The PTR Triumph Factory Racing team was back in action this weekend in Portimão for round two of the World Supersport championship and it was another strong weekend for Tom Booth-Amos with fifth and third place finishes. Teammate Oli Bayliss faced a challenging weekend finishing 17th in race one and crashing out of race two, fortunately unhurt.

British rider Booth-Amos went into the weekend full of confidence after his victory last time out in Australia. He didn’t have it all his own way though and would line up in 12th on the grid for Saturday’s race. Despite his starting position, he kept his cool and carved his way through the field to cross the line in a solid fifth place. Impressively, despite the battles through the pack, he  managed to set one of the fastest laps of the race to qualify him further up the grid in P6 for Sunday’s race two.

Sunday’s race was a corker and Booth-Amos was right in the thick of the nail-biting battles on his Street Triple 765 RS. Despite suffering with arm pump, he pushed hard all the way to the podium, finishing third place. He leaves round two second in the World Championship.

Teammate Oli Bayliss faced a challenging start to the weekend and qualified P17 on the grid for race one.  The young Australian lost a couple of positions at the start of the race but fought back to finish in his starting position of P17. He lined up for Sunday’s race in P17 once again and was running in the points scoring positions when he unfortunately crashed out of the race. Despite this DNF, Bayliss leaves Portugal tenth in the Championship.

The PTR Triumph Factory Racing team returns to action in two week’s time in Assen, Netherlands 1-13 April.

Tom Booth-Amos #69: “On Saturday, I did the best that I could after we struggled on Friday and Saturday morning, so actually to come away with fifth was much better than I expected and I was very happy. I didn’t think I would say I would be happy about finishing fifth but I was really happy for good solid points.

“I was super happy to get third today. The guys did a great job to get the bike sorted and to give me the feeling that I needed to be able to fight for a podium today.  Credit and thanks to them and we will carry on our championship fight.”

Oli Bayliss #32: “It’s been a weekend to forget here in Portimão, after a positive weekend in Phillip Island it’s not how I wanted to follow it up. Chasing more and more each session and unfortunately I hit a bump on the inside of turn 4 and had a high side just as the sensations with the bike were getting better. We need to re-set and take the positives we can bring into the next round.”