The gremlins were out in force during free practice and qualifying as Simpson battled with suspension and mechanical issues to qualify in sixth place. Off the line Simpson slotted into fourth place as he settled into the 12 lap race.

Three laps in he moved into podium contention taking third place from Jimmy Hill. The race leaders, Luke Stapleford and Danny Buchan, were now within reach. He left his move to the penultimate lap passing Buchan for second place, he had hoped to grab the win off Stapleford but missed the last lap flag and had to settle for second place.

Simpson said: “It’s been a frustrating weekend but the race went well. I dropped back a bit at the beginning but then I decided to just go for it. I passed Hill and gapped him just as my tyres were starting to go off. I closed in on Buchan as he had dropped off the pace a bit and passed him. I went after Stapleford as I wanted to finish further up in the Championship but I didn’t see the last lap flag so that was that. It’s all been good experience and I can’t wait to put it into practice next year.”

Source: (Louise) Triumph Triple Challenge

Antrim’s John Simpson had a tough race day at Silverstone aboard his Trickbits/T3 Racing Triumph at round 11 of the Metzeler National Superstock 600 Championship, where he finished in seventh place.

He had an excellent qualifying putting his Triumph into second place on the grid. He felt confident ahead of the race having previously won at Silverstone earlier in the season. Simpson made a clean start straight into lead and had hoped to gap the chasing pack.

His plan worked until lap four when he suddenly started to run wide through the turns. This allowed the other riders to catch and pass him. He battled to the end of the 10 lap race coming home in an uncharacteristic seventh place.

Following Simpson’s exclusion at Croft and the seventh place finish at Silverstone he is now in fourth place in the Championship, 20 points behind the leader.

Simpson said: “We tried a different set-up in warm-up and it felt good, so we went for it in the race but after four laps it started to drop off. I felt strong at the start of the race and pulled a gap which had been my plan. Then the bike started moving, I could run into the corners ok but as soon as I tried to get on the gas or drive out of the corner the bike felt really unsettled. It’s just frustrating but it’s really made the Championship close any of the top four could win the title. I like Oulton Park and usually go well there so I’ll just have to see what happens.”

The final round of the Metzeler National Superstock 600 Championship will take place at Oulton Park in Cheshire on the 8^th-10^th October.

Source: (Louise) Triumph Triple Challenge

It all started on 6th September 2010 when Gary Beardsley (Superstock 600) contacted Paul Smith from Visual Interactive (sponsor of  John Simpson) to share his fund raising idea.

The idea was to get riders to show respect for the late Shoya Tomizawa by riding with Tomizawa’s number (48) on their helmet and bike. Stickers would be sold at £10.00 for two and all proceeds would be donated to the CJ Riders Fund. Gary expressed great enthusiasm and was sure that other riders would donate to such a good cause.

Gary and Paul put the plan into action and produced stickers of Tomizawa’s number ready for Round 10 of the British Superbikes at Croft.

They were both amazed to find that after just 15 minutes of approaching other teams in the paddock, they had raised £120.00. With the help of Derek Sanders (Team principal of HARIBO Starmix) and Dave Tyson (principal of Two Wheel Tuning), they had collected a total of £530.00 by Sunday afternoon.

After Paul and Derek made an announcement to BSB Race Director, Stuart Higgs, they presented the proceeds to Pam Jones at the CJ Riders Fund stall late Sunday afternoon.

Paul Smith said “Both Gary and myself were absolutely delighted that so many people dipped into their pockets and donated towards such a worthy cause. We were also taken back by the amount we raised in such a short amount of time. We hope that it helps towards creating more fantastic success stories, like the ones we’ve read about on the CJ Riders Fund Website.”

Gary and Paul would like to personally thank everyone in the paddock who generously donated over the croft weekend. They also plan to run a similar fund raising event in the future.

In a statement from Jordan, he writes “Due to the financial pressure racing was putting on my family, I have no option but to hang up my leathers, a very emotional and hard decision to make. I have had an unforgettable time racing and it has been such a big part of my life.

