SBK: Run 1 Racing Daytona preview

Run 1 Racing Enters 4 Riders in 3 Classes in 5 Races at Daytona

ATLANTA (March 7, 2011) – Run 1 Racing Motorsports will field four riders in three classes in five races during the AMA Pro Racing road racing season opening Daytona 200 race week at Daytona International Speedway March 11-13.

The privateer team headed by military veteran Monty Spears will sponsor:

· Skip Salenius in the National Guard Superbike races. He will be riding the #63 Yamaha R1.

· Joey Pascarella on the #825 Yamaha YZF-R6 in the Daytona 200, featuring Daytona SportBikes

· Miles Thornton on the #72 Yamaha YZF-R6 in the Supersport races.

· Antoine Richards on the #45 Suzuki GSX-R600 in the Supersport races.

“We went from one rider last year – Skip – to four riders running in three classes, “says R1R owner Spears. “I believe we are the only company riding in all three classes. We have big plans for this year, and are excited about racing at Daytona.

Skip Salenius

Richard Sloop

“We have some promising young talent in Joey and Miles. They’re fast kids and you can see their progression where one day they’ll be doing Moto 2 or Moto GP.”

Salenius enters his third year of AMA National Guard Superbike competition. In 2010 he competed at five rounds, running nine races. His best finish was 12th at Road Atlanta and Virginia International Raceway and finished 21st in the championship standings despite missing one doubleheader event weekend.

Salenius didn’t start his professional motorcycle career until he was 33 years old, and his goal for 2011 is consistent top 10 finishes. Daytona will be his 18th career AMA Superbike start.

“I’m driven by an emotion inside me that never wants to stop getting faster,” Salenius says. “I feel like I got into the game at a late age, 33, and I’m catching up on the time I missed. I feel like every time I get on the track I learn how to improve my racing skills that much more.”

Pascarella won the AMA Supersport West championship in 2010 with four victories, including one in Daytona and was the 2006 Supermoto USA Lightweight champion. The Victorville, Calif., native is one of the rising stars in professional motorcycle road racing and is just 18 years old.

Thornton is the youngest member of the Run 1 Racing team. The 16-year-old high school junior made his professional debut in April 2010, after earning the AMA Road Racing Horizon Award in 2009. The Horizon award is the top amateur rider of the year. Previous Horizon Award winners include Ben Spies and Jason DiSalso.

Among Thornton’s amateur titles are 2009 AMA RRGC Middleweight Superbike national championship, 2009 WERA Formula 2 national championship, 2206 AMA Formula Lightweight Novice national championship, and 2004 WERA U.S. Mini GP championship.

Richards, a native of Bermuda who moved to Florida to pursue his racing dream, and finished 10th in the Supersport race at Daytona last year.

“Antoine needs more seat time,” Spears says, “but he has the passion for the sport and it will be up to us as a company and as a race program to get all of them the training they need to go faster. Antoine will be a force in the sport as his talent matures and he is a keystone in bringing black racers to this level and black owned companies to become sponsors”

Run 1 Racing, based in Atlanta, is its third season as a privateer team, and all the necessary building blocks to growing and improving the team are in place.

Spears got involved in motorcycle road racing in 2008 when he was deployed abroad. After his previous life as a 11 year veteran of the US Army, he formed Run 1Racing Motorsports.

“I went from the military to now where I’m knee deep into the motorcycle industry, and racing,” Spears says. “While I was deployed, I gave some money to assist Skip Salenius. If you’ve got a guy who’s got some talent and needs a little help to make his dream come true, it’s a no brainer to sponsor him if it all it costs $1000 here or there … that’s how we got into AMA Pro Racing.

“Our second season, last season, we started growing and tried to get to some more rounds (events) and spent a lot of money just branding the R1R name. But you have to do that to keep in the public eye, and to build to the company. We will continue to build our company and race team in 2011.”

-source: run 1 racing