than the fuel level indicator issue, the bike and the team worked flawlessly together. The second round of SunTrust MOTO-ST Endurance Roadracing Series will take place at Miami Homestead International Speedway on Saturday, April 14th.
The Touring Sport Ducati Team would like to thank its Sponsors:
Touring Sport Ducati
Duc Shop Performance Center
Robby Byrd
Pirelli Tires
Sunoco Race Fuels
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