John Bloor, Triumph’s owner and CEO, has stated since the marque re-appeared in the early 1990s that Triumph could not afford a factory roadracing effort. Reports indicate he may have changed his mind.
With the introduction of Triumph’s TT600, eligible for 600 supersport racing, Triumph came face-to-face with the “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” axiom followed by other manufacturers of 600 supersport machines.
Triumph now appears ready to devote the resources to run a factory effort, but whether that effort will be in Britain only, or at the World championship level remains to be seen.
Additionally, WSB rule changes have been proposed to raise the capacity limit for three cylinder machines to 960cc (coincidentally, just larger than Triumph’s production Daytona 955 machine). Although capacity hikes will not be effective in WSB next year (those changes may never go into effect), it is clear that WSB organizers would like to see Triumph on the grid with a triple to challenge Benelli. Triumph is clearly at a crossroads, and must go racing if it is to build cutting-edge sportbikes.
