Oxford Tag Triumph back on the Rostrum

After a successful race debut for the new Daytona 675R at Brands Hatch just a week earlier, the Oxford Tag Triumph team headed to Oulton Park over the Royal Bank Holiday weekend for round two of the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship with high hopes for its four-rider squad.

Throughout the two free practice sessions, the team worked tirelessly to find a competitive set-up: their efforts rewarded with fine performances from Paul Young, Billy McConnell and Christian Iddon, finishing the tough forty-minute qualifying session fifth, sixth and ninth respectively.

The team's young up-and-coming Supersport Cup rider, 17-year-old Shaun Winfield once again showed his pace, finishing the session inside the top twenty and convincingly heading the Supersport Cup field ahead of fellow Triumph riders, John Simpson and Sam Hornsey.

Christian Iddon at Oulton Park

Sunday's race one saw an in-form Youngy match the lap times of the leaders in the early stages of the race but, struggling for grip in the latter stages of the race, the wily veteran settled for a safe fourth place and a bagful of championship points while Billy McConnell's return to the kind of form that has made him a firm favourite with the fans couldn't have been better timed as the 24-year-old pulled out all the stops to score a solid ninth-placed finish.

Having posted consistently fast lap times, Christian Iddon was desperately unlucky not to finish well inside in the top six when his engine expired on the third lap.

Shaun Winfield picked up where he left off at Brands - standing on the top step of the Supersport Cup podium after annihilating the rest of the field with a display of consistency and riding with a maturity way beyond his seventeen years, posting lap times to match those of the top ten.

Billy McConnell at Oulton Park

Monday's race two saw McConnell finish fifth ahead of Youngy in sixth, while Iddon once more suffered with mechanical gremlins, this time struggling to nurse his machine home in a lowly nineteenth place after the STM slipper clutch developed an erratic fault on back-shifts.

Shaun Winfield's luck also took a turn for the worse, his race ending prematurely when his clutch started slipping, forcing him out of the race and what would have certainly been the lead in the Cup championship.

Overall a promising weekend for the Oxford Tag Triumph Supersport team though and, despite a few technical setbacks, have once again reinforced their position as the number one Triumph team in the British paddock.

And finally, to end on the brightest of bright notes another young Winfield made a welcome return to the paddock this weekend, with 14-year-old Gary ‘Chicken' Winfield making his first outing on his 125GP machine since last October's visit to Oulton Park.

After a steady start and a low speed spill in free practice, Gary built his pace progressively over the weekend qualifying 25th before pulling the pin in the race to finish a hugely creditable 16th overall - an excellent result considering Gary's height and the fact that his combined rider and machine weight is 30kgs over the allowed limit - watch this space for when he turns 16 and gets some Hinckley Triumph power!

Gary Winfield - a welcome return

Paul Young #96

"I'm not exactly doing back-flips as I'm here to win but it's still good to be plugging away and scoring decent points. The first race was great and we moved the set-up forward from there but I really struggled in the second race with just not feeling very well to be honest; I found it hard to focus and I didn't have any strength. I did find a bit of a rhythm towards the end of the race though and under the circumstances I'm just pleased to come away with a decent points haul."

Christian Iddon #21

"I probably didn't have quite the same pace as I did at Brands but after the disappointment of the engine failure in race one we found something in morning warm-up and then had a direction for race two. Unfortunately the clutch started misbehaving - sometimes I had engine braking sometimes I had nothing and was just coasting it in on the front end. It's another disappointment and I'm keen to get some points on the table - I've been lapping fast enough to run at the front so I know that I'm capable of getting on the podium - we just need a bit of luck on our side and we'll be there."

Shaun Winfield

Billy McConnell #75

"We've made some big steps forward this weekend so I'm really pleased with the way we're headed. Last year I'd have been disappointed with fifth but I really feel like things are starting to click now. I've had to change my style to suit the Triumph, slowing myself down on corner entry to get the best from the three-cylinder motor's grunt off the turns. I've learned loads this weekend and I feel like I'm back on top of my game now after a lacklustre Brands. My season starts at Croft - I'm just glad we've twice as many races this year!"

Shaun Winfield #41

"I felt a bit off the pace at the start of the weekend but my times were actually okay so I was pleased to be on pole in Cup. I got a pretty good start in the race and once I got past Hornsey at the hairpin I was able to build a good lead and felt comfortable throughout. I'm gutted about the second race as I know I had the pace to do the double after a few tweaks in morning warm-up moved the set-up forward. I just want to get through both races next time and start pushing for the lead of the championship."

Rob Winfield, Oxford Tag Triumph Team Principal

"It's been another busy weekend but we're making steps forward so that's all that matters. We're learning more and more about the Motec and how to get the system set up to suit each rider's preferences and the same goes for the new K-Tech suspension - it's coming together really nicely now with both Youngy and Billy showing just how good the new Daytona 675R is; it's just a real shame about Christian and Shaun suffering with technical problems. Christian was on for a top six without a doubt and I've every faith that he'll be on the podium before too long. It's a real choker that Shaun was unable to take another win due to a clutch failure but I guess that's racing and with the new two-race format it's a long season so he's far from out of it yet. We're going to be working hard over the next fortnight ahead of Croft to further improve the bike and then hopefully we can start tasting the champagne again."