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Team News
30/06/2008 :: Mallory Park
Mallory Park played host to the latest round of the British Supersport Cup this weekend, once more accompanied by the unpredictable British weather. Round 6 gave
Alastair Fagan the opportunity to successfully gain hard-earned points and a podium finish.
Valuable testing prior to the meeting succeeded in ironing out Snetterton’s technical difficulties, seeing Fagan putting in laps that refined the set-up of the bike in preparation for a return to the podium.
The first qualifying session saw Fagan running in the top ten for most of the session, before finishing eighteenth overall and second in the Cup. His second chance at qualifying proved to be frustrating,
getting blocked by a number of riders on the notoriously tight circuit, and not improving on his time. Fagan secured a sixth row start in 24th position and fourth in the Cup ranks.
The race was due to begin in dry conditions but rain did fall after the warm up laps, delaying the start for the necessary tyre changes. Despite a run-in with Craig Fitzpatrick at the hairpin, leaving the Triumph 675
damaged on the tail, Fagan advanced by eight places from his start position, putting him second in the Cup for most of the race. After an intense final few laps he slipped to 3rd in the Cup and eighteenth overall,
allowing him to retain his position in the Cup standings, opening up the prospect of a podium finish to the season.
Team Manager James Holland commented “We’re in a position to prove what the bike is capable of and what Fagan can do with it. It’s taken some time to warm up, but we’re there now and we’re chomping at the bit to do even better.”
Rider Alastair Fagan, also full-time journalist for Fast Bikes magazine, added “I wanted a better position, I could have had it which makes me ambitious for the next round and we’re working on it. I’m not really a fan of Mallory,
and I'm just pleased to walk away with a decent result and a podium. We’ve got two weeks now to focus on getting even better.”
Round 7 will take the team to Oulton Park from 18-20
July, a familiar circuit for JHS Racing who are anticipating another positive round with greater success.
17/06/2008 :: Snetterton
Round 5 of the British Supersport Cup at the infamous, fast circuit of Snetterton.
The weekend saw a mixed backdrop of storms and glorious sunshine, with JHS Racing looking for a creditable weekend.
The team gained positive results in the first qualifying session, with Alastair Fagan’s best lap of 1.09.4 just 1.7 seconds off pole position.
The second qualifying session saw the weather conditions deteriorate with rain dampening the chances of any faster laps, and the team chose not
to challenge the conditions and stayed in the pits. Fagan’s first qualifying session put him on row 7 of the grid and finishing 3rd in the Supersport
cup and 26th overall.
However, this weekend should have seen Fagan on the podium again but, due to an electrical fault with the bike, it sadly put Fagan out of the race on
the first lap. This means the team will now take on Mallory Park in 2 weeks time in an effort to claw back some points and get Fagan back on the podium.
Racer/journalist Fagan commented, “I’m bitterly disappointed about the lack of results this weekend after the hard work put in by the team; I know I could
have finished in the top 3 of the Cup this weekend and I’m raring to be let loose at Mallory in a few weeks.”
James Holland, team manager added, “Practice and the first qualifying session went really well and Alastair and the bike look as though they are made for one another.
I’m really disappointed with the electrical fault, but we can fight back at Mallory and I’m positive we can earn points.”
29/05/2008 :: Donington
A wind and
rain-lashed round 5 of the British Supersport Cup at Donington Park saw JHS Racing moving
forward despite more bad luck.
Practice day was hampered by a damaged front disc on the dry bike, resulting in only a handful of laps for Fagan on the 675.
Disappointed, the team started work on the bike ready for qualifying on Sunday.
With the damaged bike costing valuable practice time the qualifying sessions were spent playing catch-up. The first session was dry with
Fagan’s lap times taking him into the top 20 and then finally finishing 28th.
Fagan, a good wet weather rider, looked forward to the afternoon’s very damp qualifying session, which saw him in the top 5 for most of
the 40 minute duration and finishing an encouraging 11th fastest in the tricky conditions.
Race day brought severe wind, but Fagan got off to a great start as he weaved through the pack to reach 19th on the first lap. He dropped
back to 25th and had a race-long dice with 2006 Supersport Cup champion Pete Spalding, as the pair exchanged places on nearly every lap.
Although 5th in the Cup on the day, Fagan now stands 4th in the privateer’s championship, just one point behind 3rd place man and fellow
ex-R6 Cupper, Dean Hipwell.
JHS Racing would like to thank their sponsors,
Motorex, Death Industries and Five Toes
Construction.
12/05/2008 :: Oulton Park
Oulton Park and
the re-run of Brands Hatch provided a fantastic
platform for JHS Racing to further progress their
work on the Triumph Daytona 675. Continued
engineering and improvement through data logging by
team manager, James Holland, saw the team running
three bikes at Oulton Park with Australian Brendan
Clarke taking a wild card ride. Clarke’s invitation
to ride for the team may be extended if the budget
can be raised!
The team wish to help him pursue his ambition in
British racing and are supporting him to do this as
he competes in the R1 Cup where he finished sixth at
Oulton Park.
