British Flat Track Racer Jack Bell has made a fantastic start to the season by winning Round 1 of the 2026 DTRA Flat Track Nationals, and following it up with a second in Round 2 which was the following day which means he holds the series lead after the opening weekend of race action, which took place at the Workington Speedway venue at Northside, in Cumbria.
Jack talks us through his weekend below:
Finally, we are back! It has felt like a long winter getting everything prepared for the start of the race season again on board the Dick Shepherd Racing Triumph TF450RC
Last weekend, we kicked off the 2026 season with Rounds 1 and 2 of the DTRA Flat Track National Championship at Workington. It feels good to be back, and I can say I am really happy with my riding through the 2 rounds.
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Round 1
On Saturday, I won all my heat races, and I was the top qualifier for the Main Event. I was determined to start the season in the best way possible, and I sure made that happen.
The final showed some great racing between the top 3 on the very wet track. After coming out in second position in the first lap, I took the lead. I relinquished that on lap 6, but I didn’t give up and reeled in the leader to take the win with a move on the inside on lap 8
I then went on to win the Pro Final and round 1 of the championship! I am really chuffed with it as it is my first UK Nationals win on the Triumph TF450RC.
Round 2
Winning round 1 definitely made me and the bike (we were still the only Triumph in the Championship) the talking point for Sunday round 2.
Once again, I went on to win all my Heat races to be the top qualifier for the Final. We have been working really hard on the bike to achieve such dominance in the heat races.
In the final, I got a great start and led the first 2 laps before being passed by Gary Birtwistle. We had a battle head to head for 3 laps, and started to reel him in on the closing stages but in the end I couldn’t replicate Saturday performance and went on to take the win with me a close 2nd.
I was happy to be fighting again for the win, and most importantly, I took the Championship lead after the weekend.
Overall, we have made a promising start to the 2026 DTRA National Championship
Now I am in the process of changing the ECU on the Triumph to see if we can make a performance gain to the bike before the first round of the World Championships on 9th May.
Images courtesy of Jack Bell
