DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 1, 2008) – Italian motorcycle manufacturer Aprilia took home the lion's share of the hardware at the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series awards banquet held Friday night at the Daytona 500 Club at Daytona International Speedway.

Aprilia scooped all three trophies in the Buell Motorcycle Company SuperSport Twins (SST) class. As well as winning the 2007 Manufacturers points championship, the Aprilia USA squad claimed the Teams trophy and Aprilia USA riders Troy Green and Ty Howard finished 1-2, respectively, in the SST Riders' points battle.

In its first venture into road racing, Aprilia USA won the season opening DAYTONA USA 300 and scored two other triumphs in the six series races. Green, from Dallas, and Howard, of Weatherford, Tex. took a pair of victories on the Aprilia Tuono 1000R.

"They say the best things in life happen by accident, and this whole team came together by accident," said team co-owner David Lloyd. "It's a great bunch of people, we made some great friends and we all worked hard together."

Aprilia Brand Manager Rick Panettieri accepted the Manufacturers Trophy on behalf of the company.

Touring Sport Ducati won the Teams championship in the BMW GrandSport Twins (GST) class and team rider Frank Shockley of Greenville, S.C. was the Riders champion aboard the squad's Ducati Supersport 1000.

Buell claimed the Manufacturers title in the GST class and Henry Duga accepted the Manufacturer trophy.

"This blows me away. I'm impressed," Duga said. "This is the first time our company has received an award like this."

The Pair-A-Nines Kawasaki team topped the Riders and Teams points championships in the Sport Twins (ST) class in 2007. Sharing the team's Kawasaki EX650 Jay Springsteen of Lapeer, Mich. and Modesto, Calif.'s Jimmy Filice tied for the Riders championship.

Suzuki claimed the ST Manufacturers crown, with Steve Long of the SpeedWerks.com team accepting the award.

Roger Edmondson, president of the Grand American Road Racing Association and one of the founders of the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series addressed the gathering on Friday night.

"Tonight is really special. I'm really blown away by this," Edmondson said. "We had a great year last year. We went through some tough times, but we came through it together. We are comrades, not adversaries. We're all in it together."

The 2008 SunTrust MOTO-ST Series opens Sunday with the Daytona 300 at Daytona International Speedway. Practice will be held Saturday between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. with Sunday's race scheduled to get the green flag at 2:00 p.m.

The SunTrust MOTO-ST Series 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. Learn more about MOTO-ST at www.moto-st.com.