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”.

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.”

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.

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

In a delayed race due to a sudden weather change, Paul Young failed to finish and Glen missed out on a podium for the first time this year finishing in 5th. It was a disappointing result considering it was the rider’s home circuit.

There was confusion on the grid whilst officials delayed the race, with Glen going out on full wet tyres and Paul starting on full dry’s. Glen managed to hold first place for 3 laps before Hudson Kennaugh pipped him to P1 and then rode his best race of the season so far, claiming the victory by a clear 20 seconds. Glen never gave up but suddenly found himself back in 5th with it all to do, probably a little too much and had to settle for 5th.

Paul meanwhile got off to a reasonable start but slowly started slipping down the pack unable to keep up with his tyre settings and decided to call it a day on lap 8 after dropping to 27th.

The veteran rider said “I have taken it easy since Snetterton and although I haven’t ridden as yet I have done some light cycling and felt no pain so on that basis I will be going to Mallory with the intention of competing in the race on Sunday. Bar the crash at Snetterton it was a good weekend for me, I was right up there in free practice and in qualifying so I hope I can do the same this weekend at Mallory.”

Paul’s solid qualifying meant he things were looking better and came in the second row of the grid.  However, even after a great start … it wasn’t to last. Youngy luck seems to be a million miles away this year, he high sided at the end of the first lap which put a premature end to his race. In an additional setback for Paul there are fears he has broken his ankle.

Bar Youngy’s accident it was a good day for Map Embassy Racing with Glen further extending his lead at the top of the Supersport Championship.

Check the website tomorrow for further updates on Paul Young’s injury status and all the fallout from Snetterton.

British Supersport Results

1. Steve Plater - AIM Racing
2. Glen Richards - MAP Embassy Racing
3. James Westmoreland - Centurion Racing
4. Hudson Kennaugh - Raceways Yamaha
5. Ian Lowry - Relentless Suzuki by TAS

In the opening five laps the Aussie managed to keep pace with the one and two placed Hanspree Honda’s, retaining his third place grid position before Ian Lowry on the Relentless Suzuki shook things up when he overtook Glen before squeezing into P1, beating Jonathan Rea and Andrew Pitt along the way. Lowry eventually lost the lead to the two

World Supersport riders but managed to fend off Richards for the remainder of the race and by lap 12 the top four had put some distance between each other and the rest of the pack to secure their positions.

However, it later transpired that Hanspree Ten Kate Honda had used unspecified race fuel in both of their competing machines which meant that both Jonathan Rea and Andrew Pitt were later disqualified. That turn of events meant that Glenn would now take second place behind Ian Lowry who was first.

Paul Young meanwhile had a somewhat trickier race as he had his own pack of competitive riders to deal with early on. From his 11th grid position he managed to climb to 10th where he stayed for four laps before slipping as low as 13th, but managed to steal 11th on the last lap which, after the World Supersport riders disqualification meant he was in the top ten at 9th.

With the qualifying positions from the last Brands Hatch meet in place for today’s race the team were already in a good position to add to their success at Oulton Park. Glen was second on the grid, Paul ninth whilst AJ was second in his class too.

Glen and Paul both got off to bad starts with Glen dropping to 6th and Youngy back to 18th after a bump from Midge Smart forced his brake lever high, forcing him to slow down in order to readjust it but it still clearly affected him throughout the race. After three riders came off at the first turn the safety car came out for two laps. When it eventually returned to the pit the Map Embassy Supersport riders got their heads down and got back to work. Glen managed to climb to 3rd almost immediately and then a lap later passed Brogan on the HM Plant Honda to take 2nd, where he stayed throughout the remainder of the race, unable to catch Hudson Kennaugh on his Raceways Yamaha who had put his own result beyond doubt.

Paul did extremely well to climb in to the top ten considering the start he got and the technical problems that occurred after his bump with Smart. The bike and rider clearly have the capabilities, but Youngy is in desperate need of some good luck to get his year back on track.

1. Hudson Kennaugh - (Raceways Yamaha)
2. Glen Richards - (MAP Embassy Racing Triumph)
3. Steve Brogan - (HM Plant Honda)
4. James Westmoreland - (Centurion Racing Honda)
5. BJ Toal - (Virgin Media Yamaha)

10. Paul Young – (MAP Embassy Racing Triumph)

Due to the rescheduled meet at Brands Hatch, the Supersport and Superstock races had to be incorporated into the MRO schedule that was taking place at the track this weekend. One of those races being the Triumph Triple Challenge. So, as you would expect, the only Triumph factory backed team drew even more attention than we had enjoyed at previous rounds, with a hoard of Triumph fans and riders trying to get a glimpse of our garage and an autograph from our three riders. Needless to say I think the whole team, though they would never admit it, enjoyed the attention.

The team now have two weeks to prepare before the next race at Donington on the 26th of May.