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Contact:
Matt King (414) 343-7634
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RICHIE MORRIS RACING WINS MOTO-ST ROUND AT IOWA Higbee Injured in Crash that Brings Early End to the Race
NEWTON, Iowa (July 16, 2007) – The Richie Morris Racing/Daytona Harley-Davidson/Buell team was declared the winner of the Grand Sport Touring (GST) class in the Iowa Speedway 500K, the fourth round of the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series, following a crash with about 40 minutes remaining in the scheduled three-hour endurance race that resulted in a red flag.
Higbee and his teammate, Dan Bilansky, were leading the GST class by three laps aboard a Buell XB12R Firebolt at the time of the accident. Higbee was entering the banked turn two when he crashed into the outside retaining wall of the racetrack, which incorporates portions of the Iowa Speedway 7/8-mile oval and a road-course section in the infield for a total distance of 1.3 miles. News reports listed Higbee in serious condition after being transported by ambulance to Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines. His condition was upgraded to fair on Sunday evening. The incident also involved SpeedWerks.com Suzuki rider Brian Kcraget of Danville, Va., who was following Higbee and reportedly crashed after striking debris from Higbee’s motorcycle. Kcraget was reported to be in critical condition after being transported by helicopter to the same hospital.
The Richie Morris Buell had completed 160 laps when the race was declared complete after two hours, 23 minutes, and was awarded the GST class victory (eighth overall). The James Gang Racing/Hoban Brothers Buell XB12R sponsored by Hal’s Speed Shop and Buell of Appleton and ridden by Paul James and Jeff Johnson completed 157 laps and took second place in GST (11th overall). Third place in GST went to the Touring Sports Ducati team of Brad Phillips and Frank Shockley, which completed 156 laps (13th overall). MOTO-ST has not released the official points scoring for the Iowa Speedway event.
The overall MOTO-ST win and first place in the Buell Motorcycle Company SuperSport Twins (SST) class went to Aprilla USA Team 2 and riders Ty Howard, Henry Wiles and Troy Green, who covered 163 laps on an Aprilla RSV1000 Tuono. Aprilla USA Team 2 leads the Buell Motorcycle Company SST team standings with 169 points. Fourth overall and first in the ST (Sport Twins) class was the Pair-A-Nines Kawasaki EX650 of Jimmy Filice and Jay Springsteen. According to Iowa Speedway, paid attendance for the MOTO-ST race was estimated at 11,495.
The next and final race on the 2007 SunTrust MOTO-ST schedule is the 8-Hours at Daytona Finale, October 19-20, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.
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