Racer and Held wearer Tom Weeden's TT report

So in hindsight TT 2018 wasn't all so bad..

I finished all 5 races, we overcame a multitude of problems in both practice and in the races themselves, I went faster than I've ever been before and I'm still in one piece and fit to race another day.

As a racer I'm never happy with my results.. they can always be better and that's what drives me to return each year and better my own achievements. I don't want to be out there just to make up the numbers and stack up finishers medals and bronze replicas. I need that silver replica on my mantelpiece..

However, on the bikes and budget that I'm running on in comparison to the teams I'm racing against I don't think I did myself an injustice.

The last 6 lap Superbike race was a real struggle. I caught a bug of some kind that's left me with no energy. I was in bits after lap 1 and was making mistakes all over the place struggling to concentrate. My body was aching all over and just to finish was a triumph in itself. The TT is a real test of body and machinery and we came out on top in that one. Probably the hardest race of my life just to get a finish.

I'll come back next year hopefully on new machinery and we'll build on what I've learnt this year in which is effectively my first full TT.

This time last year I was in a neck brace with an unstable fracture of the C6 vertebrae, an unstable fracture in my T5 and two other fractures in my T6 and 7 after crashing in the first Supersport race. So I can't grumble with what I've achieved this year really 🤷🏻‍♂️

Thoughts remain with Dan Kneen and Adam Lyon and their family and friends. Also with all other riders injured in crashes at this years TT, particularly fellow Maidstone man, Steve Mercer. Keep fighting mate.

Massive thank you to Steve Weeden, Andy, Heidi Cockerton, Steve Ryder-Clague, James Cherry, Ian West and Mick Feekings who all played a part in the team and worked tirelessly to allow me to live the dream. Thank you so much.

Shout out to my boy Brad Ray also for flying over to help out 🙌🏼

Also a huge thank you to my sponsors and all my Club 77 members for riding on board with me this season! This wouldn't be possible without you and I can't give my appreciation enough.

Thanks also to everyone who supported me on here and in person at the TT 🙌🏼

We're very proud of you at Held UK Tom! 

A true gent and a great racer!

Tom Weeden's race report: Manx Senior GP win!!

Maidstone rider Tom Weeden sailed into the Isle of Man's Douglas Harbour a few weeks ago, determined to win a Manx GP. He kept all his fans waiting until the last race of the meeting, the most prestigious Full Factory Winnerswear Senior race, when he battled hard to take the win on the TT Mountain Course, beating local Manxman Andrew Dudgeon in a thrilling four lap race. Tom's pit board at the end of the third lap told him he was 9 seconds adrift and at that point he felt his chances of winning slipping away. 

In his own words "I had nothing to lose, so I decided I was going for a 120mph lap, having come so close in practice, and gave it everything". He threw caution to the wind, relaxed into a rhythm and, spurred on by his pit boards around the circuit, drew level and passed Dudgeon on the climb to the Bungalow. They matched each other for speed on the run-in to the Grandstand, Dudgeon crossed the line ahead and the crowd knew Tom had to cross the line within thirty nail-biting seconds to grab the win... he did it with 0.674 seconds to spare and became a Manx GP winner - mission accomplished.

The icing on the cake was that Tom's last lap averaged a staggering 121.1mph. He joins the "Tommy Club", an elite group of only 10 riders who have circulated at over 120mph, a club established in memory of Tommy "Spook" Clucas, the first Manx GP rider to do so, with an average speed of 120.28mph in 2004. Sadly Tommy Clucas lost his life at Ballaugh Bridge later in that same race.

Tom's next outing will be at the Gold Cup in Scarborough later this month, but now the hard work really starts for the privateer team, Tom and his mechanic Dad, Steve, as they attempt to raise sufficient funds to compete at the TT in 2017, Tom now being eligible for the most famous road race in the world. 

Held UK are proud to supply leathers and gloves for Tom! To learn more about Held in the UK please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Held Racer update: Tom Weeden - Olivers Mount Gold Cup 2015

Tom Weeden - Olivers Mount Gold Cup 2015

Tom Weeden ended his 2015 road racing campaign with a weekend of highs and lows at the International Olivers Mount Gold Cup last weekend. The rising 21 year old pure roads racer was in high spirits going into the meeting on the back of a successful two weeks out on the Isle of Man for the Manx GP, where he walked away with an 8th and 6th place finish in the Junior and Senior races and a personal best average of 118.1mph around the 37.73mile course. 

