This article is about the Branch attending the Thruxton round of the British Superbike Championship with a stand at the event.
Preparation
Two years ago, the Royal Berkshire Branch was invited to attend the Thruxton round of the British Superbike races in the form of a classic bike stand, along with other classic bike clubs in the Skid Pan area at the racetrack. A clash with the Popham Megameet split our attendance and our stand was not as good as it could have been. How can I put this diplomatically, even the Norton club stand outshone us; shock, horror! Last year a communication breakdown saw us miss both Thruxton BSB and the Popham Megameet altogether, so when the invite came for the branch to attend this year’s superbike event, we were determined to make it a great show. The Popham organisers realized their mistake by clashing their Megameet event on the same weekend as Thruxton superbikes and moved it a week earlier, so we could now attend both events in full force.
So it was when the Thursday before the Friday practice day came to set up the stand, along came the wind and rain to greet us. However, it had eased to a drizzle when five enthusiastic branch members erected the gazebo and we were set for the weekend; all we needed now were tickets for the event. As the precipitation increased, we sought shelter and who should come along but Terry West with a few tickets and then Lorne, the Thruxton Classic Bike area liaison, with even more weekend tickets. We were set for a great weekend event, we just needed plenty of Triumph motorcycles and some sunshine. We had stipulated to the members that if they wished to receive a gratis weekend ticket they would be expected to ride their Triumph to the event and display it on the stand. Further, to be prepared to man the stand, a rota for which was produced by our Chairman.
Friday
After a cold damp night, the morning weather gradually showed promise as the roar of racing engines fired up at 9 am for free practice. Although no Triumphs were racing in the premier 1-litre Superbike class, there were ST 765s in the Supersport and Daytona 660s in the Sportbike classes. The evening came and the few of us who were camping over ventured to the paddock for a look around at the mechanics working on the bikes into the night and then watched the band, “No way out”, as the sun set behind them.
Saturday
I had only just dragged myself out of my sleeping bag when the members started turning up at the stand. With fine weather now forecast for the rest of the weekend we were expecting plenty of bikes to turn up and turn up they did.
An unexpected bonus for us in the Skid Pan area was the Two Brothers Stunt Team. This highly skilled pair of daredevils put on an excellent display of how to ruin perfectly good rear tyres! I’ve no clue how many tyres these guys get through in a show season but I’m glad I’m not picking up the tab for them.
Triumph racing succeeded in the Supersport class with Luke Stapleford, on the ST 765RS, taking pole and winning the first race. The Sportbike race saw a win for Richard Cooper on a Daytona 660, with 3 Daytona 660s in the top 6 places. A great day’s racing was capped by a superb rock band in the evening, The Cellarats from Southampton. Commencing with the instrumental, Miserlou (Dick Dale eat your heart out), they played about every rock anthem you could think of; they were brilliant.
Sunday
The main race day dawned promising a very warm dry day with expectations of a great day’s racing at the faster circuit in the country. Our stand looked splendid and we definitely had the edge over the Norton stand this year. Luke Stapleford took second place in the Supersport race on the ST 765RS and in the Sportbike race Daytona 660s took second and third places. Richard Cooper is now only 1.5 points off the leader at mid-season.
I’m sure all the branch members who attended had a fabulous time (well I haven’t heard any complaints, apart from the chaos on the A303 homeward bound!). Several non-member Triumph owners enquired how to join the club and they were given application forms, advised to join online and affiliate themselves to the Royal Berkshire branch! Fingers are well and truly crossed that we get an invite for next year’s event as we’ve got a few ideas to improve our stand further and be “Nulli Secundus”.
The above article first appeared in Nacelle, the Triumph Owners Motor Cycle Club magazine, in 2024.
For more information about the Branch’s weekend at Thruxton for the BSB, click here.