DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 4, 2007) -- The No. 46 San Jose BMW R1200 is leading the field at the halfway point of the DAYTONA USA 300, Round 1 of the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series. Since the first turn, Brian Parriott of Calistoga, CA and Nate Kern of Cherry Hill, NJ have battled off an esteemed group of riders in the Buell Motorcycle SuperSport Twin Class to lead 36 of the 51 laps. Parriott and Kern hold bragging rights among their peers, having won the inaugural SunTrust MOTO-ST 8 Hours At Daytona here in October.

"The bike is running great, the tires are going the distance." said Parriott, "I'm really happy, we have a very good package, and I can't complain at all."

Following the shakeout of the second round of scheduled pit stops, Kern has taken the helm for a double stint, following Parriott's double. Second place is held by the No. 21 Team Florida Ducati Monster 749 of Rodolfo Ramirez, Gustavo Laya, and Marco Martinez, running just under a minute behind the leader. The second-place team has had phenomenal mileage and has yet to make their second stop.

The quality of competition is fierce, with four different teams having held the overall lead thus far. The top eight teams on the track are consistently running all 2.950 miles of Daytona International Speedway within a few seconds of the weekend's fastest lap, a laptime of 1:48.241 with a speed of 98.114 mph held by the currently third place No. 58 JC Racing / R&R Racing Aprilia Tuono 1000R of Frank Shockley and Dave Estok.

An equally intense battle continues to rage within the BMW GrandSport Twins class, with seven bikes on the same lap as the class leading No. 77 Touring Sport Ducati Monster SS1000. Following the No. 77 Ducati of Pete Friedland, Brad Phillips, and Frank Shockley is the No. 70 James Gang Racing Buell XB12 of Paul James and Greg Avello.

In the Sport Twins class, the No. 9 Pair-A-Nines Kawasaki EX650 of Jay Springsteen and Jimmy Filice has held a commanding lead over the field, consistently turning laps of under two minutes and leaving only two other teams on the same lap. They currently lead the No. 87 Speedwerks.com Suzuki SV650 of Brian Kcraget and Melissa Berkoff by a minute and a half.

Following this weekend's event, this year's SunTrust MOTO-ST Series will continue with the Homestead 500K, April 13-14 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the VIR 500K, April 27-29 at Virginia International Raceway, the Road America 500K, July 7-8 at Road America, the Iowa Speedway 500K at Iowa Speedway July 12-13, and the 8 Hours At Daytona Finale, October 19-20 at Daytona International Speedway.

MOTO-ST is organized and sanctioned by Professional Motorsports Productions (PMP) of Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the Grand American Road Racing Association, based in Daytona Beach, Fla., provides the series with administrative and commercial support. The MOTO-ST advisory board features some of the most respected individuals in the world of motorsports, including Hall of Fame members, respected motorcycle racing journalists and renowned officials from various forms of road racing. Learn more about MOTO-ST at www.moto-st.com.