Triumph Daytona 660 Bags Valuable Points at Oulton Park

The Triumph Daytona 660 secured valuable points at Oulton Park as Rhys Stephenson, Zak Shelton, Cameron Dawson and Taylor Rose all rode to points in the sole Pirelli National Sportbike Championship race of the weekend. Macadam Triumph Factory Racing’s Lewis Smart just missed out on points, with Katie Hand recovering from an early setback to 31st. Jayden Martin was sadly ruled out of action after a crash on Friday.

The ninth round of the National Sportbike Championship was marked by delays and weather monitoring as Storm Amy battered the country, with holdups and schedule changes dominating the weekend. A washout Friday saw practice take place in extreme conditions as riders navigated their way around the treacherous Oulton Park circuit.

Further weather complications meant Saturday morning’s Qualifying session was forced to be cancelled, meaning grid positions would be taken up as of the combined Free Practice order on Friday. That meant Rhys Stephenson would start as the leading Triumph, with Kieran Kent and Lewis Smart starting inside the Top 15 places.

A further lengthy delay due to an oil spill in Sunday’s Superbike Sprint Race meant fans had to wait a bit longer for the Twin-powered class, which eventually got underway at 18:00. An incident on the opening lap resulted in an early Safety Car as riders settled into their positions, with Shelton and Stephenson sitting comfortably inside the top six. As action resumed, it was all-or-nothing across the field as riders jostled for position and saw Shelton slip down the order by the midway stage. However, a strong comeback in the final laps saw him reclaim his spot inside the six, following Stephenson across the line.

Sole PHR Daytona 660 rider Cameron Dawson battled his way to tenth at the chequered flag as teammate Harrison Dessoy continues his recovery from a training crash in September.

The Macadam Triumph Factory Racing team endured a mixed weekend as Lewis Smart narrowly missed out on a points finish. The Bedfordshire rider sat on the cusp of the points throughout the race, but was unable to break inside the points-paying positions across the ten-lap race. Katie Hand suffered a setback on the grid, which resulted in her starting behind the pack, but she pushed on to cross the finish line in 31st.

The Pirelli National Sportbike Championship reaches its conclusion at Brands Hatch on October 17-19.

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Katie Hand - Race: 31st

"A weekend filled with mixed emotions really, we didn’t get the track time we should have due to the bad weather which was very unfortunate so our grid positions went off practice times. Going into the race I accidently overshot my grid position in which I was made to start from pitlane, however I got stuck into the race and made it count, it was the first dry session of the weekend but I thoroughly enjoyed it!! Now onto Brands in 2 weeks time."

Jayden Martin

"Not the weekend we wanted with crashing in both practices and injuries to my leg, I was not able to participate in the rest of the weekend.

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Pirelli National Sportbike Championship, Race Results

1. Fenton Seabright (FHS Racing)

2. Kas Beekmans (VLR / NIWA Racing

3. Alfie Davidson (SENCAT By Swan Racing)

5. Rhys Stephenson (Rocket Racing)

6. Zak Shelton (XMT Racing)

10. Cameron Dawson (CD Racing by PHR)

12. Taylor Rose (London Fire & Security)

17. Lewis Smart (Macadam Factory Triumph Racing)

20. Kieran Kent (BlueMotion Racing by GP Products Ltd)

31. Katie Hand (Macadam Factory Triumph Racing)

Pirelli National Sportbike Championship Standings

1. Kas Beekmans (260 points)

2. Fenton Seabright (209 points)

3. Ferre Fleerackers (209 points)

5. Harrison Dessoy (186 points)

7. Rhys Stephenson (140 points)

9. Thomas Strudwick (89 points)

10. Taylor Rose (79 points)

17. Zak Shelton (31 points)

18. Jayden Martin (30 points)

19. Lewis Smart (29 points)