FTR MOTO REFLECTS ON SOMBRE DAY FOR SPORT FTR MOTO experienced the highs and lows of motor sport on Sunday October 23 as the thrill of success was marred by tragedy. FTR joined the motorcycle racing world on Sunday to offer its sympathies to the family, friends and team of talented Italian rider Marco Simoncelli who lost his life during the Malaysian round of the MotoGP World Championship at Sepang. Earlier in the day Pol Espargaro took the HP Tuenti Speed Up FTR machine to third place in the 16th and penultimate round of the Moto2 World Championship. Also on Sunday, victory at Mugello for Alessandro Andreozzi handed FTR a maiden CIV Italian National Championship title. “It’s really difficult to comprehend what happened on Sunday,” said FTR’s Steve Bones. “The thrill of motorcycle sport quickly turned to a reminder of the dangers and results become insignificant. “We would like to offer our condolences and sympathies to Marco’s family and friends and to the Gresini Team.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Ian Lowry took a hat trick of Superbike victories for Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing during the Sunflower Trophy Races at Bishopscourt in Northern Ireland at the weekend. Lowry, also a winner of the main Sunflower Trophy race back in 2009 aboard a TAS Racing prepared GSX-R1000 Suzuki, was drafted in to partner the team’s British Supersport Champion Alastair Seeley for the event. After finishing second to Lowry in the opening Superbike race, Seeley was unfortunately involved in an incident with Dublin’s Jack Kennedy on the final lap of Supersport race one. After sustaining rib injuries and concussion, the team withdrew him from the meeting on safety grounds. In the feature race, the Sunflower Trophy, Lowry won by 10.558 seconds from Sam Lowes and Danny Buchan, also setting a new track record for the Bishopscourt Circuit at 1min: 23.508 [92.082mph] on his Pirelli-shod Relentless Suzuki. He took his third and final race victory in wet conditions by four seconds over David Haire and Michael Dunlop. Ian Lowry: “It was great to be back riding for Relentless Suzuki by TAS this weekend and I clicked straight away with the Suzuki, so thanks to Hector and Philip for the opportunity. It’s always nice to end the season on a high but to come away with a Superbike hat-trick and the main Sunflower Trophy again is fantastic. The first race was a real battle with Alastair and it’s a pity he got injured in the Supersport race as I was really looking forward to racing with him. Thankfully he’s not too badly injured. Hopefully this will let people see what I’m still capable of on top class machinery and there’s no better way to go into the winter than finishing off with some champagne and silverware.” Alastair Seeley: “I was looking forward to evening things up with Ian in the Sunflower race but my luck ran out in that Supersport race. We were forced onto the dirty stuff to get around the backmarkers and when Jack high-sided I’d nowhere to go and hit his bike. I can’t remember too much about it to be honest but I’m okay today. My friend who I’m going to Australia with saw the crash and thought, ‘that’s the end of the holiday’ but I’m fine. My ribs and elbow are a wee bit sore but that’s it. I was really looking forward to the event but there’s always next year.” Philip Neill – Team Manager: “I’m delighted for Ian to have come away with three wins this weekend, also giving us our sixth Sunflower win as a team, but am also bitterly disappointed for Alastair. After such a great year he was looking forward to capping it with a good performance in front of his home fans, but for some reason Bishopscourt doesn’t seem to be that kind to him. Thankfully he’s not too badly injured as he’s off on holiday next week to Australia. “All in all a good day for us as a team and it’s always satisfying to sign off the season with some success on home soil. We’ve had a pretty satisfying season so big thanks must go to Suzuki, Relentless and all our team partners, and also thanks to Came for coming on-board this weekend for the Sunflower races.” More, from a press release issued by Birchall Brothers Racing: BIRCHALLS WRAP UP THE SEASON WITH A WIN A win and a second place at Bishopscourt in Northern Ireland was enough to secure the overall win in the F1 Sidecar class for the fourth consecutive year for Ben and Tom Birchall who also set a new track record of 1m 28.081s 87.3mph in race one. The Mitchells of Mansfield duo were competing at the annual Sunflower Trophy meeting and were riding on the new Bishopscourt 2.136-mile International circuit where a new lap record was to be set by the fastest rider in each class. Qualifying took place in the dry and the Birchall brothers dominated proceedings, setting the fastest lap of 130.123s 86.323mph on their way to claiming pole position with a 1.682s advantage over nearest rivals Tim Reeves/Ashley Hawes. As the first race got underway Ben and Tom didn’t get the best of starts and were third into turn one. But they soon recovered and made their way to the head of the field of lap two of nine. Once they had the lead they never looked back and at one stage extended their lead to over nine seconds. But as they negotiated the back markers they slowed and eventually crossed the finish line with a 6.9 second advantage over John Clarke/Stuart Graham with Reeves/Hawes a further two seconds back in third place. Heavy rain greeted the riders as they formed the grid for the second race and the Birchall Brothers were not taking any risks, settling for a safe second place in the dire conditions some 8.5s behind Reeves/Hawes. Clarke/Graham were a distant third over 13s behind Reeves. “We had a steady race in the rain,” said Ben. We couldn’t match the pace of Tim Reeves and so drove according to the conditions and brought her home safely in second place. Although Tim won the Marty Murphy Trophy second place gave us the overall win over the two races for the fourth year in a row. “We would like to extend our grateful thanks for the continued support of Montgomery Transport and a special thank you for their input into the two race meetings here in Ireland the Mondello round of the British Sidecar championship and also the Sunflower meeting this weekend at Bishopscourt.” Having completed the final race of the season all at Birchall Racing would like to thank their sponsors and supporters for their continued assistance throughout the year and look forward to next season when, subject to securing the budget, they will once again be contesting the World championship and the British F1 Sidecar championship on the F1 machine plus they will contest the Isle of Man TT races on the smaller F2 outfit. Although the race calendar has yet to be announced it is hoped that there will be no date clashes and the team will be able to ride at every round in each class.