ULRICH, PIETRI, AND VILLA TEST IN ALABAMA FOR ROADRACINGWORLD.COM SUZUKI

Expectations are sky high for Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki following their terrific 2008 AMA Superstock season opener at Dayton International Speedway. Coming off a pair of top-ten results, including Chris Ulrich's fourth-place run, Ulrich and teammates Robertino Pietri and Santiago Villa are eager to carry the momentum they gained earlier this month in Florida into next month's second round at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, AL.

The team traveled to the Alabama circuit this week for two days of testing in order to put themselves in the best position possible to meet their goals.

After working through settings on their GSX-R1000s and a number of Pirelli tires, Ulrich declared the test a success and laid out his aim to better what was one of the team's best-ever combined results in Daytona when they next travel to Barber Motorsports Park.

He said, "The team had a successful test. We ran through a lot of different settings and got to try some off-the-wall stuff before coming back to what was working for us. Robertino ended up going about a second or so faster than he ever went before at Barber. He's recovering from Daytona and got a lot done with his setup. As far as my side of the team goes, we made some changes and learned a lot. We weren't quite able to reach our goal of last year's pole time, but we achieved some very competitive laps and are encouraged for the race. Testing and racing are always two different things and we feel good about coming back."

Colombian Santiago Villa also tested for the team in Alabama. Santiago is the newest member of the team and finished 17th in Superstock at Daytona. "Villa made progress at the test. Every time he gets on the bike, he's moving forward and improving his lap times," said Ulrich. "We're happy to see faster lap times and think his part of the program is going well. The objective with Villa is to find some more speed and he's going faster every time he gets on the bike."

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki faced some challenges at the test. "The weather wasn't that great and the temperature will be higher when we come back. We didn't have the actual race tire we'll use in April but Pirelli has some stuff in the pipeline that's going to be an improvement," said Ulrich.

"Our goal is to get both Robertino and me in the top five, and continue the progress with Santiago," Chris continued. "Traditionally, Barber is one of the tougher races for Pirelli but we think they will come up with some good tires for the race. It will be interesting to see what Robertino can do when he's healed up some more."

Ulrich has another unconventional test coming up before the Alabama event. "I'm going to spend two days at Huntsville Dragway working on my starts before the race. The crew is pumped to get racing again, too. We're looking forward to carrying our Daytona momentum into the next few races."

The second round of the 2008 AMA Superstock Championship will take place at Barber Motorsports Park on April 18-20.

ULRICH FOURTH IN DAYTONA SUPERSTOCK

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki opened their 2008 AMA Superstock campaign in stellar fashion at Daytona International Speedway. Chris Ulrich and Robertino Pietri guided their Pirelli-shod GSX-R1000s to a pair of top-ten finishes, including Ulrich's fourth-place result, equaling Pietri's finish last season at Miller Motorsports Park as the best AMA result in team history.

The Californian Ulrich had to battle hard to earn his top-five placing, nearly running off course at the start of the second lap and dropping to tenth position. Ulrich sliced his way back up the pack in the short 13-lap contest and finally found himself in a late-race dogfight to the checkered flag with Michael Barnes and Chris Peris.

Ulrich moved into fourth with just over two laps to go and held strong thanks to some successful high banks strategy. He took the flag just fractions of a second ahead of his rivals, 0.04 seconds ahead of Peris and 0.047 seconds ahead of Barnes.

Venezuelan Pietri got his season off to a solid start as well, claiming eighth place just over two seconds behind Ulrich. Pietri showed his speed during the race, posting the fifth-best lap of the race at 1:39.114.

Following his fantastic season opening ride, Ulrich was in a positive mood while reviewing the race and looking ahead to the rest of the season.

He said, "I came through at the end of the first lap and almost ran off the track. I was all the way out on the white paint in Turn 1. I got a big draft and I thought that I was in big trouble. Then I started passing people, one guy here, one guy there. All of the sudden I was past Peris and saw Barnes. I was like, 'Wow, I'm catching Barnes and I'm catching the leaders too.'

"I got Barnes and just put my head down really hoping he'd hold Peris up. I got by him and saw +0 on my board. I looked back going to the white flag and thought, 'If he doesn't pass me now, he's not passing.' In the infield and in the chicane I just made sure I got a really good drive. Peris pulled up next to me but I pulled it down to the yellow line. He wasn't getting by. Right at the line I felt someone sucking on my draft but we just got to the line first. It was close but we got fourth. It was a great finish.

"It's very good to start the season on a high note. The crew was very happy. I ran really fast the entire time. It's taken me a while to get back to the level where I feel I should be but I'm very optimistic about the season. I changed a lot of things during the winter and I feel pretty good. In '06 we were hoping for top tens, last year it was top fives, and now we feel we will be fighting for podiums and the top three in the championship."

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki will head to Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, AL for the second round of the 2008 AMA Superstock Championship on April 20-22.