Saturday proved to be the ideal conditions for Weeden as the rain came down strong in the morning. Tom favours wet conditions around the Olivers Mount circuit as it levels out the playing field against the top TT riders on far superior machinery. John McGuiness, Bruce Anstey, Michael and William Dunlop, Ryan Farquhar, Dean Harrison, Lee Johnston and Ivan Lintin who have all either won or been on the podium in Isle of Man TT races were in attendance. Racing against the big factory backed teams, the privateer “Dad and lad” team would have their work cut out for a top 10 finish amongst an extremely high quality field of riders.

Practice boded well for Weeden as he went 3rd fastest in both the 600cc category and the practice for the main event – the Gold Cup, in very tricky wet conditions. Tom followed this up with a brilliant 2nd position in the 600cc qualifying session to place himself in the centre of the front row for the race later that day. Unfortunately he made a slight error on his final and fastest lap in the Gold Cup qualifying session running slight wide at the end of the back straight. 

He ended up in 5th missing out on 4th place by 0.1second from William Dunlop. This didn’t deter Weeden, he knew if he got off the line well he could battle it out with the big names. He still had several top class riders on 1000cc machines behind him, whereas Tom was riding his own teams 2011 spec Triumph 675 with a huge a power deficit and considerably less electronics aids. 

The rain had subsided a little by the time of the first 600 race, but wet tyres were still the only option as it remained wet under the sections of track that were covered by trees. After getting off to a decent start, Tom held 3rd place half way through the first lap. Daley Mathison crashed out of the lead at Memorial Hairpin and Tom took the opportunity in the ensuing chaos to drive past Lee Johnston who had been tangled up in the crash although remained upright himself. 

This put Weeden into the lead. It didn’t last long however as Tom took a particularly tight defensive line into the Mountside Hairpin. By over defending his line to block anyone shooting past on the inside on the brakes Tom made the already extremely tight and slow hairpin even tighter. The front tyre gave way at the apex of the corner sending Tom and his bike sliding down the track. Fortunately it was a very slow crash and both Weeden and the bike were unscathed barring a broken footpeg. 

Understandably he was quite annoyed with himself after crashing out of the lead but remained positive for the next and last race of the day – The Cock o’ the North main race that was cancelled last time at Olivers Mount due to an oil spillage covering most of the circuit.

Starting from 6th on the grid Tom didn’t make a great start and dropped a position into the first corner to demote him into 7th at the end of lap 1. On lap 2 Mark Goodings ran wide at Drurys hairpin allowing Tom to move back into 6th before closing in the other Goodings, Mick. He remained calm and passed Mick on the brakes around the outside going into Memorial bend at the end of the back straight. On the 5th lap Ivan Lintin crashed out in front of Tom promoting him into 4th position. He pulled out a gap on Mick Goodings and cruised home into a creditable 4th place which made up for the earlier disappointment in the 600 race. 

The sun came out for Sundays day of racing, which meant it would be difficult to match the pace of the TT riders on far superior machinery. The organisers decided to make the riders requalify for all races as conditions were completely different and probably also because a few of the big names hadn’t qualified for the main race. A slightly unfair decision but there was nothing Tom could do about it so had to bite his lip and forget his qualifying positions from Saturday. 

The track was still wet in places but Tom decided to run dry tyres for the 3 lap requalifier as the wet tyres would be destroyed in a couple of laps and the team simply cannot afford to do that. A few of the team riders decided to go with wets or inters and Weeden couldn’t match their pace through the wet sections of the circuit.  He went 9th fastest in the 600cc session after making an error on the final lap and running over the curb, losing a chunk of time in the process. 

In the Gold Cup qualifying session Tom felt he was being held up by the riders in front of him on lap 2 so he sat up and allowed a gap to form so he could get one fast lap in on the 3rd and final lap. Unfortunately he made a slight error going into the final Farm Bends section of track and ran onto the grass on the exit. This washed out the front end causing him to hurtle into the bushes at a fast pace. Fortunately the bushes offered a relatively soft landing and once he had crawled out of them he realised the bike wasn’t too badly damaged either. 

Full credit to the Held leathers/gloves, Daytona boots and LS2 Helmets that Weeden uses which allowed him to walk away from the high speed crash with not a single mark on him and ready to compete in the rest of the meeting. After sitting up on his 2nd lap he lost a lot of time and only posted the 15th fastest time. Despite this he had still out qualified a few of the TT superstars who were then proceeded to be slotted in front of him on the grid, again making a mockery of the whole qualifying process.  Tom was due to start the Gold Cup race in 18th position and wasn’t particularly pleased about it after originally qualifying 5th on Saturday. 

