John Simpson rode his heart out at the final round of the Metzeler National Superstock 600 Championship at Oulton Park aboard his Trickbits/T3 Racing Triumph. He finished the race in second place and secured fourth place overall in the Championship.

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.

It is with great sadness that the team has to say goodby to Jordan Thompson. Everyone at Trickbits T3 Racing would like to personally thank Jordan and his family for being part of the team and wish him all the best for 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.

We are unable to update you at this time as to the situation regarding the disqualification this weekend at Croft. Details will be published once confirmed. In the mean time, we would like to thank you all for your comments and support.

John Simpson aboard the Trickbits T3 Racing Triumph pulled off an excellent third place finish at round 10 of the Metzeler National Superstock 600 Championship at Croft in North Yorkshire.

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.