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)