Apparently winning isn’t enough to pay the bills any more, not even if the victory comes at the storied Daytona 200. The 2012 Daytona 200-winning Project 1 Atlanta team has folded after unable to secure funding for the rest of the season.

Project 1 Atlanta, and racer Joey Pascarella, stunned AMA Pro Racing fans with a Cinderella story victory at the Daytona 200. A bare-bones outfit, the team’s Daytona effort was primarily funded by former racer Jim Bronson in support of the March of Dimes. The team didn’t even sport any Yamaha logos on its race-winning R6.

According to RoadracingWorld, team owner Perry Melneciuc tried to negotiate a deal with Yamaha for a performance bonus and promotional opportunities but the two sides could not come to an agreement. Melneciuc was left with the difficult decision to abandon plans to continue racing the rest of the season. Continue Reading »

The 2012 Daytona 200 delivered another fairy-tale finish with underdog privateer Joey Pascarella and the Project 1 Atlanta team fending off a pack of three other racers to win by a slim 0.048 second margin.

Competing in just his first Daytona 200, 19-year-old Pascarella from Victorville, Calif., held the lead for 41 out of 57 laps to finish first ahead of a last year’s winner Jason DiSalvo while Cameron Beaubier squeezed by 2010 Daytona Sportbike Champion Martin Cardenas in a photo-finish to take third.

For the Project 1 Atlanta team, the win marked a dramatic turnaround from a let down in 2011. Despite finishing third in the 2011 Daytona 200 with rider Jake Zemke taking the pole, the team was unable to secure funding to continue the rest of the season. The team came back this year with little funding – Pascarella’s YZF-R6 doesn’t even have a Yamaha logo on it – with its main goal to raise awareness for the March of Dimes children’s charity.

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