Motorcycles and news

The Lloyd Brothers Motorsports Aprilia Team took advantage of the extended time between races with two separate days of testing at the Scioto facility.   “We had good setups for the deep cushion and the hard blue groove,” explained team co-owner, David Lloyd.  “What we lacked was a good setup for the brushed off, dry dirt track that appears during the transition of the track from a deep cushion to the blue groove.”

During the first of three qualifying sessions at the race, there was a deep cushion.  And at the end of the first round, the Aprilia team and rider Henry Wiles, was a solid 6th.  Track conditions changed as the evening went on and the second and third rounds of qualifying were on a dry slick track and team was not able to better their initial time.  “Unfortunately, we slipped from 6th to 11th but we still accomplished our best qualifying effort to date,” added Michael Lloyd.

Wiles was running in the top 3 during the heat race which would have earned a direct transfer to the main event, when half way through the race, a piece of dirt became lodged in Henry’s eye.  This combined with extremely dusty conditions and a setting sun, made it impossible for Wiles to see and he slipped back to seventh place at the finish.  When Henry came back to the pits, his eye was completely bloodshot and irritated.

Being the tough competitor that he is, Henry remounted and got the holeshot in the semi.  By this time the grove had come into the track and the bike worked very well.  Out front, there was no dust to contend with and Wiles won the semi to go to the main.

The Aprilia was up to 11th place in the early stages of the main event, however, poor track conditions and 18 riders going everywhere seeking traction, made a huge amount of dust and very poor visibility for any rider not out front.  Wiles’ eye became very irritated from the earlier incident and by the 13th lap he was unable to see at all and wisely pulled in, finishing 17th.

“Being the home race for the Lloyd Brothers Motorsports Team, we were honored to have so many enthusiastic fans brave the very cold temperatures to come out and cheer us on,” commented Lloyd (David).  “Overall we are very pleased with how the season went for our new team.  With new chief mechanic, Chuck Looper, and new rider, Henry Wiles, we qualified for 7 of 11 of the 18 rider main events.”

To keep this achievement in perspective, only 9 riders made more than 7 main events and only 3 riders matched our team’s 7 main event starts.  In the world of Grand National Dirt Track, this is a very respectable outcome for a new team with new proto-type motorcycles.  More than ever, this shows that the Arpilia power plant has a tremendous amount of potential in this environment.