Inclement weather conditions on race day took its
toll on the team’s final result at Oulton Park,
combined with a red flag interrupting the first
race. Fagan finished 23rd in the championship and
4th in the cup, but still holding onto his overall
position of 3rd and Clarke finishing 22nd.
At Brands Hatch, Alastair Fagan finished 19th after
starting 34th on the grid due to technical
difficulties and weather conditions in the
qualifying session at the first round at Brands
Hatch in April (SNOW). This result sees him hold
onto 3rd position in the Supersport cup overall.
James Holland comments “I’m really happy with the
set-up of the bikes now and we have finished this
weekend as the only non-factory supported team with
a Triumph in the top 20. I’m confident we are going
to take these bikes further and prove what the team
are made of.”
Alastair Fagan said “I’m delighted with the bike,
and really feel as though the team can make some
real progress in the Cup. Despite my poor qualifying
position, I’m pleased with the result from this
weekend. I’m looking forward to putting in some
quick lap times at Donington and pushing myself to
the limit to keep us up in the top 20”.
JHS Racing would like to thank their sponsors,
Motorex, Death Industries and Five Toes
Construction.
20/04/2008
::
Round 2, Thruxton
Round two at Thruxton Circuit saw a positive start for JHS Racing, with their assault for the 2008 British Supersport Cup firing on all
three cylinders for the forthcoming season. Despite the lack of dry testing prior to the start of the season, racer/journalist Alastair Fagan
put in close lap times both in qualifying and in the race, finishing 3rd in the cup and an overall result of 23rd.
Team Manager, James Holland said “This round worked out really well for us, we used telemetry to follow our progress and how Fagan was
performing in practice and qualifying. Over the forthcoming rounds, we’re aiming to use it to gain a competitive advantage.”
Fagan added, “Obviously, I’m very pleased with how the weekend panned out for us. We were on the gas from the first practice session,
and I’ve proved we can run at the front. We’re all raring to go for Oulton Park in a couple of weeks”.
Fagan also competed as a guest in
the KTM Super Duke Battle, which placed him fourth on the grid after qualifying, he then went on to win the race, seeing him with two podium
finishes this weekend.
25/03/2008
::
Pre-season test, Snetterton
The Easter weekend saw appalling weather conditions
engulf the Snetterton circuit for the pre-season
test, with bitterly cold gale-force winds,
torrential rain and even snow placing severe
constraints on the proceedings. In spite of all this
we still managed to make good use of the limited
track time. With Alastair posting some competitive
lap times this was a valuable opportunity to
evaluate the many new components we're using on the
675 this year, and we were pleased to see how much
the bike has been improved over the last six months
of development. Our electronics package - one of the
key elements of our platform for 2008 - is still at
an early stage, but even with the restrictions
imposed by the weather we came away with some
useful data, enabling us to make important
refinements to this system in preparation for the
first race at Brands Hatch at the beginning of
April.
18/03/2008 ::
Further team changes & challenges
Contractual complications have resulted in JHS
Racing parting company with Team Buff, meaning that
we now enter the season as JHS Racing Triumph. The
early part of this year has proved to be a
challenging time behind the scenes and like others
we have found ourselves affected by the impact of
wider developments. We are also sorry to announce
that we enter the season without Brendan Clarke as a
confirmed rider. We are still in contact with
Brendan and hope that we may even see him making
some wildcard rides for us during the season, but
for now we go forward with Alastair Fagan as our
sole principal team rider in 2008.
07/02/2008 ::
Changes to team status
Following
recent changes in the Triumph factory's position on
official team support, JHS Team Buff will now be
contesting the 2008 season with independent,
privateer status. Whilst these changes have led to
some confusing reports in the press their impact
upon the team is likely to be marginal. The team
remains fully committed to the potential of the
Daytona 675 as a strong competitive platform and we
approach the coming season with complete confidence
that our combination of talented riders and
race-winning engineering experience will see us
mounting a formidable challenge in the British Super
Sport series.
JHS Racing’s James Holland, the team’s engineering
manager, says “While factory support can be a
valuable asset we’ve actually never seen it as a
critical requirement. In fact, from an engineering
perspective, it can often be easier to develop a
race bike in an independent role. We’d already found
more power from the 675 engine during 2007 using our
own tuning techniques and early tests show that our
2008 machines are delivering even bigger gains. With
the freedom to pursue our own strategy regarding
components, engine and fuel management systems I’m
confident that we’ll be fielding a highly
competitive package to support the skill and
determination of our riders.”
14/12/2007 ::
Brendan Clarke confirmed to ride for Team Buff JHS
Racing
Team Buff JHS
Triumph are delighted to welcome the talented and
accomplished Australian racer Brendan Clarke to lead
our 2008 British Supersport challenge. Find out more
about Brendan in the rider profiles.
22/11/2007 ::
Team Buff JHS
Triumph launch at Motorcycle Show
Team Buff JHS
Triumph was officially launched on the Triumph stand at the NEC motorcycle show. The JHS-developed Triumph 675 was on display
on the stand in its 2007 livery and drew much interest from show visitors.
Team rider Alastair Fagan was also in attendance.
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