Saturday

It was a tough day for PTR Triumph at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal with no points scored in the 17-lap FIM Supersport World Championship race one.

From the middle of the fifth row of the grid, Tom Booth-Amos got a good start up to eleventh and was fighting for the top ten when he ran on at turn one and had to lay the bike down before re-joining the race down in P27.  Despite his pace, the British rider had lost too much time to catch up and crossed the line in P23.

Tom Booth-Amos: “A pretty good start in the race, I was in the pack I think from fourth back to twelfth so I was happy with it. Unfortunately the pads got knocked back going into the last corner so I dropped the bike and got back on and finished.  The pace was pretty good, stronger than we have been all weekend so we probably would have finished top eight again. Obviously disappointed but positive because we have made steps from yesterday.”

Teammate Ondrej Vostatek struggled to get into a rhythm at the start of the race but by the mid-point he was more comfortable and able to lap consistently to finish P22.

Ondrej Vostatek: “The race was ok, we need to improve the first laps because after I’m able to do the same lap times as the riders around the top ten.  The feeling on the bike was much better this afternoon and I was consistent.

PTR Triumph Team Manager Simon Buckmaster: “Disappointing race today.  Tom started ok but after a couple of laps the head had a bit of a shake and it knocked the pads back, he braked for turn one and there was a lot of lever travel. He went straight and laid it down just before the wall.  After that the lap times were good to fight well inside the top ten, but the race was over.  With Ondrej, at the start of the race the lap times are just not there.  He tried too hard in qualifying and practices after Free Practice but if you look at the second half of the race, the lap times are good, good enough to fight for the points.  There will be very little changes to the bikes for tomorrow, Ondrej needs to put the race together and we need no mistakes from Tom.”

Sunday

PTR Triumph’s Tom Booth-Amos recovered a top ten and championship points out of a frustrating weekend in today’s race two at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal.

Booth-Amos’ starting grid position remained the same as for race one in today’s 17-lap race at the technically demanding track and he once again got off the line well.  The British rider was immediately challenging for the top ten but found he was unable to progress further up the group and had to settle for tenth at the line.

Tom Booth-Amos: “Overall not our strongest weekend but the best we could do with what we’ve got this weekend.  I’ve come away with a top ten and more points so need to keep trying to progress the bike and myself for the next race.”

Meanwhile Ondrej Vostatek was again challenged with a lack of pace in the first few laps but as the race continued the Czech rider’s laps improved, setting his best time of the race on lap fifteen to cross the line in P20. 

Ondrej Vostatek: “The race was ok, the start was better but still not enough to gain positions.  My problem was exiting the corners.  I need to improve more the starts and we need to find the best set up for me to stop, turn and point the bike into optimal direction for exits.”

PTR Triumph Team Manager Simon Buckmaster: “For sure not the weekend we wanted; Tom crashed again in warm up but it was good to salvage a top ten from a difficult weekend.  With Ondrej it was the same problem as race one, the lap time is not there at the start.  After some laps the lap time is good enough to fight for the points so he needs to qualify better and work on his pace at the start of the race. So, disappointing really but thanks to all the team for their continued huge effort to keep trying to be the best we can and we’ll move on to Magny-Cours.”