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

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