Paul Young

TAG Triumph were consistently on the pace throughout round four of the British Supersport Championship at Thruxton last weekend but were unfortunately unable to reproduce their qualifying performances in the re-started race after decisions over tyres proved detrimental to both Paul Young and Peter Ward.

Starting from the front row as the third fastest qualifier, Young got away with the leading pack before a severe lack of grip saw him lose ground on the frontrunners as the race progressed.  Slipping back into a group of three riders battling for fifth place, 0.328 of a second separated the trio at the chequered flag that
Young passed in seventh position, just 6 seconds behind the race winner.

“All in all it has been a good weekend and there are plenty of positives to take from it” said Young.
“I was pleased to start from the front row but also feel I missed the opportunity of a possible podium by opting not to change the tyre for the re-start as I had no grip from lap one.  Seventh place is good points, but the result doesn’t reflect how competitive the TAG Triumph was throughout the weekend”.

If it wasn’t for bad luck then seemingly TAG Triumph would have no luck at all after the team experienced a spectrum of emotions at the Donington Park-staged third round of the British Supersport Championship but ultimately ended the meeting with no reward.

After two successful days of practice and qualification that saw riders Paul Young and Peter Ward running first and second at one stage of Sunday morning’s qualifying session that Young ended in provisional pole position before he subsequently dropped to third after session two, the belief was the team’s luck had changed and hopes of good results were high.

From his front row starting position Young was second into the first corner and then remained in the leading group throughout a race that he led at times before ultimately passing the chequered flag second to secure TAG Triumph’s maiden podium finish in the series.

However, after the delight of watching Young celebrate this achievement on the rostrum as he collected his trophy and sprayed the champagne, the team’s joy turned to devastation when Young’s machine was found to be just 500g underweight in the post-race inspection and the Australian was excluded from the results.

Reflecting on his disqualification a distraught Young said “I thought we were shaking off our bad luck but after this perhaps not! We were weighed at Brands Hatch and were well in there so assumed we’d be OK here.The whole team is totally gutted.  It’s difficult to feel positive at the moment, but on the plus side I am riding well and am pleased to be on the pace. I feel I’m still a contender and with nine races to go
I’ve certainly not given up on the title.”

Round 1 of the British Superbike Championship series, held at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit over the Easter weekend, saw the first competitive outing for the newly formed TAG Triumph British Supersport team.

Next the team travel to Oulton Park in Cheshire for the second round of the British Superbike Series. Hopes are understandably high for the TAG Triumph team as Oulton is a circuit where the team’s riders have already tasted outstanding success. Paul Young has previously won British Championship races in both Supersport and Superstock classes at the challenging circuit, whilst Peter Ward has also won on 600cc machinery at National level against riders the calibre of Cal Crutchlow and Tom Sykes in the Virgin R6 Cup.

Factory test rider and stalwart Triumph racer Paul Young started his season off with a 9th place at Brands Hatch and valuable championship points to build on over the next 11 races. Paul commented: “It was a tough weekend due the lack of dry track time in practice. The compounds in the new control tyres have changed quite a bit from last year and unfortunately my chassis settings from last year didn’t work. We’ve got lots of ideas to help sort the problem out, but we just need lots of dry practice laps to try them all.

“It has been a long time coming but I feel that’s where I should have been for most of the year. I’m over the moon for Glen today and just wish he could have made it on to the podium today.” commented a delighted Youngy from Silverstone.

In a race that was delayed for over an hour due to a big crash on the first lap, Glen Richards finished 2^nd after losing the top spot to Steve Plater on the last lap. The second place podium finish means Glen further extends his lead at the top of the British Supersport Championship.

At the start of the first race both Glen and Paul Young had a great start with Glen flying into the lead from his pole position and Paul sneaking into 3^rd from his 6^th placed grid position. The perfect start for Map Embassy was soon spoiled when it emerged that three riders had clashed at the first turn with one of them coming down nastily. The race was immediately stopped and would have to re-start over an hour later as the fallen rider waited to be airlifted to hospital.

When the race eventually did restart it was Hudson Kennaugh of Raceways Yamaha who went into the lead, closely followed by Steve Plater on the AIM Yamaha with Glen having to settle for third - for the time being. Over the next 14 laps the race had three race leaders.

