Team-S Works drops Shane Narbonne

[Crash Dummy Denno]

uh oh - did his racing this weekend at nhms get him in trouble?

Team S-Works Triumph Releases Narbonne; Gulbransen To Ride For Team At Infineon Raceway News Article // RoadracingWorld.com

Team S-Works Triumph has released rider Shane Narbonne after a direct contract violation considered unacceptable by team owner Bob Robbins.

"A team must operate on high standards which involves using the principals of good business, and a need to honor primary sponsors for their commitment. It is unfortunate for Shane who was showing great promise with each round. I wish him the best in the future and truly hope he can find his way to the level he is capable of."

The team has drafted veteran racer Eric Gulbransen for the Infineon round and will negotiate for future events as well. Gulbransen brings a lot of knowledge, experience and positive energy to the table, and has always been a hard charger. The team feels he can adapt quickly and help them to continue in their commitment to Triumph, Commonwealth Motorcycles and other sponsors to follow through with the plan of keeping a 675 in the spotlight of AMA racing, and to help support the brand, showing that the bike is a serious contender. With the potential new class format, it should become a viable choice for AMA racing, and the team hopes to have a good head start by further developing their bikes and performance as they have done already, and to offer their components to teams that want to join the brand.

"While I am sad to have a situation like this happen,we will turn it into a positive spin, and the best part is we are not losing ground by missing any events"

[Paul_E_D]

Don't know what happened, but I'm curious as well. Maybe he said the triumph is a dog?

[RyanNicholson]

what a shame...

[BLACK SQUIRREL]

F' em

Shane ran better on his own bike anyway

[OreoGaborio]

wow... that sucks.. hopefully it works out for him.

[Pittenger5]

I thought it was strange that he was racing at Loudon when he has an AMA contract. That is a serious no-no, especially at a track like Loudon.

Would that be different than Jeff Wood? Or probably something to do with contracts? I have no idea about any of that.

[Crash Dummy Denno]

well - if it was a no no it was not on purpose - his father came over and was talking to us about our trumpet and how his son races one in ama FX - sure as hell didn't seem like he knew of any problems

too bad - bummer

[a13x]

This is pure speculation

I read this on RRW last night and immediately checked the Loudon results with a sinking feeling I knew what I would find. I would think that racing a Suzuki 600 when you are a sponsored Triumph 675 rider might twist some nipples. http://www.lrrsracing.com/results/20...12008/Sun6.pdf

Motard - non-issue (it's a dirtbike, doesn't compete with any Triumph product)
GSXR1000 - non-issue (he raced this at Daytona in Superstock with his full Triumph team there)
GSXR600 - probably a issue (competing brand middleweight bike)

Sucky situation. Losing a AMA ride is no joke...


Again, I have NFI if this is the case. Could be something else entirely. That'd be my guess thou....

[RyanNicholson]

well - if it was a no no it was not on purpose - his father came over and was talking to us about our trumpet and how his son races one in ama FX - sure as hell didn't seem like he knew of any problems

too bad - bummer

yea I talked to Cara (sp?) and Al and they both mentioned heading out to infinion and everything, happy about how things were going as always... didn't seem like anything was an issue about being at Loudon. They had planned on racing 3 of our weekends this season.

[RyanNicholson]

GSXR600 - probably a issue (competing brand middleweight bike)

I know that the bike he was on this weekend was a 750 that they bought and built on friday, after blowing up the 600 on the dyno friday morning. The registration probably still said 600 though.

[a13x]

Try explaining that one to Triumph exec's

Again, no idea, for all we know there could be a clause in the contract that allows Shane to race his GSXR's at LRRS events. Very well could be possible.

Could have been released for any number of reasons. Either way end result is

[brewmaster]

I hope it all works out for Shane. He's a great kid (I'm old enough to say that) and is one hell of a rider!

Company politics and contracts can get messy. Maybe he will get scooped by another team.

[Degsy]

I hope it all works out for Shane. He's a great kid (I'm old enough to say that) and a one hell of a rider!

Company politic and contracts can get messy. DEFINITELY he will get scooped by another team.

I fixed it for you.

[Paul_E_D]

Shane and Al know what they are doing in general. I pitted with them for a couple of years. I'd be suprised if it weren't something like Degsy outlined. I thought it was a gamble when he took the Triumph deal, but you gotta take what you can get... Money doesn't come easy in this sport.

I hope they figure something else out... Good luck guys!

[OreoGaborio]

Yeah, my thoughts resemble Degsy & Paul's.... I also think it might have been deliberate but I just didn't know enough background info about Shane's position or how things work in pro racing to be posting something like that.

Either way, it happened... Accidental or intentional, I won't be to terribly surprised either way & I wish him the best of luck no matter what the cause.

[DucDave]

...pity....but he'll be fine...

valuable lesson learned???


talent like that doesnt get ignored for long...

[s a x m a n]

Team S-Works Triumph Reverses Decision To Release Narbonne News Article // RoadracingWorld.com

That didn't take long

[DucDave]

....see!!!!

(Kinda a classy statement from Bob...stepped right up...good on him!)

[OreoGaborio]

cool, cool.