PODIUMS FOR TRIUMPH AT SNETTERTON NATIONAL SPORTBIKE
Triumph Daytona 660 riders claimed four places in the top six positions at Snetterton this weekend (July 7) with Richard Cooper just 0.064 seconds from victory. Thomas Strudwick completed the podium in third on his TS Racing Triumph.
Bouncing back from tough qualifying were the MIH Macadam Triumph Racing riders of Aaron Silvester and Jayden Martin who both came from the back of the grid to finish fifth and 12th, respectively. For the team’s third rider, Katie Hand, it was a 22nd place finish after a challenging weekend.
It seemed like the wet weather from the previous round at Knockhill would hold off with conditions at the former WW2 airfield in Norfolk starting well for Friday’s practice, but the heavens opened for Saturday’s qualifying day.
Such was the difficulty in mastering the 2.99 mile circuit in fully wet conditions, it was crashes for Cooper, Silvester and Martin. Fortunately none of the riders were hurt, but with the two MIH Macadam Triumph Racing riders going down early in the session they would have to start at the back of the grid come the race.
Leading the charge of the Triumph Daytona 660 riders was Strudwick qualifying in second with Cooper’s effort enough for sixth place on the second row. Hand would start 23rd after a technical issue with her machine.
The Snetterton round would only feature one chance of glory for the National Sportbike field. With Saturday’s miserable weather replaced with glorious sunshine, Cooper was confident coming into the race having picked up the first two victories for the Daytona 660 at Knockhill in the previous round.
With the pole sitter having to start from pit lane due to an issue, it was Strudwick who was able to grab the holeshot when the lights went out, closely followed by Cooper. It wasn’t long before the championship leader, Edoardo Colombi, was on the back of the two Triumphs and made his move at the end of the back straight.
The race would soon develop into the championship’s top two, Cooper and Colombi trading places. Incredible overtaking moves and continual fastest laps would play out for the entire encounter. Setting the class lap record on the very last lap, Cooper tried to slipstream Colombi over the line, but would ultimately miss out on the win by the smallest of margins.
Such was the pace of the leading two, Strudwick would finish 14 seconds further back to make it Triumphs second and third on the podium. For Aaron Silvester, he’d ridden from 25th on the grid and was up to fifth by lap three where he stayed until the chequered flag, followed home by fellow Triumph rider, Rhys Stephenson.
Another incredible ride in the MIH Macadam Triumph Racing team came from Jayden Martin who made up 16 places from his grid position to finish 12th. Katie Hand continued her learning curve in the class, making up a position and coming home in 22nd.
The championship positions remained unchanged and only 3.5 points separates Cooper from the lead. With seven of the championship’s 15 races now completed, it is still very much to play for.
Richard Cooper #47 “A good weekend and I’m happy with what we achieved. Unfortunately, I got involved with an accident on Saturday qualifying and that set us back quite a bit. I topped the morning warm-up session and the bike felt good - credit to the team. I really got stuck in for the race and rode the wheels off the Daytona 660 today. We pushed Edoardo all the way and were only 0.064 away from the win. I hope we can level the score with a win at Brands Hatch, which is my favourite circuit.”
Thomas Strudwick #25 “I am very happy with the result from today’s race and also the improvements made throughout the weekend. I feel that I have a lot more to extract from the Daytona 660 but I am confident that across the next races we will continue to improve. Thank you to my team for their hard work during the season. I am now looking forward to Brands Hatch!”
Aaron Silvester #34 “Mixed weekend due to an unfortunate off on the first flying lap of qualifying. Huge thanks to Andrew, Jo, Kirbi and the MIH Macadam Triumph team who tried their very best to get me back out before the end of qualifying, meaning we started the race from 25th. Really happy that after three laps I was up to fifth and, due to the front pack having pulled a gap already, that's where I finished. I brought home more points to sustain sixth in the championship. I’m now looking forward to making further progress at Brands Hatch in two weeks time.”
Jayden Martin #85 “A very challenging weekend. Saturday qualifying was a bit disappointing due to having a crash early on in the session which led to me not setting a time putting me in 28th. Sunday's race was quite tough due to starting at the back. I made lots of places early on but got stuck behind another rider and ended up in 12th. All things considering, I’m very happy with that result and can’t wait for the next round.”
Katie Hand #66 "Tricky weekend in mixed conditions at Snetterton and a lack of track time due to not being able to find the right set-up and some technical issues. That aside, I’m confident I would have been able to qualify better, putting me higher up for the race. We will start from a baseline setting at Brands Hatch and move forward from there.”
National Sportbike Championship Round 4 - Snetterton
1st Edoardo Colombi (Aprilia)
2nd Richard Cooper (PHR Performance Triumph)
3rd Thomas Strudwick (TS Racing Triumph)
5th Aaron Silvester (MIH Macadam Triumph Racing)
6th Rhys Stephenson (Rocket Racing Triumph)
12th Jayden Martin (MIH Macadam Triumph Racing)
22nd Katie Hand (MIH Macadam Triumph Racing)
National Sportbike Championship after Round 4 of 10
1st Edoardo Colombi (Aprilia) - 152.5
2nd Richard Cooper (Triumph) - 149
3rd Ash Barnes (Yamaha) - 114
4th Thomas Strudwick (Triumph) - 91
6th Aaron Silvester (Triumph) - 76
9th Jayden Martin (Triumph) - 33
23rd Katie Hand (Triumph) - 6
The 2024 National Sportbike Championships return to action at Brands Hatch in two weeks, 19 – 21 July.
