British rider Tom Booth-Amos (PTR Triumph Factory Racing) was in the mood at his home Prosecco DOC UK Round, earning his first FIM Supersport World Championship double. The #69 worked his way through the grid across both races to run away with the win on both race days at Donington Park. He closed out the weekend with a dramatic win after briefly falling out of the podium fight after contact with another rider, recovering to win and claim Great Britain’s 120th WorldSSP podium.
HITTING THE GROUND RUNNING AT HOME
Booth-Amos hit the ground running at home with a 1’29.065s Tissot Superpole session time on Friday, which would have earned him a front-row start in Race 1; however, the Brit was given a six-position grid penalty by the FIM WorldSBK Stewards for riding too many slow sectors during the Superpole session. Booth-Amos wasn’t going to settle for just a top ten in front of his home fans, however, as he took a pair of positions on Lap 2 from Jeremy Alcoba (Kawasaki WorldSSP Team) and his teammate Oli Bayliss (PTR Triumph Factory Racing) before starting a fight with Valentin Debise (EASTROC ZXMOTO Factory Evan Bros Racing), taking P6 from the Frenchman on the Melbourne Hairpin on Lap 4. From Laps 4 to 7, he chipped away at race leader Can Oncu's (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) advantage, reducing the gap from 2.4s to 1.6s. He made short work of podium contenders Roberto Garcia (GMT94 Yamaha) and Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing VerdNatura), before ascending to the race lead by Lap 10. He put the hammer down across the second half of the race to cruise to his first race win of 2026.
“WHEN HE HIT ME, I DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED, I STARTED TO HAVE A REALLY BAD VIBRATION ON THE BIKE”
Booth-Amos and Albert Arenas (AS BLU CRU Racing Team) fought for P3 over the first laps as Aldi Mahendra (AS BLU CRU Racing Team) and Oncu sparred for P1 ahead of them. By Lap 3, Mahendra’s pace had diminished, and he had fallen out of the podium fight. The Brit had climbed to lead his first lap of the race on Lap 9, until the next lap, when the #61 tried to make a move up the inside of the Melbourne Hairpin. The contact sent both riders wide, and dropped the #69 back to P4, and Oncu was later applied an Irresponsible Riding penalty by FIM WorldSBK Stewards, forcing the Turk to drop one position. The battle for the lead continued with the #61, #75, and #69 each leading the race for stretches. Booth-Amos settled the issue on Lap 13, taking P1 from Arenas, and just three laps later, he had accumulated a gap of more than 1.2s. He crossed the finish line more than a second and a half quicker than any of his competitors, taking his third and Triumph’s fourth-ever WorldSSP win as well as the UK’s 120th podium in their home round.
On Race 2 and the moment with Oncu, Booth-Amos said: “It’s incredible the feeling you get to cross the line in first at home, it’s very special. There’s definitely more pressure, it’s not just my home race, but for my team and my manufacturer as well. I was expecting to win a race here last year, so I’m happy to be able to do it now this year. As usual, I don’t know what Can is doing, it’s pretty normal now. When he hit me, I don’t know what happened. I started to have a really bad vibration on the bike. You can see me on the exit of Turn 11 I had a little bounce, we’ll have to check and see what it was. I was just thinking I’ll go until my tyre goes flat. I couldn’t tell what my lap times were because my timer wasn’t working, but I guess it was pretty strong.”
“I WANT TO RETURN TO THE FORM I KNOW I CAN DO”
His home weekend at Donington Park has been the Englishman's best WorldSSP round to date, and for him, it’s an emphatic confirmation of his pace after a shaky first two rounds of the 2026 season. While his consistency has been questioned in the past, a home double for both his team and British manufacturer is about as emphatic a response to his critics as the Brit could have hoped for. As for his Championship picture, the #69 currently sits in fifth, 13 points behind Oncu and another 14 points behind Masia.
On what his momentous result means to him, Booth-Amos said: “Yeah, it’s been emotional. It’s a different feeling. I’ve had podiums here but never a win. It’s a cool feeling to see the whole crowd behind me; I’ve never felt that before. I had a lot of doubters, so it was nice to prove people wrong and show what I can do. I want to return to the form I know I can do. After scrapping the first two rounds and re-starting things at Assen, if I can keep doing what I’m doing, I would love to fight for third place in the Riders’ Championship.”
Booth-Amos and the rest of the WorldSSP field return after the summer break! Catch up on all the season’s drama with the WorldSBK VideoPass! Now 70% off!