Tom Weeden BSB Round 2 Thruxton Triumph Triple Challenge

Only four days after the first round at Brands Hatch, Tom Weeden was back in action at the Thruxton circuit for round two of his Triumph Triple Challenge campaign. After walking away from the first round in 3rd position overall in the championship, Weeden was eager to challenge for a podium position this time out.

Held wearer Tom Weeden- currently 5th in the Triumph Triple Challenge standings

In first practice he took it relatively steady to learn the track at first, and then started to concentrate on suspension set up for the bumpy Thruxton circuit. Weeden ended the first session in only 14th position but was confident the set up changes he had worked on would allow him to go much faster in the second practice session. Weeden went much quicker in the second session and ended up posting the 5th quickest time after spending most of the session in 3rd place.

The rain came down for the Qualifying session on Saturday. Weeden went out feeling fairly confident on the wet track. He immediately found that the track was fairly grippy and that he could push much harder than was possible at Brands Hatch the weekend before.  In a constantly changing grid Tom put his fastest lap time of the session in on his final lap in order to give Weeden his first ever Triumph Triple Challenge pole position.

Weeden felt confident he could push at the front for race 1 from pole position on the now dry track. Unfortunately Tom uncharacteristically got off to a poor start and was down into 4th position by the first corner. He moved up into 3rd on lap 2 before dropping back into 4th on lap 3 in which Atkinson overtook Weeden into Cobb making contact with Tom as he was fully leant over. Luckily he kept in control and stayed on the bike but slipped back into 5th. The race was then stopped early with 1 lap to go due to a crash from a rider in front of Tom which promoted him up to 4th position.  Tom posted the 5th quickest lap of the race and as such would start from 5th position for race 2.

Tom opted for a gamble for race two in order to find him a bit of extra rear grip. He went for both a gearing and a suspension change however soon found out that it had not paid off once the race was underway. Weeden didn’t get the start he was hoping for and dropped down to 6th position at the end of lap 1. He withheld the efforts of the riders behind him up as he struggled with the new set up but tried to pull a gap on the pack behind him. Unfortunately the suspension gamble had really affected the bike and he suffered with grip during the later part of the race causing Weeden to drop back to 7th on lap 8. 

Unfortunately he could not keep with the pace of 6th position man Hutchins but Tom managed to hold off the riders behind him to cross the line in 7th place after a difficult ride.

This leaves Tom in 5th place in the championship now due to a change in the scoring system; however Tom is confident he will go well at the Oulton Park circuit for round 3 in 3 weeks time.

"Having suffered in the latter part of race 1 with loss of rear grip the team decided to gamble on some on some major changes for race 2 however these didn’t work as well as we had hoped, had we had a warm up session on Sunday morning this would have been apparent and we could have reverted to the previous settings, still lessons learned looking forward to Oulton.”

For more information on Tom Weeden please visit www.tomweeden.com

For more information on Held and to find your nearest UK stockist please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Tom Weeden BSB Round 1 Brands Hatch Triumph Triple Challenge

Held Wearer Tom Weeden made the best of a difficult weekend last weekend at Brands Hatch for round 1 of the Triumph Triple Challenge, walking away 3rd in the championship after difficulties with the set up of his new Triumph 675 bike in practice and qualifying.  Only a few days previously had Weeden confirmed his entry into the series after his European Superstock 600 campaign was cut short at the first round. 

Triumph Triple Challenge racer Tom Weeden and his Held leathers

 A blown engine in testing and another at the end of the first race at Imola Italy in addition to a sponsor pulling out at the last minute  left the team with insufficient funds to contest further rounds in the near future.  Luckily T3 Racing stepped up to help Weeden race in 2012 with a supported ride in the Triumph Triple Challenge.

Tom concentrated on suspension set up rather than lap times in the limited free practice time he had. Despite finishing 12th fastest, Weeden was confident that the suspension changes had worked and that he had a lot more time to find in the qualifying session. New rubber was put on and Weeden went 1.3 seconds faster round the Brands Hatch Indy circuit. He was holding 5th position when he decided to pull in and save his tyres for the race. Unfortunately the gamble didn’t pay off and he ultimately dropped down to 11th, however Weeden had put considerably less laps on the tyres than his competition, and  he was hoping that would pay off in the first race. Further suspension changes were made for the race and Tom was confident that it would allow him to push for a top 5 position.

A crash in the previous race caused a long delay to race one however by the restart Weeden was fired up and ready to go on a drying track with wet tyres on (so much for conserving his dry’s). From 11th on the grid Tom got a great drive off the line and rode aggressively into turn 1 moving right up the pack into 5th position. He took a few laps to analyse the conditions on track and then started to put the pressure on Piers Hutchins and Phil Atkinson. On lap 9, Weeden made his move on Hutchins and set his sights on Atkinson in 3rd. Tom made his move on lap 11, getting the run out of Paddock Hill bend and passing Phil on the entry to Druids. 

He was in for a podium however on lap 13 Atkinson made his way back past Tom and Weeden decided to settle for 4th and some solid points as his wet tyres started to increasingly deteriorate on the drying track and in a flashback to last year didn’t want to end in the gravel. He had put in the 5th fastest lap of race, pushing Weeden up to 5th on the grid for race 2 on Monday where he felt he could push for a podium finish.
 
