SuperBike Magazine

Michael Laverty on the Relentless Suzuki may well have won the race and increased his championship lead but we were more pleased to see our race chum Paul Young score his first podium on his Paul Young Racing Triumph Daytona 675. Let's be honest, this is essentially a privateer effort and to out-race the Yamahas and Hondas on the grid is an awesome performance.

We asked Paul what the secret of his success was. "The secret? Just get out there and twist it, as usual.
Actually I was hopeful from Friday onwards that I'd be at the front, whether it was wet or dry and even my first crash of the year didn't affect things that much. I didn't use a qualifier because I'm the only guy running a 180 tyre in supersport and the Pirelli guys forgot to pack some qualifying tyres in my size. I was running well on race tyres anyway and I reckon I might have made it to the front row if I hadn't crashed in qualifying. After the crash I had to take it a bit more easy because I didn't have enough spares to rebuild the bike which meant I only had one bike."

Paul was slightly cagey about what changes he had made to the bike. "Yes, I made some chassis changes and I've had a few things I've been meaning to try for a while now and this was the right time. I tried a few bits that are now back in a sealed black bag and that's where they'll stay until I get the funding to race in world supersport!"

We said at the start of the season that Paul and the bike had the potential to be competitive if he a decent budget and this result proves that is indeed the case. If you want to investigate the sponsorship possibilities, click here.


Paul is off to Suzuka (via a coach trip to Manchester and a plane to Helsinki) to ride the 8-Hour – such is the man's enthusiasm for racing – and he'll be supplying us with a behind the scenes diary of his observations and experiences in an upcoming issue of the magazine.

Knockhill supersport results:
1) Michael Laverty, Relentless TAS Suzuki: 18m 53.493s
2) Paul Young, Paul Young Racing Triumph: 18m 55.361
3) Tom Grant, Virgin Media Yamaha: 18m 55.799s
4) Billy McConnell, Virgin Media Yamaha: 18m 57.015s
5) Ian Lowry, Relentless TAS Suzuki: 18m 59.901s
6) Martin Jessopp, Riders Racing Ducati: 19m 03.158s
7) Dennis Hobbs, Padgetts Honda: 19m 03.904s
8) Ian Hutchinson, Bikeanimal Honda: 19m 05.801s
9) Keith Amor, Keith Amor Racing Honda: 19m 07.209s
10) Sam Owens, Premier Motorsport Honda: 19m 07.981s
11) Craig Fitzpatrick, BLDS Yamaha: 19m 09.248s
12) James Hillier, Gearlink Racing Kawasaki: 19m 09.821s
13) Christian Elkin, BBR Racing Honda: 19m 10.484s
14) Jamie Robinson, Margal Bykerbabe Honda: 19m 15.533s
15) Joe Dickinson, Trucklinks Racing Honda: 19m 16.640s