I would like to say a very big thanks to my mum, dad and big sister who have supported me since I began racing, I can’t thank them enough. I would also like to thank Mathew Sanders at de Poel Consulting for his big generosity in supporting me. Trickbits T3 Racing for understanding my decision and especially Paul Jinks for giving me the opportunity to ride the Triumph Daytona 675, which is such a great bike. A big thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way.

Signing off,
Jordan Thompson”

No doubt we will be seeing Jordan at future rounds in the commentary box with Fred Clarke like we did at Croft.

First qualifying took place in wet conditions and Simpson was having a few suspension issues which left him down the order in 18th place. However the weather picked up in the afternoon and the dry second session saw Simpson move into contention and take up fifth place heading the second row of the grid.

Danny Buchan crashed during second qualifying and was unable to race due to this fall, this incident promoted Simpson to the front row of the grid.

Off the line he settled straight into third place and was holding onto the front runners to try and take as many points as possible for his Championship challenge. Josh Day, Championship leader crashed out early on handing a points advantage straight to the Antrim rider.

He got pushed back to fourth on lap four by a hard charging Jimmy Hill but Simpson stayed cool and calm, calculating what he needed to do. Josh Wainwright who had been running second crashed out two laps from the end of the race promoting Simpson to third on the podium and second overall in the Championship standings. He is now just six points off the title lead as the Championship heads into the penultimate round at Silverstone.

Simpson said: “I saw Josh Day crash out on the big screen and my tyres weren’t coping with the heat so I decided to go steady. At the start I wanted to push to win but I didn’t want to risk a crash and I did nearly go down a couple of times. I know I was quicker than Jimmy Hill in certain places but I had a big gap behind me so I decided to just sit there. I could see the leaders bumping each other and pushing themselves wide and I just knew someone would go down – I’d never wish that on anyone but I just had a feeling. I used my head instead of going for glory. I want the top spot at Silverstone, I took the race win and lap record when we were there supporting World Superbikes. I’m really looking forward to it and I’m now in with a good chance of winning the Championship.”

Round 11 of the Metzeler National Superstock Championship will take place at Silverstone in Northamptonshire on the 24th-26th September.

Source: (Louise) Triumph Triple Challenge

NB. Unfortunately, John was disqualified after this race.

Antrim’s John Simpson picked up  his third consecutive win at Cadwell Park during round nine of the Metzeler National Superstock 600 Championship.

Despite difficult weather conditions the lively Ulsterman put his Trickbits T3 Racing Triumph on pole position and as the lights went out he settled into second place. By the end of lap one he had been pushed back to third place but that didn’t last for long as he returned to second a lap later.

He was just 0.04secs off the back of Josh Wainwright and made a decisive move to take the lead at the gooseneck. As he was getting in the groove the red flags came out halting the race due to an incident on track.

Simpson had to do it all again on the re-start which would see the race run over just seven laps. Once again he got away second but by three laps in he was in the lead by a good 2.32secs. He got his head down and gapped the chasing pack who were battling amongst themselves.

He won the race by 2.542secs and came over the line punching the air in delight.

Simpson said: ”I was a bit frustrated that we had a re-start but I got out there and did it. I go good at Cadwell, this is my third win here, but I can go well at the other rounds too, I’m not just a one trick pony. I’d like to thank T3 Racing, Tony Scott and Dave Harris for giving me a great bike. I’d also like to thank everyone who has helped out over this wet weekend it has been fantastic.”

Simpson will be back on track at Croft in North Yorkshire on the 10^th – 12^th September  for round ten of the Metzeler National Superstock Championship.

Source:  (Louise) Triumph Triple Challenge

So with thanks to our sponsor Visual Interactive, we not only have a brand new website, but after pulling out all the stops, we can be now found on Facebook and Twitter - something we have never done before. This means that there is absolutely no excuse for you (our supporters) not to be keeping up to date with the latest news and current events!

