DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – After six hours of racing at the 8 Hours At Daytona Finale, the final round of the 2007 SunTrust MOTO-ST Series, the No. 18 Roadracingworld.com Suzuki SV1000S of Cory West, Chris Ulrich and Gary Mason still lead overall in the Buell Motorcycle Company SuperSport Twins class– but not without some pressure.

The No. 18 machine led by well over a minute at one point during the stint, but steady fast laps by Brian Parriott on the No. 46 San Jose BMW BMW R1200 and a pit stop to change both tires on the Suzuki left Parriott nose-to-tail with Mason for the lead.

The duo battled throughout the length of the 3.51-mile Daytona road course, passing each other in both the infield portion and the speedway banking. Once he made the pass stick, Parriott pulled nearly 3 seconds ahead of Mason in an attempt to grow the gap before a scheduled stop for fuel.

A crash in the chicane by the No. 5 Aprilia USA 1 Tuono 1000R brought out the race's second full-course caution, and the Roadracingworld.com crew pushed the No. 18 out ahead of the No. 46 BMW at the six-hour mark.

In the BMW GrandSport Twins class, the Touring Sport Ducati team bikes continued to dominate, as the Nos. 77 and 38 Ducati SS1000s have maintained first and second positions since early in the race. The No. 77 machine had a one lap lead over the class, and Pete Friedland ran the bike up to seventh position overall by the end of the segment.

The Pair-A-Nines team had a difficult time over the duration of the two hours, losing the No. 99 Kawasaki EX650 to mechanical problems and shortly thereafter retiring the No. 92 650 VERSYS of Scott Russell after a crash in Turn 3. To further frustrate the team, Jimmy Filice limped around the track into the pits with a blown engine on Lap 137. The team worked feverishly to replace the engine and had the No. 9 machine back on track on Lap 169 to continue battling for the team and rider championships. This shakeup in the Sport Twins class put the No. 87 SpeedWerks.com Suzuki SV650 of Brian Kcraget, Scott Ryan and Hawk Mazzotta in the top spot with two hours to go.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – At the conclusion of the first half of the 8 Hours At Daytona Finale, the final round of the 2007 SunTrust MOTO-ST Series, Cory West leads the field and the Buell Motorcycle Company SuperSport Twins class aboard the No. 18 Roadracingworld.com Suzuki SV1000S.

West, whose machine had completed 118 laps at the four-hour mark, expanded his lead to over a race-high one minute after the second caution period of the afternoon, which came out when the No. 21 Team Florida Ducati Monster 749 slid in Turn 1 only 20 minutes from the halfway point. At 5 p.m., the lead was back to about 30 seconds, and only three bikes were on the lead lap.

"Did I say how much I love this place?," West questioned. "I'm having a great time out there. The Suzuki's running strong and the crew is working hard. I'm just trying to put out consistent laps."

The battle for the lead heated up just after the two-hour mark when riders on the Nos. 3 and 18 raced side-by-side for several laps, at one point crossing the stripe only .002 seconds apart. Along with the No. 46, the Nos. 3 and 18 are the only bikes to have led during the second two-hour span.

Despite stopping at one point and crashing 15 minutes later, the No. 6 Aprilia USA 2 Tuono 1000R remained in commanding position to take the team championship.

"I guess it's just my typical luck at Daytona," said lead rider Ty Howard. "I'm usually one of the fastest guys here but I don't get the result."

The No. 8 Richie Morris Racing Buell XB12R slowed to a crawl during the period and stopped in the final turn with a broken chain. The bike was repaired and returned to the field a half hour later. Shawn Higbee, who returned this weekend fully recovered from injuries sustained in the series' last race at Iowa Speedway, had the bike in the top three in class earlier in the race.

The lead remained the same in the BMW GrandSport Twins, as the No. 77 Touring Sport Ducati Supersport 1000DS of Doug Polen, Peter Friedland and Frank Shockley led. The 1000DS was on a lap of its own, ahead of the No. 38 Touring Sport Ducati II Supersport 1000DS.

The same held true for the No. 9 Pair-A-Nines Kawasaki EX650, with Jay Springsteen and Justin and Jimmy Filice aboard. The bike was one lap ahead of the No. 79 GoBigRacing Suzuki SV650 of Ross Millson, Karl Daigle and Paul Glenn.

"Everything's going good," Jimmy Filice said. "We're just being easy, it's a long race. We've been trying to stick to a game plan. My son [Justin] did a good job in his stint and that made it easier on me. The tire wear's good. We just changed a rear [just before half distance] and we should be able to go the distance."

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The first two hours of the second annual SunTrust MOTO-ST Series 8 Hours At Daytona have been a thrilling exhibition of speed and close competition. With championships on the line, heated battles and daring moves began on the first lap.

The action in the Buell Motorcycle Company SuperSport Twins class began in the first lap and saw 10 lead changes before the two hour mark. Ty Howard started the No. 6 Aprilia USA 2 Tuono 1000R from the pole and held the lead for four laps before being passed by a hard charging Dave Estok, who managed to gain an impressive 11 positions on the first lap. Estok, who is riding the No. 76 R&R Racing Aprilia Tuono 1000R with Michael Luke and Darren James, traded the lead with Howard two more times over the next 20 laps. From the first lap, the two were trailed by the No. 46 San Jose BMW R1200 of Richard Cooper, who was able to take the lead just before the 40 minute mark when the leaders pulled into the pits for fuel.

A quick pit stop and rider change allowed Brian Parriott to take control of the No. 46 machine and restart the battle that defined the first hour of the race, falling in line behind the once-again race-leading No. 6 Aprilia and second position No. 76 R&R Racing machine. The top three continued to run with less than a second separating them, with the No. 6 and No. 76 Aprilias each taking the lead once before the next round of pit stops. Howard's rider championship hopes were put in jeopardy after his double stint, as Ben Thompson lost control of the No. 6 machine in Turn 1. The team was able to repair the Tuono and return to the field six laps down.

Chris Ulrich showed the strength of the Roadracingworld.com Suzuki SV1000S, leading the field for several laps before being passed by Parriott. Parriott and Ulrich battled for the remainder of the second hour.

"The bike's working pretty good, a lot better on an empty tank," said Ulrich, who won Round 2 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in April. "It was nice dicing with the No. 46, but the No. 76 seemed to be holding us up a bit. We've still got a long way to go so we'll see how it goes."

In the BMW GrandSport Twins class, Doug Polen started from second position but quickly took the lead and dominated the field during his double stint, running as high as seventh overall and never handing the GST class lead off. Polen shares the No. 77 Touring Sport Ducati SS1000 with Pete Friedland and Frank Shockley. The sister bike No. 38 Touring Sport Ducati II SS1000 of Ryan Elleby, Brad Phillips and Monte Nichols ran a consistent second position for the first two hours.

"This reminds me of the old days in World Endurance," said Polen. "The bike's working well, this Ducati just keeps banging out laps."

Sport Twins class action saw some of the best racing action of the year, with four different leaders at the front of the pack by the two hour mark. By the end of the segment, the No. 9 Pair-A-Nines Kawasaki EX650 of Jay Springsteen and Justin and Jimmy Filice had found familiar territory at the front and built a commanding one-lap lead over the field.

As the race hit the two-hour mark, the first caution period was called after the No. 16 RightsforBikers.com Suzuki SV650 of Chuck Ivey crashed in Turn 1.