VICTORY WITH JACK VALENTINE…
Jack Valentine is a name that needs no introduction to racing fans. Among his many achievements, he is credited as the man who put Triumph back on the map with ValMoto’s racing achievements in the early Noughties. To relive those moments and learn more about them, we asked him…
Who contacted who? How did the deal with Triumph come about?
“I’d just finished with V&M Racing, set up Valmoto and was looking for a new project. I’d heard a rumour that Triumph was looking to make a return to racing with its all-new Daytona 600, so I put a presentation together and went over to the Triumph HQ to meet the guys. They liked what they saw, it got signed off, and we went from there.”
What was the bike like to work with?
“Triumph wanted to know how competitive the bike would be, so I took an engine and stripped it, and it soon became apparent that it had the potential. The cylinder head and the size of the valves were very good, but there were parts such as the long ratio gearbox and the width of the motor which really didn’t complement it. So, we did had quite a lot of work to with the motor, but thankfully the chassis was very good. Our biggest technical problem was the engine braking; when you shut off, it was basically locking the back wheel. We couldn’t cure it with a standard ECU, and it wasn’t until the end of the year when we could run Motec and we’d developed our own slipper clutch that we managed to get on top of it. Craig Jones could ride it like that, but the worry was with Jim Moodie, as he didn’t like it backing in and he was road racing. Thankfully, the nature of the TT circuit, the higher gearing and smoother breaking meant it wasn’t a problem for him. It was a tough project, but very interesting.”
You picked winners. What drew you to these riders?
“We had a big affinity with Jim Moodie. He’d won a lot of Supersport races for me and so I wanted that experience in the team. But I also wanted a young gun, and I’d seen Craig Jones battling with the likes of Crutchlow in Junior Superstock. Jim asked about doing the TT with Triumph, so I thought if we’re going, we’d might as well go with a three-man team and try and to win the manufacturers’ trophy. I asked John McGuiness and Bruce Anstey, and they agreed to it. Bruce was the surprise package and went on to take Triumph’s first TT win since 1966.”
Why did you stop with Triumph after so much success?
“I always wanted to continue, and unofficially we were helping to develop the new 675; I’d shown the guys a couple of cylinder head designs and we’d talked about the close ratio gear boxes, but it never materialised because of a management change. The new guy wanted out of racing straight away and as far as he was concerned, Triumph needed to be selling a lot of Daytona 600 bikes to fund the racing. As we know, the sportsbike market is very small, but it’s important for brands to have that presence in racing to help promote the other motorcycles. It was a massive shame.”
In all of your racing achievements, how high do your years with Triumph rank?
“Very, very high – especially the TT win. Triumph hadn’t been to the TT in 28 years, and we were able to go and win and take the Manufacturer’s Trophy on the first attempt. We had done everything – the full development of the bike in such a short space of time. It’s a real shame the new management didn’t want us to carry on!”