The debut of the Factory Aprilia Rip It Energy Fuel racing team
resulted in victory for Ben Carlson making his debut on the Aprilia
SXV 550 in the AMA Supermoto Unlimited class. This was the first
American victory for the revolutionary Aprilia V-Twin racer. Team
Owner Darryl Atkins finished a strong fifth place despite suffering
the effects of arm-pump all weekend and losing considerable
strength on the brakes. A close race at the start saw Carlson
challenged by larger displacement machines on the long straights
of the St. Louis course. A pack of riders showed their determi-
nation to win at the outset with a battle up front entertaining
the crowd. Carlson qualified on pole with Atkins one row behind
on the grid. The entire field seemed to nail the start maintaining
their grid order into turn one. As the twelve laps wore on Carlson
held off competitors leveraging the horsepower of the SXV 550.
The long front straight and sweeping first corner suited the
Aprilia, however it was not a cake walk as the level of competition
has steadily increased over the years in the large displacement
class. A few laps in Carlson proved his talent on the front straight
by stretching his lead. By mid-race Carlson showed his champion-
ship form and started to gap the field, ultimately winning by over
ten seconds. Atkins pushed... click on ozzy go to the full story