First up was the Gold Cup race, by now dry tyres were the right call with only a few wet patches remaining under the trees. Weeden needed to get off the line well from so far back and he did just that. He went into the first corner aggressively and got past several riders into turn 1.  John McGuinness then went down in front of Tom giving him an extra position and 3 laps later so did Michael Dunlop. He kept his head down and caught a pack of riders. Unfortunately with the extra power of the 1000cc bikes it made it difficult to force a pass as he lost too much time along the straights and on the torque out of the hairpins. 

Tom found himself in 12 place with one lap to go. He forced his way past Jamie Coward on the brakes into turn 1 but was too far away from the riders in front to make a move. Weeden put in his fastest lap of the race in on the last lap to pull a gap and defend his 11th position to the line, eventually taking the chequered flag with a 2 second gap to 12th position. It was a case of making the best of a bad situation after a difficult qualifying process. 

With one race left of the season, Weeden was determined to make the 600 race a good one. He got a lightning start from 9th on the grid to slot into 7th on lap 1. Dan Hegarty slotted past on the second lap to demote Tom to 8th. He remained calm and passed Mick Goodings on lap 3 to briefly return to 7th before Lee Johnston went through on the next lap. Tom couldn’t match the pace of Johnston who quickly got away but clung on for long enough to bridge the gap that had formed to Dan Hegarty in front.  

Tom passed Hegarty and Bruce Anstey to move into 6th at the end of lap 5. The pack was starting to draw in William Dunlop and James Cowton in front for the battle for 4th. Unfortunately for Tom, Hegarty made a brave pass on him on the brakes into turn 1 causing him to sit up mid corner and lose a bit of time. 

Weeden tried to chase Hegarty down but wasn’t close enough on the last lap and had to settle for 7th place. He was happy enough with the result considering the class of the field, but felt a top 5 could have been possible. 

That’s the season complete for Tom. He is still undecided on whether to compete at the Manx GP again and go for glory or move up to the TT and also the Ulster GP. Ultimately it all relies on funding but wherever he ends up he’d  like to secure a ride on a Supertwin bike for the 2016 to add to the track time available at race meetings. One thing’s for sure, he’ll be back at the Olivers Mount circuit that he loves where he is hoping to secure more podium finishes. 

Want to know more about Held motorcycle gear in the UK, including a list of stockists and and online catalogue? Check out www.held-uk.co.uk

Held Race News: Podium for Tom Weeden at Olivers Mount

Tom Weeden Olivers Mount Cock o’ the North 2015

Tom Weeden was back in action last weekend at the Olivers Mount Cock o’ the North road races in Scarborough. After a successful week at the North West 200 back in May, Weeden couldn’t wait to get back on the bike and back to the Olivers Mount circuit. Unfortunately the meeting had to be reduced to one day due to an issue with the Scarborough council; despite this the team still made the long journey up in order to get some track time before the Manx GP in August.

Tom Weeden: 3rd behind Lee Johnston and Dean Harrison

The rain came down heavily on Sunday morning, much to Tom’s delight after his success in wet conditions at the Spring Cup. After the first few groups had gone out for morning practice the rain started to come down too hard to continue. The organisers decided to call a delay of an hour for the rain to pass with Weeden’s 600 session being the first back on track. 

As forecasted the rain died down after an hour and Tom was out for the 3 laps of practice he would get to reacquaint himself with both the bike and the track before qualifying. Weeden took it easy in the wet conditions, short shifting and not taking any risks and was pleasantly surprised to see himself 4th fastest on the timesheets.

The track had begun to dry for qualifying and it would all be down to tyre choice. The nature of the Olivers Mount circuit meant parts of the track would be dry but the parts under the trees would still be wet. After a lot of nail biting and deliberation on what tyres to go for, Tom decided to go for an intermediate in the front and a heavily worn wet rear that he didn’t mind destroying which had been saved for a moment exactly like this. 

The call proved to be perfect with Tom taking two laps to get used to the tricky conditions without using up too much of the rear tyre on the dry parts. Then on the 4th and final lap Tom found himself a bit of space on track and put a quick lap in fast enough for 3rd position on the grid, 2.2 seconds faster than 4th position and only 1 second off of pole. 

