Wikle Third in Daytona Opener for Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 12, 2009) - 17-year-old Russell Wikle proved to be one of the stars in the debut of the new AMA Pro SuperSport presented by Shoei class, a new category designed to groom the stars of the future. The Alabama native took full advantage of his front row qualifying position (3rd, 1:44.738) and fought for the win throughout the race on his No. 5 Roadracingworld.com Suzuki GSX-R600. After leading nine of the race's 12 laps, Wikle ended up third at the flag, just 0.002 off of second.

"I was sitting pretty fat and happy in third," Wikle explained of his final-lap strategy. "I thought I was going to be able to draft by both of them with ease. But coming out of the chicane I kind of timed it a bit wrong I think. I was right alongside Joey and we went side-by-side around the whole banking and I couldn't quite get in his draft. Just about got second -- 0.002 of second is pretty close!"

"Russell did a fantastic job. He led all the good laps except the last one. He never ceases to amaze me," Chris Ulrich said. "He's very mature considering the time he's spent in this paddock. First round he's already got a podium and we're looking for big things from him."

Wikle and Santiago Villa rounded out the week by handing the team a pair of top-20 results in the 72-rider deep Daytona 200, contested Friday night under the lights.

Wikle edged the vastly more experienced Miguel Duhamel in the run to the checkered flag by a mere 0.094 seconds to claim 14th position in his first-ever attempt at the 200-miler. Meanwhile, Villa raced up from his 41st-place starting position to cross the stripe in 19th in the end.

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki will next head to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA for the second round of the AMA Pro Road Racing Championships on March 20-22.