BUELL CLAIMS OVERALL MOTO-ST WIN AT HEARTLAND PARK

Despite a four-stop pit strategy that put the Buell squad at a one-stop disadvantage to the No. 75 Touring Sport Ducati 848 ridden by Doug Polen and Ryan Gordon, the No. 8 1125R was able to run a consistently fast enough pace to finish the 119-lap race with a one-minute, 36.262-secoond gap over the second place Ducati.

“Early in the race we were concerned about front tire wear, and couldn’t run a full fuel load on the tires, so we changed our strategy to add another stop,” said Higbee. “That meant we needed to make up the gap with a faster pace, and we were able to do it.”

The No. 8 narrowly missed claiming pole position the previous day when it failed a post-qualifying dynamometer test by a fraction of a horsepower, giving the position to the No. 1 Aprilia USA/Lloyd Brothers Motorsports Aprilia Tuono 1000R, which subsequently fell to fourth in the final order after a series of crashes. The overall and SST class wins are the second of the 2008 SunTrust MOTO-ST season for the Buell, following its debut win in the series’ third round at Road America in June.

In the BMW Motorcycles GrandSport Twins (GST) class, the No. 70 James Gang/Hoban Brothers Racing Buell XB12R sponsored by Harley-Davidson/Buell of Appleton and ridden by Paul James, Jeff Johnson and Walt Sipp took third place and slipped from the lead in the GST class standings to second behind the No. 77 Ducati ridden by Frank Shockley and Brad Phillips, which took the class win. After the four rounds, the No. 77 Ducati team moved into first place in the GST Team standings with 156 points, followed by the No. 70 Buell team with 152 and the No. 69 Ducati team with 149.

"We were pleased to extend our podium streak to eight straight in the GST class," said Paul James. "Having Walt on the team with us was beneficial in developing our setup for Topeka, and he will ride for us again at the New Jersey round in two weeks. This is the home stretch and every point is critical in our chase for the championship."

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