The track had mostly dried up for the first 600cc race, full dry tyres being the choice for all on the grid. Tom’s once trademark flying starts have been something he’s been missing this year so he was hoping to at least consolidate third position into turn 1 front the front row. Unfortunately this didn’t happen, Weeden dropt to 7th into turn 1 after getting beaten up a bit off the line. He moved into 6th halfway through the lap but the front pack had begun to pull away. At the end of the first lap the red flags came out due to an incident that needed clearing, giving Tom another chance to sort his start out. 

The start was better in the rerun but still far from perfect, Weeden was in 6th but this time right on the tail of the chasing pack. On lap 2 he moved into 5th when a rider in front crashed causing Tom to take evasive action. The race continued and Weeden found himself behind Daley Mathison trying everything to find a way past. On the last lap Daley showed Tom half a gap at the end of the back straight and he didn’t need asking twice to come through into 4th. With half a lap to go Ivan Lintin had an off in front of Tom leaving him to take 3rd position. 

This boded well for the remainder of the meeting in which Tom had one more 600 race and then the main Cock o’ the North race. Unfortunately though an incident in which a sidecar spilt oil over a large proportion of the track caused a lengthy delay. Despite even getting the fire brigade to come and clean the circuit it was deemed too unsafe to continue due to the amount of oil covering the circuit. On a road circuit with very limited run off rider safety has to paramount and we respect the unfortunate decision to have to call an early end to an already shortened meeting. 

Looking at the positives Weeden can go to the Manx GP with himself and his bike in one piece and on the back of another great podium result at Olivers Mount. 

If you'd like to learn more about Held Motorcycle gear in the UK please visit www.held-uk.co.uk for a list of UK stockists and our online catalogue

NW200 Race Report from Held wearer Tom Weeden

Tom Weeden - 2015 International North West 200 

Tom Weeden was back in action last week at the International North West 200 in Northern Ireland. The 21 year old from Maidstone, Kent was up against the big teams and the best pure road racers from around the world but the Dad and lad team came away with top results.

Tom Weeden- two 17th place finishes bettered last years performance

Taken place on 8.970 miles of road that link Portstewart, Coleraine and Port Rush the North West 200 is one of the fastest road races in the world with speeds reaching in excess of 200mph in the Superbike class. Weeden made his debut at the meeting last year and achieved respectable results of 24th and 20th in the Supersport class for 600cc machines but was hoping for better in 2015 on his Triumph 675.

The initial timed practice/qualifying session on Tuesday didn’t go great for Tom. After the build-up waiting on the grid, the tyrewarmers were removed and all the riders prepared to set off on dry tyres. But the unpredictable Irish weather took a turn for the worse the moment Tom released the clutch to set off on his first lap. He cruised round the lap not wanting to take any risks on dry tyres with the now soaking wet road. Unfortunately the Team had been caught out and only had intermediate tyres available, which although offered much more grip than the dry tyres were still not the ideal rubber for the conditions.  

He went back out and tried to make the best out of the situation but it was clear from the first lap that the inters weren’t offering much grip.  Tom usually excels in wet conditions and felt if he had the wets on he could have posted a fairly decent time, he ended the session in 24th although a top 15 could have been possible.  

The weather had improved for the second of the qualifying sessions on Thursday. Having only the 1 bike meant Weeden was down on practice time to some of the other riders who were out in several sessions. He decided to simply get some mileage in during the 45 min practice, only pitting once for fuel and possibly a minor suspension change. After 5 laps the red flags came out due to an incident forcing Weeden to return to the pits anyway. He made a minor adjustment to the preload on the front suspension, refuelled and completed another 4 laps after the restart. 

Held wearer Tom Weeden at the NW200

Tom put his fastest lap in on the very last lap showing it was the right thing to do to stay out and get reacquainted with the track rather than pit and make too many changes. That last lap put him 21st fastest behind a list of the fastest current road racers on factory bikes. Tom was very pleased with this considering he is on a 2011 spec Triumph 675 worth probably a third of some of the bikes in front. 

The weather held out for the first 6 lap race on Thursday with almost perfect conditions for racing, apart from the strong winds that would remain all week.  Unfortunately due to the way the qualifying system works Weeden was dropped to 26th on the grid for the races but was still determined to get a good result. A terrible start off the line that saw the front wheel come right in the air dropped Weeden several places going into turn 1, that mistake dropped him back to around 30th. 

