MOTORCYCLE road-racer John Crockford went agonisingly close to landing a seat in the fast emerging Triumph team for this year's British Supersport Championship.

The Southampton rider was on the brink of sealing a deal with Valmoto Triumph when a change of management and a decision to trim the budget resulted in them opting for one rider only in 2004.

It was a major setback for Crockford. The Daytona Triumph was winning races in the hands of young Craig Jones at the end of last season.

Then when Tom Sykes's projected move to ride for Crescent Suzuki fell through, the TAS Suzuki team snapped him up, slamming another door in Crockford's face.

TAS Suzuki, who ran Dave Jefferies until his death in the Isle of Man TT last June, are an Irish-based team and chose Adrian Coates, Crockford's team-mate in 2003, as the back up rider to Sykes.

"They're both top teams and I was so close," said Crockford, whose top-six finish in the British Supersport Championship in 2003 confirmed his standing as one of the country's top riders.

But at 30 he's older than a pack of emerging young British stars who Crockford admits are more marketable.

He rode for the Batley-based Padgett Honda team in 2003 and opened the season with a superb second place to eventual champion Karl Harris in a shortened race at Silverstone.

Lack of funds prevented him doing much development work within the Padgett team. And although there's still a chance of him having another season on the Padgett Honda, Crockford says: "It would have to be on a more professional basis."

Another opportunity to ride a Kawasaki fell through when they opted out of the world series and put their number one rider in the British Championship.

Now, with his British Championship options almost exhausted, Crockford admits he could end up on the sidelines for the start of the season.

"Things change in a team, riders get injured and drop out, and If I'm there in the wings, a chance might come up somehwhere," he says.

"My other option is to go back to the National Superstock series which doesn't have British Championship status and isn't televised, which makes it more difficult to attract sponsors."

The plus side, though, is that teams like Kawasaki and Honda see the Superstock series as a good testing ground and Crockford says that he will talk to both before the end of the month.

He was a top three finisher in Superstock two years running before stepping up into Supersport last year.

Crockford admitted: "I would rather be running at the front than the middle of the pack in Supersport. I need to get something sorted soon so that I can get some midwinter testing under my belt."