Matt Guidera Mohegan Sun Buell

Houston, pre-race: Matt Guidera and the Mohegan Sun/Rocklin Motorsports S&S-powered Buell rode an impressive opening-season performance to a win and the NHRA POWERade Pro Stock Motorcycle points lead at the AC Delco Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

Guidera and the Mohegan Sun team proved that they are ready for the big time, qualifying on the pole, setting low elapsed time of every round of eliminations and out-performing 3-time POWERade champ Andrew Hines in the final.

This is the second NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle win for Guidera, his first coming at the 2007 Reading, Pa., event where he beat another three-time champ, Angelle Sampey.

“This is how you plan it out in your mind,” said Guidera. “We spent the whole off season preparing the bike, preparing the team, and preparing me for a solid opening performance at the Gators and it really paid off for us. The Sun Gods of Gainesville Florida were definitely shining down on me this past weekend. What a great feeling to start the season off number one in the points, earn my first pole, and win my second Wally. Man, what else could a guy ask for? The guys at ACDelco can really put a show on for the NHRA fans and I can’t wait to get to the O’Reilly Spring Nationals in Houston next week.”

Team owner Vic Guidera could not be happier. “The whole team was full of so much emotion and team spirit this past weekend,” he said. "Rick Maney, our co-crew chief, was down for the count with a very bad flu bug but still came out and did what he had to do when it counted most. My son Lenny who is the other Crew Chief really impressed the hell out of me this past weekend. He stepped up and took up the slack and performed flawlessly. It’s a great feeling to have two highly knowledgeable and dedicated crew chiefs in our pits working on the bike together. This team is working together fantastically.”

“What can I say about Matt,” continued Vic. “I really feel that he’s one of the top riders in the world and he proved it this past weekend. We as a family are all so proud to be a part of this team. We have such a great support system in place, from the engine builder Steve Seruset back at our Rocklin shop, to the sponsors like Mohegan Sun and our other sponsors, to everyone that works on the team. When you have good people behind you and you work hard, good things happen, which is exactly what happened at the Gators.”

"The guys are so pumped up and ready to hit the track again next weekend at the O’Reilly Spring Nationals in Houston," said Mohegan Sun/Rocklin Motorsports team manager Brian Bozsum. “We’ve all worked very hard during the off-season so it was really nice to hit the track and see all of our efforts pay off. I can’t ever recall being this excited during the start of a season like I am this year. At this point we really feel like we can be a top team all year.”

“We hope to take the momentum gained from Gainesville this past weekend into the remainder of the 2008 season,” Bozsum continued. “We intend to make a serious effort at winning our first championship this year.”