He got his head down though and rode round the outside of several riders into turn 2 and then a few more on the brakes into York corner and the Mill Road Roundabout. Weeden was even on the grass at one point as he overtook one rider on the brakes before realising he wasn’t going to make the apex but rather than incur a 10 second penalty by running straight on at the chicane he somehow cut the crass and made the next corner without incident and even made the move stick. Tom was up to 23rd by the end of lap 1 and had started to make up for the disappointing launch off the line. By lap 3 he was up to 20th after putting in 2 almost identical fastest laps of his race. By the final lap Weeden was in 17th with a 15 second gap to the rider behind him. 

Despite the poor start, dropping several places back from his 26th place start position, Weeden was happy with the final outcome of the race against such experienced opposition. 

Weeden again got off to a difficult start in the second Supersport race on Saturday, this time even worse than the first race. The long gearing needed to reach speeds of 170mph combined with the tall first gear on his Triumph 675 machine making it difficult to get off the line quickly. Just like he had in the first race, Weeden rode aggressively for the first lap in order to regain the positions lost as fast as possible. By lap 3 he had worked his way up to 19th position and then on the start of lap 4 it looked as if the second half of the race was going to be extremely difficult. 

The rain started to come down at sections of the course but due to the length of the course it would be raining at one part of the circuit and bone dry and sunny at another part. Despite this the 21 year old kept his cool and moved up a further two places to 17th. On the 5th lap the rain had passed over and most of the circuit was dry again. Weeden cruised home to another 17th position finish, this time 21 seconds in front of 18th place. 
Tom is now looking forward to returning to Olivers Mount for one more meeting before competing for the 3rd time at his main event of the year, the Isle of Man Manx GP in August

Photo credits to Jim Scott ( jim.mo@rectoryforge.co.uk )

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Held wearer Tom Weeden's NW200 experience

Tom Weeden:  Vauxhall International North West 200

Tom Weeden, the 20 year old up and coming road racer from Maidstone, successfully completed his debut International NW200 last weekend in Northern Ireland. At only 20 years old Tom was the youngest entrant to the event and was keen to make an impression in the Supersport class in which he was entered on his own Triumph 675 machine.

Held wearer Tom Weeden

 
As a newcomer to the meeting Weeden was required to wear an orange bib for the practice sessions and had to complete 5 initial sighting laps behind an instructor to familiarise himself and the other newcomers with the 8.97 mile road circuit. Tom went out for his newcomers laps on Tuesday and set about making the most of the session to learn the circuit at slower than race speed. Once those 5 laps were over Weeden was straight out in first Supersport qualifying session. 

At higher speeds Tom instantly started to realise the bike had too much weight bias on the front tyre over the bumps of the NW200 circuit. He pulled in and made some changes to soften the rear and allow the bike to squat more to bring some weight to the rear and make the bike more comfortable to ride over the bumpy sections. Tom pulled in once more to make further adjustments before deciding he’d found a good setting and was ready to start putting some solid laps in. After a total of 6 laps, with only 3 being proper flying laps, Tom went 36th fastest out of the 49 riders in the Supersport class which he was relatively happy with considering it was his first ever time on the NW200 circuit and he had only completed 3 flying laps.

Tom Weeden- youngest NW200 competitor

Tom had a day off on Wednesday which he chose to use as day to see a bit of the Northern Irish coastline, taking the time to visit Joey’s Bar, the Joey / Robert  memorial gardens and Dunluce Castle. After his day off on Wednesday Weeden was back out on track on Thursday morning for the second of the two Supersport qualifying sessions prior to the first race that evening. 

Tom put a total of 8 laps in the session, with 4 off them being flying laps. He had pulled in to make a gearing change late in the session, but quickly realised this was a huge mistake as there was only 1 minute left in the session and he had lost the last chance of another flying lap. After realising his error he went straight back out to get 1 further lap in and decided to change the gearing prior to the first race. Live and learn. Weeden posted the 39th quickest time after knocking a further 5 seconds off of his 1st qualifying time. It was also in this session in which Tom posted his fastest recorded speed of the weekend at 164.2mph. 

The sun stayed out for the first Supersport race and it was  the perfect conditions for Tom to make his NW200 race debut in. From the front row of the third wave of riders Weeden made a great start and slotted behind Nuno Caetano going into Primrose Hill and the York hairpin. Tom got the drive coming out of the Mill Road Roundabout and got past in the slipstream before Station Corner. He kept his head down and tried to gap the riders behind him whilst they battled it out between them, unfortunately one rider tagged on to Tom as they broke away from the field behind.  Irish roads regular Sam Wilson passed Tom mid race and gapped him as Weeden made a mistake on one of the corners, losing the slip stream in doing so.  