With the facility for you to comment and give feedback, the Trickbits T3 Racing team are now in touch more  than ever. We feel there are many interesting times ahead.

Ulster man John Simpson raced to second place aboard his Trickbits T3 Racing Triumph at round eight of the Metzeler National Superstock 600 Championship at Brands Hatch in Kent.

He put his machine on pole position with a superb lap time of 1min 30.776secs, the only rider to get into the 1min 30s. His nearest rival was Danny Buchan who was just 0.7secs off his time so it was a close run qualifying.

Off the line Simpson slotted into fourth place and started to work his way forward. By lap four he was into podium contention taking third place just as the Safety Car was deployed due to an incident on track.

When the Safety Car pulled in Simpson got stuck back into the race promoting himself to second place. He tailed race leader Buchan for five laps before overhauling him for the lead. Unfortunately for Simpson the red flag came out due to fluid on track, the race result was taken back a lap and he was relegated to second place.

Simpson said: “Qualifying was awesome I got pole by just 0.7secs, but the race, well I’ve just been robbed, I was in the lead when the red flag came out. The Triumph felt good so thanks to Dave Harris and Tony Scott at T3 Racing, they built me a really good bike. It was very slippery out there and the tyres were not coping with the heat. I had to change my riding style to deal with it. I felt smooth and when I got the opportunity I took the lead. I’m not happy to have missed out on the win but I guess these things happen.”

Simpson will be back on track at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire on the 28^th-30^thAugust for round nine of the Metzeler National Superstock 600 Championship.

Source:  Triumph Triple Challenge

Trickbits T3 Racing’s John Simpson is back to unstoppable mode as he dominated every session that he took part in before taking pole position in the seventh round of the Metzeler national Superstock 600 championship at Brands Hatch.

Looking at the Antrim rider’s performance through the practice and qualifying session’s this season, he is a rider you would expect to have more than one win against his name, but race day just hasn’t gone his way. It seems that the team have finally turned a corner with resolving bike issues that allowed Simpson to take his second race win last week at Silverstone.

That form seems to have continued onto Brands. Simpson took pole by under seven tenths of a second after only doing four laps in a session that was approximately a 25 minutes session; and was the only rider to enter the 1’30s.

Simpson said: “We have got the bike setup better now, after Snetterton where we had a lot of problems with the clutch. At Knockhill, we had the two races cut down to one, but it was working well. I qualified second, as soon as I got off the line in the first race the clutch went, that ruined it for me, but I managed to hold on to eighth place, luckily it was wet.”

“At Snetterton we had the same problem in the first race and I had to pull out. In the second race we had even more bad luck. Off the line I was into second, by the end of two laps I was into first and I managed to pull a little bit of a gap; then the rear shock went so the tyre was ruined after that and I managed to hold onto fourth.”

“I got the bike sorted and ran at Aberdare Park races. I won two races and set the fastest lap of the weekend and was ready for Silverstone [BSB]. I won that and managed to get a two second gap and hold it to the end. This weekend I am looking for the win. If I get the hole shot at the start, I’ll just pull a gap, I am feeling pretty confident. Then I have my favourite track coming up, Cadwell.”

It is true what he says, and probably annoying to others, but whenever Simpsons resolves the issues with his Triumph, he wins. Simpson said: “If I hadn’t had any bad luck, not being big headed, I think I would be in the lead. The problems have made it really hard for me, but we’ve worked round them. We’ve sorted the bike out, the team has been fantastic and we’re not very fast. I am 25th in the speed traps [last sector]. I am just riding it well, the suspension is set up and I am really enjoy the way it is handling at the moment.”

Simpson, who also returns to the championship, this year admits the competition is ‘so crazy compared to last year’ and that ‘everybody has upped their game’. Off track he regular runs events to help raise funds to support his racing and to help him continue in some championship, unknown at this time, next year. But now his focus is on tomorrow and standing on the top step to gain maximum points towards the title chase, which he still thinks is ‘doable’.

Source: Bike Sport News (BSB Reporter Tammy Milsom)