Tom Booth-Amos Scores His Best World Supersport Result to Date in France
World Supersport returned after the summer break to monsoons in Magny-Cours with Saturday’s race having to be postponed due to the weather making Sunday a double header.
Booth-Amos qualified in eighth for race one which eventually took place on Sunday morning. While the rain had stopped, the track was still wet making for tricky conditions. Despite not having the best feeling, Booth-Amos was up to sixth at one point and battling for positions with a number of riders while trying to stay on the dry line. He brought it home in ninth with teammate Ondrej Vostatek coming home in P27 despite struggling with the conditions and confidence.
On Sunday afternoon, Booth-Amos lined up in 13th for the dry race two. He got a great start, moving through the pack into sixth. He continued powering through to fourth where he rode flawlessly to the finish line for his best ever World Supersport result.
Vostatek started race two from 24th and had an eventful race battling up to 13th at one point but he was ultimately pushed back to 16th, just missing out on the points.
WRP SKM Triumph’s Lorenzo Baldassarri was ruled out from a wrist injury sustained in Portimao where he was hit by another rider and crashed out. He was replaced by Luca de Vleeschauwer, a race winner on the Triumph Street Triple 765 in the IDM (German championship). The replacement rider finished P28 in race one and P27 in race two. Teammate John McPhee finished 20th in race one and in the points in race two crossing the line in 12th.
Tom Booth-Amos, PTR Triumph: “Qualifying was probably the best I have felt all year so I just did the lap times on my own. Race one I struggled a little bit with the feeling of the bike in the damp conditions, I just didn’t quite get the feedback I’d have hoped for but then race two was clearly the best I have felt all year riding the bike. It finally feels like it is mine. Hopefully we can continue like this and finish the year off strongly.”
PTR Triumph Team Manager Simon Buckmaster: “Race one was wet in places and drying. To be honest we are a little bit disappointed with ninth for Tom and in those conditions Ondrej always struggles. But for race two we went for the harder rear tyre, it is perfect for us and Tom rode a really good race for fourth place. We just need one more to get to the podium. I’m really happy for everyone, for all the effort the whole team put in because it’s not just about each side of the garage, the team works together as a great unit. Big thanks to everybody in the team, to Devis at Bitubo and Triumph racing. It’s a great result for us and we go to Cremona in a confident way.”
World Supersport will be back in two weeks for the Italian round, Cremona, 20 - 22 September.