Tom started to draw him back in, putting his fastest lap on the last lap of the race in the process but just wasn’t close enough at the end of the 6 lap race, crossing the line half a second behind Wilson. On the corrected time Tom had finished 24th out of 49 starters which he was over the moon with considering it was his first ever race at the International NW200 and it was a grid where any of the top 15 were potential race winners. 

Tom had another off day on Friday, and after ensuring the bike was fully prepared for the race on Saturday both Tom and his Father/Mechanic Steve went on a cultured tour arranged by the circuit pastors. They took in a few sites and stops along the tour and learnt a bit about the history of the beautiful Irish coastline. The tour culminated in a beef carvery at the Lodge Hotel which certainly set Tom right for the race the following day, a great day was had by all and the team would like to express their thanks for the invite.

Tom Weeden- one to watch!

The Final Supersport race on Saturday was fortunately the first race of the day at 10.30 in the morning. Tom was pleased with this as it meant he didn’t have to cope with the butterflies all day and could just get out and get the job done. Weeden awoke early on Saturday to overcast skies, very much a contrast to the weather they had been blessed with for the previous week. 

There had been a few showers prior to the start of the race which made tyre choice the talk of the grid. Weeden decided to run full intermediate tyres as he knew the Dunlop inter would last the race whether wet or dry. It seemed he’d made the perfect decision after 3 or so laps. Tom had made a brilliant start again from the front row of the 3rd wave of riders and set about finding where the grip was and more importantly where it wasn’t. He quickly separated himself from the rest of the pack and was exactly where he wanted to be in those kinds of conditions – with clear track in front of him. 

The track seemed to be drying and playing into Tom’s hands however after the 4th lap the rain started to come down heavier, playing more into the hands of the riders who went for at least a full wet front tyre. Weeden had a few “wake me up” moments, out of the seat on the exit of Metropole on one lap which assured Tom he should take a step back and ride for the finish. Running no pit board he had no idea what position he was in but maintained his consistency in a somewhat lonely race. That was until the red flags came out on the exit of Mathers Chicane on the 5th lap where an incident between the two race leaders, Alastair Seeley and Lee Johnston at Metropole caused the race to be finalised after the 5th lap. That placed Tom in 20th position on corrected times, which he was more than happy with.

All in all the week went exactly as planned, Weeden taking his time to learn the circuit and get up to pace before securing two solid top 25 finishes on a very strong International grid at the first attempt.

Tom now has his sights on going out to the Isle of Man for the TT on his road bike to get some more laps in prior to his second visit to the Manx GP this year. 



Held UK are pleased to support Tom Weeden. To see more about Held please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Held wearer Tom Weeden Oliver’s Mount Gold Cup

Held wearer Tom Weeden signed off his debut road racing season in fine form at the Oliver’s Mount Gold Cup road races last weekend. The 19 year old was certainly in good company with most of the big TT names attending; Tom was up against the likes of John Mcguinness, Michael and William Dunlop, Guy Martin and Bruce Anstey to name a few. Tom entered the 3 races and was certainly kept busy jumping between 2 bikes all weekend. 

Weeden: Overtook Michael Dunlop in style

 He was entered in the Supertwin races on the Trickbits FBM Performance Suzuki SV650 and also in both the David Jeffries 600cc class and the Darren Lindsay Trophy on his own Triumph 675. Tom was racing against 1000cc bikes in the Darren Lindsay Trophy but was confident that if it was wet, as the forecast said it would be, then he was in with a good chance of a decent result.

Practice went well on both bikes. In the initial practice sessions Tom went 6th fastest on his Triumph and 3rd fastest on the SV650, this was certainly a confidence boost going into qualifying and into the races. Weeden went 11th fastest in the 600 qualifying session and 13th fastest in the Supertwin session but was confident that if he got off the line well he good push for a decent result from there. 

Tom made a good start in the 1st of the Supertwin races and soon started to make up places. He crossed the line in 8th position at the end of lap 1 and momentarily dropped back to 9th before reclaiming the place back. Tom put some consistent laps together before putting his fastest lap of the race in on the last lap to cross the line in 8th behind Chris Palmer. 

