Two up two down for Triumph riders

Date published : 09 Mar 2010 - 08:13:58

It was a busy period in the winter for the BE1 Triumph effort in the Supersport World Championship. First of all it was split into two distinct team efforts and then expanded to include four riders of proven ability - 2009 recruit Chaz Davies and Sebastien Charpentier in the ParkinGO Triumph BE1 team and Jason Di Salvo and David Salom in the ParkinGO BE1 Triumph side of the garage.The logistics involved in bringing eight machines and enough personnel to look after four riders - and still go for podium finishes - proved to be a big challenge, but one with a positive outcome for Salom. The Spanish rider was a fine fourth in a race that was stopped and then restarted, making his return to the class a pleasing one after spending a tough year in the Superbike World Championship in 2009. But being a racer, Salom always wants more, as his post-race comments attested. "I knew I could score a good result but, given the race outcome, a podium result would've been possible," said the 25-year-old Spaniard. "However, I'm sure there'll be other opportunities but the important thing is that we kicked off the season with a good result, which puts me fourth in the standings. I'm sorry I couldn't get a better start in the re-run. I'm sure I could've battled with Lascorz and Sofuoglu for the podium." Salom actually missed the first day of practice after a mix-up with his racing licence prevented him from starting with the rest of his peer group. The American interest in Supersport racing at this level resides in Jason Di Salvo, who was eighth in his first ever race in this class. "I started the race pretty far in the back, but I improved a lot," said Di Salvo. "I battled with riders who went faster than me in practice and I had a really nice duel with Miguel Praia in the end." For Briton Chaz Davies (who had an oil line let go in race one and was relegated to his spare bike) and returnee Supersport World Championship legend Sebastien Charpentier, the race was less kind. Davies could only post 12th after finding some electronics issues, while Charpentier was 13th. Having retired from this level of racing for two years, Seb still has to get more track time in before he can get back to his very best. Sebastien has 13 career wins, making him the second most successful rider of all time.