The vicarracing.com

Round 4 - Oulton Park 29-30 April, 1 May 2006

Every race weekend seems to be eventful for the Vicar and Oulton Park was certainly no exception!

Saturday, with the sun shining and the temperature much higher than recently, Victor and Stewy put their new strategy for qualifying into practice and it paid off, with the Vicar getting provisional 19th on the grid. A considerable improvement on past races! A shame that with 10 minutes to go, and the Vicar getting quicker and quicker, the front end washed out at the hairpin.

Now for sunday and in typical British fashion a complete change in the weather, a cold wind and lots of rain. By the time the Superstock 2nd qualifiers came round the track had dried out but Victor did not seem to have his "new" head on and by the end of the session he had slipped back to 27th on the grid.

Now the fun starts. On the way back to the race truck the R1 stopped and wouldn't start again....nothing, no signs of life at all. Robbie stripped the bike and started checking for the problem but after going through the fuses, electrics etc it was agreed that the ECU had packed up.

That evening saw the STP team going round the paddock trying to borrow a replacement ECU unit but to no avail. It looked like the end of the weekend for the Vicar!

A big thanks here to Steve and Andie who put out cries for help on various forums and a very big thanks for the unknown guy who answered and said he could help, apologies to him for the fact there was one too many 7's in the mobile number, so no chance of contacting us.

Monday morning saw a glimmer of hope when Jason (Victor's webmaster) found John Ingram who had a spare bike with the right ECU, thanks John. Back to the race truck, Robbie fitted the ECU and still nothing but when it was returned to John and refitted it worked so back to the drawing board for the STP mechanics.

In desperation, and with only an hour to go for the start of the Superstock race, out came the test meter and the checking started all over again. I think everyone could have fallen over when one of the fuses (previously checked and showing ok) showed to be dud!!!!!

With Robbie, Kev, Nico and Alex all working flat out the bike was soon back together and ready for the race.

Victor had a flying start and although for the first 4 or 5 laps, in his own words, he was trying too hard, he started to relax and get into a rhythm. Half way through the race he was up into 19th and slowly catching the riders in front, finishing a great 14th and getting him his first championship points of the season.

A fantastic end to a weekend full of surprises.

Victor would like to thank all the team at STP, Dave Johnson for his help and advice and all his supporters

The Vicar #28