DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 4, 2007) -- The No. 6 Aprilia USA 2 team of Italian riders Federico Aliverti and Giancarlo De Matteis scored a dramatic victory in Sunday's DAYTONA USA 300, the opening round of the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series.

Aliverti put the team's Aprilia Tuono 1000R into the lead for good with just eight laps remaining in the 106-lap race around the 2.950-mile Daytona International Speedway road course and pulled clear to a 20.200-sec. victory over the No. 18 Roadracingworld.com Suzuki SV1000S of Chris Ulrich and Lee Acree.

Third place overall and in the Buell Motorcycle Company SuperSport Twins (SST) class went to the JC Racing / R&R Racing Aprilia Tuono 1000R of Mike Luke and Dave Estok.

"It was a difficult race," said the 32-year-old Aliverte. "I am not that experienced and this is a difficult track for me. In Europe everybody will know Daytona. Daytona is a very big name and NASCAR in Italy is becoming very famous."

For most of the race it appeared the No. 46 San Jose BMW R1200 of Brian Parriott and Nate Kern would score a second straight SunTrust MOTO-ST victory at Daytona. The winners of last October's inaugural 8 Hours At Daytona led 50 of the first 65 laps and looked to be cruising to the win before an engine problem took them out of the race with just 14 laps to go.

"We have no idea what happened," said team owner Chris Hodgson. "We were out there running like a freight train, when all of a sudden the bike lost compression and just kept going downhill. There was no noise, it just got slower. We won't know what happened until we can take a really good look. It could have been the exhaust, the cam or something else. Up until then it was really a good race."

The retirement of the BMW left the No. 18 Roadracingworld.com Suzuki in the lead with Acree aboard, but the Greensboro, N.C. rider was unable to hold off the charging Aprilia and after a few laps of exciting side-by-side dicing gave up the lead on lap 98.

"You know, it looked pretty bleak at the start," Ulrich said. "I really didn't know what we were up against. I knew those bikes would be quick – I didn't know how quick. They got some advantages over our Suzuki V-twin but, you know, we just have to go back to the drawing board and pump that thing up a little bit and come back swinging."

The Vallely Racing Suzuki SV1000s finished fourth and fifth in the overall results and in the SST class. The No. 32 machine of Mike Himmelsbach, Josh Day and Joe Ribeiro led home the bike shared between Mark Crozier, Ribeiro and Thomas Vallely.

In the BMW Grand Sport Twins (GST) class, the No. 8 Richie Morris Racing Buell XB12 of Dan Bilansky and Shawn Higbee scored the win after spending much of the race in a fierce battle with the No. 70 James Gang Racing Buell shared between Paul James and Greg Avello.

"It's a fantastic win," said Higbee. "Making it to the finish was our number one priority and we hit the set-up pretty well. It was tough because they [the James Gang Racing Buell] were pushing us pretty hard."

Second in the GST class went to the No. 77 Touring Sport Ducati Monster SS1000 of Pete Friedland, Brad Phillips and Frank Shockley while the James Gang Racing Buell placed third.

The legendary tandem of Jay Springsteen and Jimmy Filice led virtually all the way to take the Sport Twins (ST) victory aboard their Pair-A-Nines Kawasaki EX650. The team finished a lap ahead of the SpeedWerks.com Suzuki SV650 of Brian Kcraget and Melissa Berkoff. Third in class was the GoBigRacing Suzuki SV650 of Canadian riders Ross Millson and Paul Glenn.

"It's great," Springsteen said. "I worked on the pit crew when we were here in October. I was excited. I had never felt like that before. This is really my first race back after I broke 11 ribs and my seventh vertebrae. I've got 12 screws and two steel rods holding me together. I'm a little stiff right now but I'm so excited right now."

Following this weekend's event, this year's SunTrust MOTO-ST Series continues 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.

Editor's Note: Third Place Finishers Penalized

Following the DAYTONA USA 300, SunTrust MOTO-ST Series officials have announced that the third place overall finishers, the No. 58 JC Racing / R&R Racing Aprilia team of riders Mike Luke and Dave Estok have been fined $500 for improper placement of Pirelli logos on their bike and lack of logos on their leathers.

The $500 will be donated to the Roadracing World Action Fund.

As a further penalty, the series-specified Pirelli Tire Bonus will not be awarded to the team.

Future infractions in this area will be subject to stiffer penalties.