Triple delight for Oxford TAG Triumph

Despite difficult weather conditions, cold blustery winds and leaden skies, the four-rider strong Oxford Tag Triumph team continued to shine at Croft over the weekend.

The annual visit to the Northeast's premier racing circuit is always a challenge: the flat, bumpy and abrasive surface presenting both the riders and the mechanics with a real challenge to achieve a competitive set-up.

Throughout practice and qualifying, Paul Young and Billy McConnell consistently posted impressive lap times aboard the new-for-2011 Daytona 675R, with McConnell narrowly missing out on pole position by less than two-tenths of a second having lead for all but the last sixty seconds of the 40-minute session, while Youngy, still suffering from a back injury, bravely fought through the pain to finish just outside the top ten.

Iddon at Croft

Further down the order Christian Iddon had his work cut out trying to learn a new circuit in variable weather conditions all the while trying to find a set-up for the race. To his credit, the likeable 26-year-old from Derbyshire finished the session in 20th, while the team's youngest rider, 17-year-old Shaun Winfield posted a new personal best to put him in with a shout of glory among the Cup campaigners, the race-within-a-race aimed at younger riders.

Saturday's race one was a typically all-action affair with McConnell dicing for top honours in the early stages of the race, narrowly missing out on his first podium aboard the Triumph Daytona 675R by a quarter of a second to his 2009 nemesis, Steve Plater when the red flags came out to end the race prematurely after just 10 laps of the scheduled 14.

Shaun in action

Youngy once again shrugged aside the pain to finish well inside the top ten with a strong eighth place, while Iddon broke his points duck, moving up five places from his 20th position on the grid to finish 15th.

Shaun Winfield once again showed maturity beyond his tender years, riding consistently to finish third in Cup, all the while gaining vital track time and data.

Sunday's feature race couldn't have been any more exciting. Having found a problem with the race clutch, a standard Triumph unit was fitted to McConnell's machine minutes before the start.

While Youngy's race was over after just a lap when the veteran made an uncharacteristic mistake exiting the hairpin and parting company with his machine while running inside the top six, McConnell quickly stamped his authority on the race, taking the lead from the dominant Ben Wilson on lap seven, posting the fastest lap of the race and leading until just three laps from the flag when his soft compound rear Pirelli started to go off.

The Young One!

The hard-charging Aussie fought valiantly to hang on to the lead but after two huge slides had to give best to Wilson before finally succumbing to Plater on the final lap to finish third and on the podium for the first time in Triumph colours.

Christian Iddon came home in 14th, while Shaun Winfield repeated his result of the first race with his second Cup podium of the weekend, moving him up to second in the Cup championship.

With McConnell and Young now joint fifth in the championship, Iddon improving with every ride and Winfield a close second in the Cup championship, the team head to Thruxton at the end of the month fully focused on achieving race wins in both classes.

Billy McConnell #75

"The bike felt really good from the set-up we had at Oulton Park but with the mixed weather and the new tyre limit it wasn't easy to move things forward. The first race was good, though I was gutted when it was red-flagged as I'm sure we'd have been on the podium. The tyre let me down in the longer second race and we now know that we should have gone for a harder compound. Overall though, I'm getting happier with the bike and can't wait for Thruxton where I'm sure the speed of the Triumph will make it a real contender."

Billy finding form on the 675R

Rob Winfield, Oxford Tag Triumph Team Principal

"It's been another great weekend for the team and all the hard work and effort is paying off. Billy is really getting to grips with the bike now and I'm confident that we'll soon see him on the top step of the podium.
Youngy has been struggling with a niggling back injury so all things considered he's done well and despite his crash in the second race, doesn't appear to have sustained further injury so that's good news ahead of Thruxton where I'm confident we'll be strong and can hopefully strengthen our position in the championship.
Christian knew he'd struggle at this circuit as he's new to Croft and had limited dry track time - he's confident of a result at Thruxton though, so fingers crossed he'll be further up the order there.
Shaun is improving every time he gets on the bike and is really learning from his experienced team-mates. He's not far off the lead of the Cup championship now, so all told we're a very happy team."