Triumph Triple Challenge Round 2

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The wet weather eased for the Saturday morning giving the riders a drying track as 1st qualifying approached, but tyre choice was still made difficult by the cloudy and damp conditions that persisted throughout the session. “The Flying Welshman” set the fast time with round one race winner Alex Olson just 0.15 behind. TDG Cup runner Rhalf Le Turco finished top of the tree with wild card rider and 2008 series entrant Scott Rowbottom hot on his tail.
Conditions and lap times saw improvement for 2nd qualifying with Reece Rothwell pushing his way up the top of the leader board whilst Jamie Devine and Alex Olson kept him on the boil.
Superpole Race one and Reece Rothwell had claimed a Pole position start with Jamie and Alex keeping him close company on the front row, Scott Rowbottom headed up the TDG Cup with Rhalf Le Turco just over his shoulder. As the lights turned green Reece hoisted the front wheel of the Triumph only to find he had to back of the throttle allowing Alex and Jamie to claim the start. Jamie Devine had stamped his name on the lead by the time they reached coppice. With Curtis Rothwell forced to retire this left Alex Olson fighting for the lead only to be claimed by the slippery surface on lap two at Charlie’s, whilst Rhalf Le Turco continued his dominance from Brands Hatch and leads the way for the TDG Cup riders.
As the race progressed Reece Rothwell began closing down on Jamie Devine and both riders broke away from the pack. This however was to be a short lived challenge as the base of the mountain was to catch Reece out on lap four. By this time Scott Rowbottom, the series lap record holder for Cadwell Park, had dispensed with Rhalf Le Turco and Lance Carey and paced himself up to second position.
When the chequered flag dropped young Jamie Devine had claimed the win for the Michelin Cup runners with a commanding seven-second lead whilst Scott Rowbottom did the same for the TDG Cup runners. 
Sunday morning saw a mixed bag of weather conditions for race 2 with riders making last minute changes to tyres, and a late arrival by Rhalf le Turco forced him to be relegated to the back of the grid. As the hammer dropped Reece Rothwell again had a troubled start allowing Jamie Devine to claim the lead. With a drying track that still left a very wet surface in certain sections troubled riding was guaranteed. The first victims of this were Ricky Chadwick and Paul Hughes who both ended their race with falls at the same spot on the warm up lap and werewere closely followed by Brett Carter, Tommy Dale, Curtis Rothwell and Rhalf Le Turco.
Phillip Erwin made a great start moving through the field early on whilst Scott Rowbottom hunted down Jamie Devine to take the lead but an undaunted Jamie took the opportunity to follow the Cadwell Park specialist and learn just what made him so good. After 10 laps Scott Rowbottom took the chequered flag with Devine just 1.1 seconds behind followed by Phillip Erwin and Duncan Knox.
 
Sunday afternoon and once again it was a rain soaked track for race 3. Not wanting to break his run of good luck, Jamie Devine got the hole shot into coppice with Scott Rowbottom in close proximity. In this shortened race Scott had pushed hard early on to slide under Jamie in lap three.  The duo broke away from the pack taking Phillip Erwin with them in third place (second in the Michelin Cup). Young Tommy Dale was to come off worst  and his race was run by lap three whilst his team mate Alex Olson kept shiny side up in 10th.  Rhalf Le Turco once again led the way for the TDG Cup runners with a confident Duncan Knox riding to yet another podium. Both the Rothwell’s finished well with Curtis breaking his bad luck with a top ten finish.
Round Three is in two weeks time at the Thruxton Circuit as a guest of the BSB Paddock.  For more information please visit http://www.triumphtriplechallenge.com/