Oxford TAG Triumph’s Christian Iddon was left disappointed after struggling at round six of the British Supersport Championship at Snetterton. Iddon, unable to final an optimal set-up for his Triumph Daytona 675R on the new 300 layout at the Norfolk circuit, battled to an 11th place finish in the sprint race before crashing out of the feature race.
The weekend began steadily as Iddon set about learning the new 3 mile configuration, having only previously completed a small number of testing laps since the circuit was opened in February. Iddon completed Friday’s free practice sessions in 22nd and 16th respectively. For Qualifying, Iddon stepped up the pace, finishing 11th quickest.
Iddon maintained his 11th place grid slot at the start of Saturday’s sprint race. Chasing down TT winner , Gary Johnson, Iddon was able to make his move on lap 5. He held a tighter line through the fast left hander of Hamilton, giving him a better run toward Oggies; where he made the pass stick.
Iddon began to pull away from the group of riders behind him, building a lead of over a second. Unfortunately, on the last couple of laps, Iddon’s rear tyre was past it’s best and he began to fall back. By the chequered flag, Johnson had regained 10th position, leaving Iddon to cross the line in 11th.
For the feature race, Iddon would again start from 11th on the grid. This time he managed to gain a place in turn one, as the field battled for position around Riches. On lap two, he made a further place, after a mistake from Lee Johnston.
On lap 3 however, Iddon’s race was over when he crashed out at Coram. As he rounded the long right hander, he lost the front of his Triumph and slid out. Unhurt but unable to continue, Iddon could only look on as the race was once again won by the rampant Alastair Seeley.
Iddon commented: “I am disappointed with how the weekend has panned out. It didn’t seem to matter what we tried, we just couldn’t get the Oxford TAG Triumph to work for me.
“In the first race, I made a decent start but I was having to ride too hard. I made it up to 10th, but by the end of the race the rear tyre had gone. I just started to lose too much time.
“We tried some changes quite drastic changes for morning warm-up, but it didn’t seem to feel any different.
“The start of the feature race was a bit hectic. Someone sat it up in the middle of Riches on the first lap and ran a couple of people out wide. I was able to squeeze through on the inside. I had made it up to ninth but it was short lived.
“I lost the front coming round Coram on lap 3. I had been having front end trouble all weekend and it just washed out. I am looking forward to moving on to Oulton Park. It’s my home circuit and we had a bit of a bad luck there earlier in the year, so it’s time to go and make a mends. We know the Oxford TAG Triumph works well around there, so hopefully we can be back in contention.”
Iddon will be back on track at his home circuit of Oulton Park over the weekend of 16th/17th July for round 7 of the championship.
