Oxford Tag Triumph shine at Silverstone

During arguably the most dramatic Supersport weekend of the season that now guarantees an action-packed finale at Brands Hatch in less than two weeks time, Oxford Tag Triumph once more stood out from the pack, their consistency matched only by their impressive pace.

Throughout the early practice sessions the team worked hard to find the race set-up to suit the unique, wide expanses of the flat and bumpy Northamptonshire circuit, finishing the single qualifying session with Paul Young and Billy McConnell on the second row, Christian Iddon a row behind and injured rider, Shaun Winfield bravely riding through the pain to qualify just inside the maxima.

With valuable data gained from the 40-minute qualifying session, further improvements were made to the four Daytona 675s before Saturday’s 9-lap, 32-mile sprint race.

With many championship places still to play for, the pace was fierce. Alastair Seeley and Ben Wilson looked set to gap the field in the early stages of the race, but by mid race distance it became clear that in no way was this going to be a two-way dice as Luke Mossey and Sam Warren upped the ante, besting the lap times set by this year’s two title fighters.

But it was to be the Oxford Tag Triumphs of Iddon and Youngy that got into a fast groove, matching the lap times of the leaders before Youngy obliterated the 100mph average and grabbed the fastest lap of the race as the dicing duo clawed back the gap on the leaders, eventually crossing the line fourth and fifth as they ran out of laps with McConnell in sixth.

Having set the fastest lap in race one, race two saw Youngy start on pole and grab the holeshot, leading the field for the first lap with the ever-improving Iddon going with him as the pair battled with Seeley and Wilson.

Once more the Oxford Tag Triumphs proved that they could match the lap times of the leaders, with both Iddon and Youngy consistently posting mid 11s.

After a fierce 12 laps and 43 miles of racing, Iddon crossed the line in second behind Seeley with Youngy third and McConnell resolutely sticking to his task to finish a determined sixth place.

Shaun Winfield’s challenge for the 2011 Supersport Cup title may have gone awry after injuries sustained at Brands Hatch and Donington Park, but the tough 17-year-old wasn’t going to miss out on racing just because of broken bones.

With pain from his left foot every time he changed gear, Winfield bravely rode throughout the weekend to grab two points-scoring finishes, keeping him within a shout of third in the Supersport Cup Championship.

Winfield’s younger brother, Gary also made an appearance over the weekend. Gaz ‘Chicken’ Winfield, finished 23rd in the 125GP race despite crashing on the last lap. The likeable 15-year-old who is clearly about three sizes too big for his tiny 125cc machine, is building his race experience in readiness for his debut on a Triumph Daytona when he turns sixteen next May. Watch out world, Chicken is coming!

Billy McConnell #75

“Not the best weekend for me to be honest. It’s not so bad when you know there’s a problem but when your team mates are that far ahead it’s a bit of a concern to be honest – this weekend I just didn’t have the pace and had no answer for them. I’m not going to make a load of excuses, I just couldn’t get the bike working for me and I was trying as hard as I could to go with them but just couldn’t. We need to go back to the drawing board, do a bit of testing before the final round to see if we can find something. Hanging on to third in the championship would be great, but it’s the winners that get remembered so I just want to end the season back on the top step – that’s my goal.”