“There’s no reason why we can’t win the championship this year”
Triumph Racing completed its third race weekend of the 2025 British Supersport Championship at Snetterton. Having already scored a race win at Oulton park at the opening round and a second and third place at the following Donington Park weekend, Luke Stapleford tells us he was eager to maximise his points position across the weekend at Snetterton as he fights for the 2025 title.
Now in his second season with the Triumph Team whereby he finished 62 points adrift of Honda Racing UK’s Jack Kennedy in 2024, Luke entered the 2025 Snetterton weekend in second place and a mere single point separated him from title rival Kennedy. Reflecting on last year, and what he felt were some of the things that kept him from claiming the title, Luke said “ I made too many mistakes last year, and that is what cost us [the Championship]. If we look back at the points, it’s not just the singled out mistakes, if you’ve made a mistake it can take a few rounds to get back to where you were, maybe it knocks your confidence a bit. We got to the point where we were winning races, but then I would make a mistake and have a silly crash. I know crashes happen in racing, but I had silly crashes. The crash I had at Donington last year, it was the first lap, last corner and I was already trying to make up a gap. I didn’t need to do that; I was leading the race. I could have waited a few laps and kept my head down, but I didn’t and it cost me”
“It then takes a little while in your head to try and move that mistake to one side and focus on where you were before you had the mistake, and that all takes a bit of time to build backup”
Luke started his racing career in Stock600, before he moved to the British Supersport category where he won the championship in 2015. In 2016 he made the jump to World Supersport where he raced for 3 years, securing 16 th and two top ten championship positions overall together with a celebrated pole position. Returning back to the British paddock for the Superstock 1000 before joining the Triumph team in 2024. On asking if he feels that he now has a maturity in his riding, Luke said “ it comes with age, I have got better with dealing with the process of mistakes. Although in years gone by, I haven’t made as many mistakes as I did last year, but I feel I am better at dealing with it. As a young rider when you have a crash it knocks your confidence for quite a while as now, if I have a crash I can be back on the bike for the next session and be where I was before the crash. So that’s a good thing, we just need to get rid of the little mistakes. So far this year we haven’t made any but of course things are going to happen, so is the competition, it’s just about minimising it the best we can”
We spoke about what would help him further, he said “ I don’t need any more speed, we have that covered where that is concerned. We have everything in place to be at the front, we just have to make sure we stay there.” Off the track, Luke works hard to improve his physical fitness, after years of racing he now has his fitness regime dialled in. “ I don’t have a personal trainer, years gone by I had a friend who used to be in the military and we would do a bit of everything, I’m not a keen cyclist or a keen runner, I just like to do a bit of everything. I do have a mountain bike that I like getting out on and I have a gym at home that I spend a lot of time in. I like to vary my workouts the best I can. I’m not necessarily the best at one set thing, but I can do a bit of everything”
As the weekend at Snetteron unfolded, one thing was on everyone’s mind – the heat! We were in the midst of a heatwave and being surrounded by tarmac and engines really did intensify the visceral feeling of the event. All the riders needed to be vigilant in terms of hydration and nutrition to sustain energy levels throughout the weekend. Luke, who has experience from racing in higher temps from his WorldSSP time, knows the importance:
“ I have used the same techniques for a while, I am not a massive fan of using sports drinks and stuff like that. Staying hydrated is important, especially for me as I sweat quite a lot and then you don’t realise that you can spend all day sweating and actually you haven’t put enough back in. the main thing, is staying consistent. There are a lot of people who say I should be doing this or using such and such product, but I like to keep it as simple as I can and the biggest thing I found when I was doing the world championship was if you get too strict a diet or too strict a regime, it’s difficult to stick to when you’re travelling around different countries, they do different things. Then by not sticking to that strict regime it can become a mental thing when you say to yourself ‘I’ve not done this preparation’ so I steered away from that and kept it simple.”
Is a return to worlds on the cards for Luke in the future, the Leicestershire rider thinks not – “ my age wouldn’t allow me to go back to worlds, I’m too old to go do that now – well, I’m not too old but, but realistically would I get the option, I don’t think so. I have so much going on in my personal life now as you do when you get older, with families and stuff like that. Of course, if the option came along, I would have to look at it – but, I understand the jump from the British championship to the world championship and it’s a big step. I know people might say because I am winning races here I could, but I know my ability and I could do well, but I know how big a step it is and the talent in that class”
“I may have been better going the Superbike route in 2015”
I asked Luke what would be his advice for young British riders who have dreams of racing on the world stage, it’s a move that few brits make a successful one – especially more relevant this weekend considering the return of Bradley Ray to the series. Luke believes the key isn’t to go to soon. His advise “honestly, don’t go too soon. I did that when I won the British SuperSport championship in 2015 and almost though because I had such a strong year against some really strong riders that its was naturally going to be carried forward. But it wasn’t and it doesn’t do that. Its difficult, certainly on circuits that you haven’t raced on before against riders who have. 90% of the grid is at the level you’re at and they are ruthless, they don’t give people two or three years to get up to speed. If you’re not showing signs within 1 year you’re coming back to the UK and that’s very difficult. However, there are so many factors with age being the biggest one a lot of teams are looking towards the younger riders. Personally, for me, I may have been better going the superbike route in 2015, I maybe made the wrong call – it was a difficult step. The biggest thing really is dealing with the fact that you might be the fastest in your category here in the British championship but you’re not at worlds and that can be tricky to deal with and you can get in a hole with questioning why.”
As the weekend action got underway on Friday Free practice it was Stapleford and Kennedy once again swopping top positions with Stapleford the victor on overall timings – but when it came to qualifying, it was to be a second row start for Stapleford in 5 th . Irishman Rhys Irwin securing pole with Kennedy in second. Stapleford was joined by Australian and World SuperSport Triumph rider, Oli Bayliss for a wildcard ride for Round Three. Bayliss quickly taking to the Norfolk track qualifying in 4 th . Race 1 saw Jack Kennedy claim victory with Rhys Irwin second and Luke completing the podium securing a further 20 championship points. Bayliss brought home the triumph in 4 th place for his first British SuperSport race. With the times in the race much improved from his qualifying time, Luke would start Race 2 from pole position with Kennedy second and Rhys Irwin in 3 rd . Luke secured the hole shot, however Kennedy fell after contact with Truelove on the opening lap at the first corner. Stapleford continued to lead the race throughout and took the flag 2.128 seconds ahead of Bayliss in second making it a Triumphant 1-2 with Irwin completing the podium.
Circling back to Luke’s earlier reference on capitalising on other riders’ mistakes while mitigating his own, Luke has now positioned himself first in the championship.
Luke carries a 12 point advantage over Irwin in second and Ben Currie in third with his main rival, Kennedy currently sitting 4th, 31 points adrift. Luke was keen to state “ We are fast over one lap, we are fast over a race – if we can get rid of the mistakes, or at least make them in the practice sessions. A third is better than a DNF and points are better. I genuinely think we have a chance at winning the championship this year – we have the bike, the speed, I feel like there is no reason why we can’t win”
Round 4 of the British Superbikes takes place at Knockhill July 4-6
