(NEWS RELEASE)

For immediate release: March 14, 2011

Hendersonville, North Carolina: Öhlins USA congratulates Team Latus Motors Racing, and its rider Jason DiSalvo, for their historic win of the 70th running of the Daytona 200. This is Ducati’s first win of this classic one-rider endurance race on the high banks.

Though the race didn’t go it’s full scheduled distance, the Daytona 200s have a history of perplexity and weirdness, caused by the anomalous contingencies of racing on 31-degree banking. It tests the metal of men (and a woman or two also) and every team and rider has an equal chance of not winning, of not being lucky, of not being first to the finish line. Team Latus won this latest Daytona 200 after they’d witnessed themselves lose it. But they didn’t give up.

After the race, DiSalvo said, “I thought the race was over for us when the bike was behind the pit wall. And then there I was back on the grid, with a new engine, in time for the restart.

“Then I thought we’d lost it again when I felt something strange in the front end going into turn one a few laps into the final run. You have to respect that track and the riders around you, so I slowed in the infield to be clear of them so I could take a quick look over the fairing to reassess the bike. It all looked good so I thought I must have just run over something.

“Then I was 2-and-a-half seconds back and in danger of losing the pack. I put my head down and ended up setting the fastest lap of race, about 1-and-a-half seconds faster than the others were going at the time. I knew I was back in it. But I didn’t know I’d win until I had won. Maybe five feet from line I didn’t feel the push of someone coming by, so I was feeling good. When someone’s drafting a pass you can feel them pushing your bike with the air in front of them.”

Öhlins USA would also like to congratulate Dan Kyle and Kyle Racing for their contributions to DiSalvo’s win. Plus, congratulations to Blake Young and Rockstar Makita Suzuki for their wins of both Superbike races at Daytona, and David Gaviria and Team LTD Racing for their win in Saturday’s Supersport race. And, a big heads up to Joe Kopp, for his exciting 3rd-place finish in the Harley-Davidson XR1200 class.

Öhlins USA distributes and services the world’s leading performance suspension for automobiles, motorcycles, ATVs, and snowmobiles. Öhlins develops its proprietary and innovative suspension components at the highest levels of racing from open-wheel car racing, to Moto GP, to off-road competition on two and four wheels. Öhlins USA also provides training for service centers and dealers. http://www.Ohlinsusa.com.