Also featured on the bike are the logos of the Francis Crick Institute, which is Europe’s largest biomedical research Institute under one roof. The Institute was established by bringing together a selection of research labs to be a UK flagship for discovery research in biomedicine. It is named after UK scientist Francis Crick in recognition of his contributions to research of the genetic code, the key to understanding how living things work. The Bloor Group, the owners of Triumph Motorcycles, have a long history of supporting the Crick Institute, which has collaborated with St Jude’s previously. The institute’s logos are featured on the bike this weekend along with that of Cancer Research UK.

Whilst much has been done to raise awareness and money for research in tackling cancer overall, there is much less focus on the research of paediatric cancers. Thankfully, cancer in children is still relatively rare, although it is the leading cause of death in teenagers and receives much less attention than it requires. Both The Francis Crick Institute and Cancer Research UK are hoping to change this, which hopefully would in future benefit patients at the likes of St Jude’s hospital. This annual Supercross campaign for St Jude’s, one of the leading specialist hospitals for the treatment of children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases, with the threads running through to charities in the UK, is incredibly important to the Triumph family.

Lining up in Indianapolis for the East/West Showdown will be Austin Forkner, who will be hoping to continue improving his form in his first season for Triumph Factory Racing, while Jordon Smith unfortunately will sit out of proceedings as he recovers from injury. Both of the specially designed TF 250-X’s will be on display in the Triumph awning.

Ian Kimber – Head of Global Racing Programmes, Triumph Motorcycles
“The Indianapolis round is one of the most important rounds in the calendar for us. Not just because it’s the first East vs West showdown, but also because it’s the St Jude’s round. Childhood cancers and the fight for cures is a cause that definitely needs to have a spotlight thrown on it. This year we chose ‘Hope’ as the theme for our bike scheme, because I believe as parents this is what we’d need if our kids were ill, it’s what our kids would need - the hope to get better. St Jude’s is a world leader in raising awareness and of this fight, and along with Cancer Research UK and The Francis Crick Institute, the future of sick children is in safe hands. We’re proud to be running the artwork of St Jude’s patient Ty as this year’s scheme. We ride for Ty, we ride for Noah and for all of the children battling this horrible disease - Love Moto, Stop Cancer.”

The images included are the artwork by Ty, as well as a computer generated mock-up of the design.