Season 2005 - review - Part 1

After a successful couple of seasons in the Virgin Mobile R6 cup, Victor took the next logical step up to Superstocks.

The first part of the year was taken up with riding for the highly professional Beowulf team in the European Superstock 1000s, supporting the European rounds of the World Superbikes. He seemed to spend as much of his time mingling with the likes of James Toseland and Chris Walker as riding! In all Victor rode his GSXR1000 in six races: Valencia, Monza, Silverstone, Misano, Brno and Brands Hatch. Best qualifying was 13th at Brands with a time of 1min 31.493 secs, 2.016secs behind Sofuoglu on pole. Best result was a 14th at Silverstone, giving a grand total of 2 championship points.

However, all good things must come to an end and Victor and Beowulf parted company after Brands Hatch.

The second part of the season was spent guest riding with Team STP Racing on the R1 in the British National Superstocks championship. He ran at Silverstone, Donington Park and Brands, where the Vicar scored at excellent 6th place.

And now in Victor's words...

2005 was a good year, I learned so much riding in the European Superstock championship, it is really competitive & the tracks are awesome - I really enjoyed competing at that level. There was the immediate challenge of getting myself familiar with the bike and the circuits, which are totally different to the ones in the UK, and in each & every session I improved. By the end of the races I had usually improved on my first qualifying times by 4 to 5 seconds a lap.

VALENCIA

First race of the season in the European Superstocks on a Suzuki GSXR 1000. When I first looked at the circuit I just couldn't wait to get going. That evening I went for a run around the circuit & noticed that there was a shadow closing in on me .....After completing two laps the shadow turned into Chris Walker. I grabbed the chance to say hello and was soon listening to tips & advice he was kind enough to share with me. I was also fortunate enough to catch up with James Toseland who took me round the circuit on his moped. I am grateful to both of them for taking time out at every round to sit with me in the evenings and talk me through the circuits. Thanks for the valuable information you gave me from your vast experience guys. I have nothing but tremendous respect for both of you.

MONZA

This was by far one of my favourite tracks...I was immediately fascinated by the history of this place and the banking on the old circuit. Cars used to race on this wall of death that is so steep you can't possibly walk up it.

The atmosphere was incredible and I could not believe the length of the straights, I reached speeds of just over 300 kmh per hour - the track was so different from those I have experienced in Britain.

On the Friday qualifier going into lesbo 1 I outbraked myself running wide into the gravel, hitting the tyre wall, but I didn't drop the bike, so I got back on the track & made sure I improved my times for the 2nd qualifier.

MISANO

The weather was red hot .......ran two laps around the track with Chris Walker in 35 degrees C! These temperatures really test your fitness levels. All in all this was a frustrating weekend as I struggled with the bike set up. The team & I worked flat out all weekend working to improve the suspension, but then that's racing......!

BRNO

I was amazed at the width & length of this track, it felt like the M25, awesome! Definitely the best so far. The first day there I got on the scooter in my shorts & T-shirt to do a couple of laps and try to learn the track. I was going round for the second time when the sky turned darker and the grey clouds looked well dodgy. Thought to myself it'll be ok, I'll get back to the race truck before ... WRONG! Got round the second corner and was suddenly pelted by golf balls, well it felt like it & bloody well hurt. I couldn't see a thing; I've never seen rain like it. The team were wetting themselves with laughter when I got back, looked like I'd been swimming in my clothes!

CASTLE COOMBE

How this weekend came together I'll never know ... Rodney Gooch had called me and offered me a place in the Superbike race, all I had to do was find a bike to ride and I had one week to do it! On the Wednesday before the race weekend, Lars & STP Racing offered me a ride on one of their bikes, I couldn't wait. It was great meeting the team for the first time on the Friday night & we all hit it off straight away and got on really well. I hadn't even seen the bike I was going to race until the Saturday morning when we had practice. The team spent the whole of Saturday setting the bike up for me and in the two races on Sunday I got 12th & 11th in the British Super Bikes and 3rd & 2nd in the Privateers Cup.

Being so close to my where I live, this meant such a lot to me and it was great that lots of my mates came to watch. That weekend would never have happened if it wasn't for the help of some good friends like Stewy Rogers who was ringing everyone for sponsorship & all those people who chucked in a bit of cash to help pay for tyres, fuel, etc. THANKS TO ALL. John of STP was so pleased with my results that he asked me if I would ride for them for the rest of the season in the British Superstock Championship, didn't think twice!

Now it's all been agreed that I am racing for STP next year in the British and I can't wait. I couldn't have ever hoped to meet a better crowd of blokes; totally committed to racing but boy do they know how to have fun!!

I have just bought an RM125 Moto X bike to keep me active & fit during the winter.....well it was that or girls and bikes are cheaper.

Part 2 - here.