Next up was the Darren Lindsay Trophy for bikes of 600cc and above. Weeden was starting at the back of the grid and so just decided to have fun and treat it as a bit of practice. He made a good start again, however on the first few laps his brakes were not working properly causing him to run wide at the hairpins. He still managed to pull the bike home in 17th place after 8 laps around the Olivers Mount road circuit but was adamant he should have finished higher if it wasn’t for the brake issue. 

In the David Jeffries Cup Tom finished 8th in both the Heat race and the first leg, but had sorted out the brake problem and was confident that he could produce a good finish in the second leg on Sunday. 

Tom only completed 1 of the two available practice sessions on Sunday morning in order to save the only set of wet tyres the team had for the races. He completed 2 laps on his Triumph and went 9th fastest and then posted the fastest time in the Supertwin session after pulling in after only 3 laps. This boosted Tom’s confidence and he knew that if it was wet for the races then he was in for a good chance of a decent result. 

After 1 lap of the 2nd leg of the Darren Lindsay Trophy the rain started to come down whilst all the riders were on dry tyres. Tom pulled in hoping to be allowed to change to wets and that the race would be restarted. The race was then halted before half distance which meant a full race restart would be made. A lot of the riders felt it was a passing shower and went for intermediate tyres or drys for the restart, Tom however decided to risk it and kept the wet tyres on hoping it would rain again otherwise he would chew up his only set of wets. From the very back on the grid Tom had nothing to lose and everything to gain and decided to go for it for the 3 lap restart. 

After 1 lap Tom had moved up into 10th. Then on the second lap the rain came down and Tom decided to gas it and make up as many places as possible. Weeden found himself in 5th going into the last lap and decided to just keep his head down and stay focused in the difficult conditions. 

On the last half of the lap he caught up with the TT stars on their 1000cc bikes and snapped up the opportunity to overtake such high profile names. Tom moved up into 2nd place, overtaking Michael Dunlop around the outside into one of the hairpins and was ecstatic as he crossed the line to take 2nd from very last on the grid. 

Tom was next out for the second leg of the David Jeffries 600 Cup. From 12th on the grid, Tom made good progress on the first lap and crossed the line in 9th position. On lap 3 Weeden moved into 8th position and set his sights on the next rider in front of him. On the fifth lap he moved into 7th place and put in some fast laps to gap the riders behind. Tom crossed the line in 7th and then was straight back out in the next race on his Supertwin bike. 

The last Supertwin race had to be restarted twice after two incidents occurred on the track. But once they got away Tom made a great start and slotted into 4th place on lap 1. The rider in front narrowly avoided highsiding in front of Tom and he had to quickly make avoiding action as he slotted up into 3rd place. He remained there for the remainder of the race to take another top 3 finish and end the season on a high. 

Tom left the Oliver’s Mount road circuit over the moon with the results he had achieved and he can’t wait to return next year.





For more information on Held in the UK please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Held wearer Tom Weeden- Donington race report

On the back of a successful weekend at the Triumph Live race meet at Mallory Park, with Held wearerTom gaining his first  podiums of the season with a 1st and 2nd position, Weeden was certainly feeling confident going into round 7 of the Triumph Triple Challenge at Donington Park last weekend. After dropping to 5th in the championship standings at Cadwell Park, Tom was eager to score as many points as possible. 

Tom Weeden- looking forward to Silverstone

Tom set about learning the track in practice and put as many laps in as possible in the time available. He posted the 9th fastest time but was confident he could find a lot of time with new rubber on in qualifying. Weeden went almost 2 seconds faster in qualifying to put him 7th on the grid after being higher up the grid early on in the session. 

From the inside position on the grid Tom got off to a great start and slotted into 6th position into turn 1. He rode aggressively into turn two and went inside of two riders going into the fast Craner curve bends to move up into 4th position. He remained in 4th position as he rode a pretty lonely race trying to keep the gap back to 5th position at a constant second and trying if possible to catch 3rd position man Chrissy Rouse. 

Tom put in some very consistent lap times however by lap 7 of 10 the gap back to 5th had been closed to only 0.2 seconds. Weeden put his head down and tried to gap the rider behind him when on lap 8 the race was red flagged and stopped due to the rider behind him crashing out at the Melbourne loop. Tom was happy with 4th and had been moved up to 4th position on the grid where he hoped he could potentially challenge for a podium. 

Weeden got off to another brilliant start in race 2 and slotted straight into 2nd position into turn 1.  He remained in 2nd until lap 4 when he dropped down to 3rd after Phil Atkinson passed him. Unfortunately Tom had a huge moment coming out of the Melbourne loop that almost saw Weeden highside, luckily he managed to stay on the bike however he had a lost 2 seconds to the riders behind him on that lap. 