The weather considerably worsened for the second race. Weeden opted for further wet weather changes on the grid after the sighting lap, and that choice ended up being detrimental to his grip levels in the race as he went too soft with the suspension. Tom didn’t get off the line well and dropped several places into the first corner. Luckily this allowed him to stay out of the first corner carnage that saw 3 of the riders in front of him crash out. The suspension was entirely wrong and Tom was really struggling to get heat in the tyre and find some grip in the slippery conditions. Weeden was in 10th on lap 5 when an incident at turn 1 caused the race to be red flagged and the riders pulled into the pits.

Tom corrected the changes and made a few further changes to the bike that would allow him to push harder and challenge at the front where he felt he should be. He was eager for the restart however unfortunately the race had to be declared and half points were awarded. This pushed Tom up to 3rd overall in the championship and he is looking forward to being back out next weekend at Thruxton where is hoping to challenge for podium positions.

For more information on Tom Weeden please visit www.tomweeden.com

For more information on Held Biker Gear and to find your nearest stockist please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Held wearer Tom Weeden- Imola European Superstock 600

Held wearer Tom Weeden had a baptism of fire in his debut wildcard appearance of the season in the European Superstock 600cc championship at Imola, Italy. The 18 year old from Maidstone, Kent planned to attend up to 6 of the European rounds however two blown engines in testing and at the first round this weekend have left little room in the budget to contest further rounds. 

Racer Tom Weeden and his Held Suit

However a lifeline has been thrown to Weeden in the form of a T3 Racing sponsored ride in the Triumph Triple Challenge. Tom finished 8th overall with a best result of 4th in his rookie 600cc season in the Triumph Triple Challenge in 2011, but will be aiming for a top 3 finish this year. The team will continue to endeavour to find the funds to contest in as many European rounds as possible with a view to doing a full season in 2013 if financial sponsorship can be acquired. 


A blown engine during testing left Weeden on the backfoot immediately due to lack of track and set up time on the bike prior to the first round. The set up changes he had managed to make were completely thrown out with the news that the control European Pirelli tyres were different to that of the British tyres that were tested on. The Trickbits FBM Performance duo of Tom Weeden and John Simpson struggled to find a set up on their Triumph 675’s that would work with the new tyres, but by the end of the weekend Weeden felt he had found a set up that would work for the race. 


Tom was concentrating on making the necessary suspension adjustments during practice and the 1st qualifying session and had it all to do in the 2nd session. He made further adjustments during qualifying 2 before putting new rubber on and going back out for a flying lap. Weeden bettered his previous best time by a full second and put his Trickbits FBM Peformance Triumph on 28th position out of a grid of 38 riders. Tom was pleased to qualify in 28th considering that he had been struggling with set up all weekend and was confident he could make places up in the race. 


Weeden got off the line brilliantly in the race and made up several places round the outside into turn one moving up into 21th position. He then ran wide at the hairpin and dropped back several places. Tom had a massive moment on the first lap going into the fast downhill braking Rivazza corner. Weeden left the braking too late and it looked as if he was going to go straight into teammate John Simpson. He squeezed the brakes as hard as he could to avoid hitting John and somehow managed to miss John and get the bike turned for the corner, however he lost several more places doing so. At the end of the first lap Tom was in 27th position but was eager to start picking off the riders ahead of him. However at the end of the 2nd lap a rider crashed ahead of Weeden at the last chicane causing Tom to shut off to avoid the carnage. 


This lost him further places and a lot of time on the pack ahead. Weeden rode a fairly lonely race from then on, however on lap 8 he made a mistake going into the hairpin, accidentally selecting neutral causing him to sit up to select first gear and losing him another position, putting him in 28th place. Tom remained in 28th, however on the last lap on the exit to the last chicane the engine blew and he just managed to cross the line before rolling to a stop at the side of the track covered in oil that had sprayed from the engine. 


Weeden is back out for the first round of the Triumph Triple Challenge at Brands Hatch next weekend where he is hoping to be a podium contender. 


For more information on Tom Weeden visit www.tomweeden.com


For more information on Held bikegear please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

RACING'S ABOUT TO START! WHO'S WEARING HELD?

Here at Held we have great confidence in our gear- it's nice that motorcycle racers do, too.

National Superstock 1000 racer- Seb Bulpin

This season we've got an impressive list of racers wearing our kit, watch out for them 'cos we sure will!


Here's the list:


Seb Bulpin- BSB National Superstock 1000 www.sebbulpinracing.com
Danny Imberg- Michelin Cup, North Gloucester 2 stroke GP class
Mike Edwards- Ducati 848 challenge
Darvill Racing- www.darvillracing.co.uk
Leon Jeacock- British Superstock 600
Ryan Myler- Ducati 848 Challenge
Scot Adam- Ducati 848 challenge
Tom Weeden- Triumph Triple Challenge www.tomweeden.com
Gary Mason- British Superbikes
Scott Smart- British Superbikes
David Jones- British Supersport 600
Matthew Jones- British Superstock 600

Justin Yates- Hottrax Championship www.aeonracingteam.com
Kurt & Matt Wigley- www.wigleyracing.com

BSB racer and Held wearer Scott Smart

If we've missed anyone off please yell and we'll add them!!

To look at our online catalogue or find a Held dealer please visit www.held-uk.co.uk