Soup was very saddened to read this morning of the ultimely passing of young British rider Craig Jones. Jones, 23, died last night, following an incident during the World Supersport race at Brands Hatch. Jones was in 2nd place at his home race, pushing hard at the fast Clark Curve section of the track, when he lost the rear end of the bike and was thrown to the pavement. Andrew Pitt, following closely in third place, took evasive action but had nowhere to go, and clipped Jones as he tumbled down the track.

The race was immediately stopped. Jones's heart was restarted 4 times at the track. He was diagnosed with a serious head injury and was flown by Air Ambulance to the Royal London Hospital, where he died during the night.

Soup ran an interview with Craig in 2004, when he was riding the Triumph 600 for Valmoto at the Valencia World Supersport round. It was in fact the first rider interview I ever conducted as a journalist. Valmoto was running at Valencia to get some track time for Jones and the Triumph 600, prior to the start of the British Supersport series. Nobody could remember when Triumph had last competed in a world championship motorcycle event. It was an exciting time.

The early April Valencia weather was cold and wet, just awful. Team manager Jack Valentine led me to a small motorhome, sat me with Craig and put on the kettle. Jones spoke enthusiastically of his passion for riding, his experiences riding pocket bikes, and professed to be a huge Kevin Schwantz fan. He was only 19, but had a maturity and bearing that exceeded his years. Valentine brought us two huge steaming mugs of tea, and we chatted quietly, clinking our spoons against the china as we stirred the sugar. It was a quintessentially British moment.

Jones felt hugely proud to be riding a Triumph on the world stage. In subsequent years, he rode for Foggy Petronas, as a stand in rider for Ten Kate Honda, and was competing in World Supersport in 2008 with Parkalgar Honda and was currently fifth in the standings.

Godspeed Craig Jones.