Tom dropped to 4th on lap 6 after championship leader Rob Guiver passed him. He held onto 4th position for as long as he possibly could however unfortunately he lost out on lap 9 due to a false neutral to drop back into 5th position. He remained in 5th until the chequered flag and was happy to have stayed on and scored some decent points, on another note 6th position was almost 7 seconds behind Tom. 

Weeden is next out at Silverstone, a track where he qualified 2nd on last year is hoping to push for a podium position. 





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

For more information on Held in the UK and a list of stockists please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Donington Park- Racers wearing Held

We were privileged to be at Donington Park over the weekend, cheering on the racers wearing Held across five different race series.

Ducati 848 racer Sean Neary's Held Phantoms- Nice!

Here's a brief summary of how the Held wearing riders faired:

British Superbikes:

Scott Smart- 16th
Gary Mason- 20th

National Superstock 1000:

Seb Bulpin- DNF

National Superstock 600

Leon Jeacock- 20th

Ducati 848 Challenge:

Mike Edwards- 3rd, X2
Mark Cheetham- 7th & 8th
Sean Neary- 13th, 16th
Scot Adam- DNF

Triumph Triple Challenge:

Tom Weeden- 4th, 5th



Great racing as always, well done everyone!

www.held-uk.co.uk

4th in the Championship for Held wearer Weeden

Held wearer Tom Weeden endured a difficult time at Brands Hatch for round 5 of the Triumph Triple Challenge last weekend. At his local circuit Tom was hoping to be able to push for podium positions to gain as many points as possible after walking into the meeting in 3rd position in the championship. The meeting was split into two racing on both the Indy and GP circuit configurations; with practice, qualifying and one race on the Indy circuit on Friday, followed by a practice on the GP circuit on Saturday and then a race on the GP circuit on Sunday. 

Focus on Tom people- in the middle ;)

 After two months without riding due to a gap in the season, Tom got off to a slow start in practice and it was clear a few of the other riders had been out testing the circuit in the layoff period. Tom was chasing a suspension set up as he did not feel comfortable on the bike, the team made changes in pit lane however the issues still presented themselves. It was later found out when Tom pulled back into the team awning that a mechanical issue with the rear wheel was the cause of the problem and as such the suspension data achieved was incorrect. Tom was on the back foot for qualifying after having such limited practice and set up time round the circuit. He could only manage to go 17th fastest and Tom was going to have to fight through from the back if he had any chance of scoring some decent points in the races. 

Tom Weeden- huge talent, huge promise

Tom got a great drive off the line in race 1 and was up into 12 positions by the end of lap 1. Unfortunately Tom was struggling with the set up of the bike, finding it hard to turn and lacking rear grip. He dropped to 13th on lap 4 and just could match the pace of the pack in front of him. Weeden held 13th place to the finish line and was very disappointed with the way the day had panned out. He made changes for the GP track practice session on Saturday and was feeling confident he could push for a higher placed finish on Sunday. Weeden went 8th quickest in the practice session and was starting to feel more comfortable on the bike after the two month absence.

Based on laptimes in race 1 on the Indy circuit, Weeden was to start race 2 on the GP circuit from 15th on the grid, however he remained positive and felt he had the pace to push for a top 10 finish to try and salvage some points from the weekend. He made another great start and was up into 12th by the end of lap 1. He continued to push and worked his way up into 10th on lap 2, going around the outside of one rider into Surtees and then getting the drive down Pilgrims Drop to move into 10th. By lap 5 he was up into 8th position and had closed the gap to the 7th position rider. On lap 6 Tom moved into 7th position and immediately set about gapping the rider behind him. 

 Weeden had pulled a 3 second lead on the rider behind by lap 8 and was running in a comfortable 7th position. However in the last two laps of the race one rider in front pulled in with a mechanical issue and another crashed out of 2nd place on the last lap. This pushed Tom up into 5th position and he had managed to secure a good few points after a very difficult weekend. Weeden is now 4th in the overall championship and will be looking to be further up the front next time out at Cadwell Park.  Tom will try his hand at road racing this weekend at the Aberdare Park road races in Wales, racing for Trickbits Racing, where Weeden is hoping to gain some valuable experience and possibly a podium visit.

For more information on Tom Weeden please visit www.tomweeden.com and for more information on Held in the UK please visit www.held-uk.co.uk