Triumphant return!

// DATE: FEBRUARY 24, 2003 // LOCATION: CROFT

After 30 years away,triumph returned to British racing with a full-on tilt at the 2003 British Supersport championship.

Triumph teamed up with Jack Valentine, formerly of V&M Racing and the resulting ‘Triumph Valmoto’ team was a mix of youth and experience.

At the helm was Jack who had a wealth of experience in drag racing, British Supersport and Superbike as well as successes at the Isle of Man TT and other road-race events. Riders were teak-tough Scot and former Supersport champ Jim Moodie and youngster Craig Jones, who later lost his life following a crash at Brands Hatch in 2008.

V&M Racing was formed back in 1982 between Jack and the late, great, Steve Mellor. When Jack stopped drag racing with V&M motors, they got into team management. Their engines dominated in the 1990s, winning Supersport 600 championships with Mike Edwards, Dave Heal, Jim Moodie and Ian Simpson. They would also dominate the Supersport 400 class with the four-stroke 400ccyamaha FZRS.

In 1994 the top six 400cc fourstrokes in that series were V&M powered…

For 2003, Jack got in touch with Triumph and they put together a Supersport 600 team with the Triumph Daytona 600. Success came at the Isle of MANTT when Bruce Anstey won the Junior race while in British Supersport the team netted a pole position and a single podium finish.

For 2004 the slimmed-down one rider team with Jones took the final (and dramatic) race win of the year at Donington Park, finishing the series in eighth overall.

Despite this success, the project came to a halt at the end of the season. Whatever, it was a great return for Hinckley Triumph.

Jones would go on to ride for the Foggy Petronas team and move into World Supersport. Many believe he was going to go all the way: a future world champion in waiting.