Kennaugh lost his lead to Plater on lap 5 and Glen then passed the South African three laps later to move into 2^nd. With 9 laps left to go a great battle commenced between Glen and Plater as Hudson Kennaugh slowly dropped off the pace eventually finishing in 4^th. Glen tried endlessly to catch and then pass Steve plater which he eventually did on lap 8 to lead the race for the first time. The experienced Aussie rider held the lead for the next 6 laps with Plater trying to pass him at every opportunity, then on the last lap the former superbike rider eventually succeeded in his quest as he rounded the Map Embassy 45 rider at Park.

It was disappointing for Glen considering his position on the last lap but once again he finished on the podium and extended his lead at the top of the championship.

Richards said:

“I felt I was in a little bit of trouble but I thought I had the pace to hold off Steve but he just got me on that last lap. I wanted to beat him but at the same time I am happy with second as I didn’t want to crash and not score any points”.

Paul Young meanwhile also rode a great race with his best ever finish on a Map Embassy bike, finishing in 6^th. Paul had another great start in the second race going into 4^th before slipping into 6^th.

1. Steve Plater - AIM Yamaha

2. Glen Richards - MAP Embassy Racing

3. James Webb - Padgetts Motorcycles

4. Hudson Kennaugh - Raceways Yamaha

5. James Westmoreland - Centurion Racing

6. Paul Young - MAP Embassy Racing

Securing a place on a team with a pukka factory backing, an enthusiastic sponsor and full team backup for the 2008 British supersport championship … it’s just fantastic … and not just me, but all concerned. 

This ride has been a long time coming but, as the cliché has it, good things come to those who wait. I’ve never been as sorted so early in the pre-season with a team and bikes and a test programme, so it’s going to be good – although now I have to beat my team mate (Glen Richards), which isn’t going to be easy.

Although sorted early, there’s heaps to do at the mo,  but I shall come back soon to chat about it.

Cheers

Youngy

For anyone interested in reading about my exploits in the land of the rising sun with Team Suzuki Sweden, go and buy the latest edition of Superbike Magazine. You can’t miss it. It has a little picture of me on the front cover. And inside you’ll find an article I wrote about competing in this years ‘Suzuka 8 Hour.’ Those of you with a more delicate disposition please beware, there is a little bit of ‘blue’ language involved, and possibly some rude pictures on other pages too.

On November 10th I competed in the final round of the World Endurance Championships, the ‘8 hours of Doha’, at Losail circuit in Qatar. This was the 3rd WEC race I’ve done this year, all of them on a Suzuki GSXR1000K7 for Team Suzuki Sweden, the other being the ‘Bol’dor 24 Hour’ and the ‘Suzuka 8 Hour’.
 
We finished the Qatar race in 8th place, though we were lucky to finish at all with only 4 out of 6 gears still working, and the missing ones sounding like they were trying to escape out the front of the engine.
 
Qatar is a fantastic new circuit. Great fun to ride. And reminds me of the old Assen. It does feel a bit weird racing around out in the middle of a desert though.

Still, that’s what I love about racing the most. You just never know where it may end up taking you.

I couldn’t believe what had happened. Of all the races for something to go wrong it had to be this one!! I’d changed a few things on the bike’s chassis set up for this weekend, and it was handling the best it ever has. Really responding to the way I like to ride, which made it so much easier to make passes than before.
Damn it, I was enjoying that race so much!! There’s nothing like being up at the front of the race and getting ready for the last lap scrap for a podium place.
Now all I can hope is that the bike works just as good at Brands Hatch. If it does, I’ve never felt so positive about the possibility of another podium before the season’s over.

Youngy

Team PYR would like to thank all of you who bought raffle tickets in aid of LOROS.

The lucky winner was Mandy Hill from Market Harborough. As Mandy was unable to attend Donington she auctioned her prize and raised more cash for the charity. Elizabeth and Tom Brain were the final winners. They enjoyed a day with the Team and VIP hospitality, kindly supplied by Hawk Kawasaki.

The raffle raised almost £600 for the Leicestershire based hospice.

Thank you!