The vicarracing.com

Castle Coombe Grand National 10/11 June 2006

This weekend it was the SuperBike Grand National at Castle Combe. Being outside the British Superstock series the team had a choice of tyres they could run on but Victor and Stewy Rogers (the team's pit lane manager) opted for the Metzeler Racetecs that they have been using all season. A brave decision seeing most other entrants were running on full slicks!

First qualifying put Victor 5th on the grid but after 2nd qualifying he had secured pole.

On race day, sunday, the paddock was told that a late entrant, Dean Ellison, would be starting from the back of the grid on the Slingshot Honda superbike.

Race 1 saw Victor drop three places by the first corner but as they came over the line at the end of lap 1 the Vicar had taken the lead and managed to hold it till about half way through the race. He was making a few mistakes on the back of the circuit and Richard Norris took advantage and finished 1st with Victor a very close second.

The Vicar #28

Race 2 was very different! Victor had the lead but just behind him, on the second lap, there were two crashes involving four riders. The race was red flagged. Back to the pit lane.

The restart saw the Vicar as the only rider on the front row, with Dean still at the back of the grid! From the start Victor shot off and concentrated pulling as much of a lead as he could. Lap 5 and Victor had a 16+ second lead on Dean, his main challenger (no disrespect to the other riders).

By lap 12 the Vicar's lead had only dropped to 14.8 seconds over Ellison who was now in second place. Using his head, Victor backed off slightly and finished 1st, a clear 7.5 seconds ahead of second place man Dean.

Even though I say it myself, as his dad, a fantastic ride from a young lad on a stock bike on road tyres. He didn't put a foot wrong and rode with a maturity beyond his years. WELL DONE THE VICAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And a big well done to James Cox who came third, his first time out on a 1000cc