Friday morning qualifying has become the most important part of the weekend. The new two by two rolling start procedures make it very difficult to make up ground, so a good starting position in critical to get results in the two races later in the weekend. Team rider Chaz Davies was able to squeak into Superpole for the first time this year with a tenth position finish in qualifying. The tenth position in qualifying goes first in Superpole. Chaz admittedly left a few tenths out on the track, but improved his time by two tenths of a second. Fortunately most of the other competitors went slower and this resulted in a fourth place qualifying position on the second row. Thompson and crew struggled with set up in qualifying and although only seven tenths off Davies time, he was qualified in the seventeenth position.

Davies got a great start in Daytona SportBike Race One, jumping into a six bike pack fighting for the lead. Davies spent the majority of the race battling for the third position in an ultra tight lead pack. When the red flag came out on lap nineteen for two downed riders Davies was scored in the fifth position. Thompson and his crew dialed in the set up early on Saturday and Ben was able to turn lap times that would have put him in a solid top ten finish but large groups of slower riders and a shortened race kept him just outside the top ten in the thirteenth position.

After a solid pair of finishes on Saturdays Race One, and a few more discoveries with the Aprilia RSV1000R chassis set up, the team was very hopeful going in the Daytona SportBike Race Two on Sunday. The race started well with Davies moving immediately to the third spot and battling for the lead. Unfortunately Davies had two on track incidents and lost approximately ten seconds. Davies fought back from as far back as ninth place in the last half of the race to finish in a solid sixth place. Thompson had the speed and the skill to finish in the top ten in Sundays race but was hit from behind by another rider who was crashing going into turn twelve. Despite being forced off track and suffering damage to his LeoVince exhaust system, Thompson was still able to finish in the eleventh position.

Chaz Davies – “It was a good solid weekend. It felt really good to run up front and I think with a few more advances with the bike, we can win one of these races soon. Rocky Stargel, Jimmy Le, and the rest of the team worked really hard this weekend and gave me a great bike. The team has a little break to do some development on the bike, but I am ready to go to Barber tomorrow!“

Ben Thompson – “We made a lot of progress this weekend and we had a really good bike by the end of the weekend. Michael Godin, Jim Cambora, and Marty Ashmore made some huge strides forward with the bike and I can’t thank them enough. We got caught up with a few incidents involving other riders and that is disappointing, but we had the pace to finish in the top ten and that is very encouraging. We have some good ideas we are going to try over the next few weeks and we should be really good at Barber in May.”

Kevin Hunt (Team Owner) – “The team has done an amazing job in developing the Aprilia RSV1000R in the short time that we have had it, and I couldn’t be happier with the progress that has been made. We need a few more little things to get us to the next level and we are committed to finding them. I would like to thank Aprilia USA, Millennium Technologies and all the other sponsors for all their efforts to get us to this point. ”

The Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team is proudly sponsored by:

Aprilia USA, Millennium Technologies, KWS Motorsports, Pit Bull, LeoVince Exhaust, Motion Pro, Bazzaz Performance, Sebimoto Bodywork, Yoyodyne, Slednecks, EK Chains, Motul, Performance Friction Brakes, Worldwide Bearing, K&N Filters, Zero Gravity Windscreens, Suzuka Tire Warmers, Stomp Grip, Hel Brake Lines, Spider Grips and ASV Inventions.

For Information:  http://www.kwsapriliaracing.com