TAG Racing Honda enjoyed a positive weekend in the North of Holland at the famous TT Circuit Assen, with the Superbike pairing of Fraser Rogers and Jaimie Van Sikkelerus enjoying success on the track. Dutchman Van Sikkelerus achieved his best result of the season in Saturday’s first race and Rogers claimed his best dry race result of 2025.
The weekend got off to a challenging start for the lads, with free practice proving a tricky task for the pair, however they both grit their teeth in Saturday’s qualifying session.
Fraser just narrowly missed out on a spot in Q2 after posting his fastest lap of the weekend, a 1:37.252, which would line him up in 16th for the afternoon’s opening race. Like his team mate, Jaimie would improve in time and notched up a 1:37.503 to achieve 18th for race one.
After a day and a half of sunshine in Northern Holland, the weather then took a turn for the worse just prior to the start of the first Bennetts British Superbike Championship race of the weekend, with heavy rain starting to fall as the riders headed for the grid.
The team worked frantically to make the correct set-up changes to give the riders the best chance of achieving a good result. Just moments later, everything was set and the riders were ready to push as the rain began to fall heavier.
As the lights went out to signal the start of the 18-lap dice, both Rogers and Van Sikkelerus made fantastic starts, picking up a number of places after the opening lap, with Fraser making his way into sixth and Jaimie 12th.
With Rogers settled and feeling comfortable with his Honda Fireblade he then began to push on and picked off the three riders ahead of him, working his way up to third place by the end of lap three. With the conditions beginning to become increasingly tricky, unfortunately Fraser would make a mistake and crashed out of the race on lap four after he touched a white line, thankfully he walked away unhurt.
It would then be left to Jaimie to fly the flag for the team, and by half race distance he had worked his way into ninth place. The home town boy continued to ride sensibly, and by virtue of a couple of crashes ahead of him he inherited seventh place. The conditions deteriorated further which forced the organisers to red flag the race on lap 10 due to the track conditions.
After a lengthy delay, and a failed re-start over six laps, the race was called a result and half points were awarded, handing Jaimie his best result of the season and six points to his Championship tally.
That evening saw the team work late into the night to repair the damage to Fraser’s machine to ensure it would be ready to do battle in both races on the final day.
Sunday afternoon’s second race would once again be run under wet conditions following a downpour of rain just moments before the Superbikes we due to head to the grid. After a frantic set-up change, the boys were ready for launch.
By virtue of their lap times in race one, Fraser would start from eighth on the grid with Jaimie just two places back in 10th. From the lights they made contrasting starts in tricky conditions, after the opening lap Fraser had worked his way into sixth and on the back of the leading group, with Jaimie getting blocked out into turn one, dropping back to 16th.
Rogers then began to battle with Leon Haslam and Charlie Nesbitt for fifth place, with the trio swapping places in misty rain. However by half race distance he developed a technical issue with his gear shift, meaning he was manually shifting through the gearbox. However, he rode hard and kept his head down to the finish, taking a solid seventh place at the flag.
After regrouping following his challenging opening lap, Jaimie held 15th and continued to post consistent lap times while navigating his way through the conditions. However, his physical condition, due to his shoulder injury, then began to take effect and he lost out on the fight for the final points scoring place on the final lap, crossing the line in 18th.
Conditions had improved for the third, and final race, of the weekend with Fraser and Jaimie starting from ninth and 19th respectively. But, as the riders took to the grid once again a flurry of rain caused havoc with tyre choice, however it was declared a dry race and both started on full slicks.
From the lights for the final time they once again made good leaps of the line, and after the opening lap Fraser held 10th with Jaimie working his way into 17th. However, just three laps later the race was red flagged due to weather conditions which forced a restart over 14 laps.
After a short delay, and a significant improvement on conditions, the race got underway once again with Fraser and Jaimie making their trademark solid starts, and after the opening lap they held ninth and 18th respectively.
Rogers would then become embroiled in a battle with race two podium finisher Rory Skinner, the duo dicing it out each and every lap. The changes the team made had clearly made a difference, with Rogers posting consistent lap times in the dry conditions.
With just a handful of laps remaining he dropped off the group, which by then also included Charlie Nesbitt, forcing him to settle for a solid ninth place, his best dry result of the 2025 season.
Van Sikkelerus also continued to battle hard until the flag, riding through the pain barrier caused due to his shoulder injury, bravely taking to the finish, crossing the line in 18th.
Fraser Rogers: “I’m chuffed to end the weekend like that, it’s our best dry race of the season and I had solid pace, I didn’t just cling on with a fresh tyre and then survive, I had genuine pace and I was in the battle. Towards the end I was so comfortable with the bike, we’ve made a massive step forward this weekend so a big shout out goes to the team.
“I feel like what we’ve changed is what we’ve been missing, I feel really good on the bike, and I’m really pleased with how this weekend has ended. The wet races were disappointing, some silverware was possible in my eyes, Saturday I threw it away with a stupid mistake and Sunday’s first race we had a gear shifter problem which held me back. But all in all I’ll take it, we’ve made a huge step forward and we’ll head to Oulton Park now full of confidence that we can be in the battle.”
Jaimie Van Sikkelerus: “It was incredible to be here in Assen this weekend with my home crowd cheering me on, it’s meant so much. Saturday we had a brilliant race in the rain, I had loads of confidence so for me it was a disappointment that it was red flagged, but I understand why, to come away with my best result of the season I’m really, really happy. Sunday was a little bit different, in the final race it was quite physical for me, in-between all the races I was receiving physio to ensure I was in the best condition, and I finished both races so I’m happy with that.
“We’ve learnt a lot this weekend, we’ve made a big step forward with the set up of the bike in-between the races, so in general it’s been a great weekend and I can’t wait to get to Oulton Park now.”
Team Manager Gary Winfield: “We’re really pleased with this weekend, both Fraser and Jaimie have raced well and made breakthroughs with their set-up’s which now gives us confidence heading to Oulton Park.
“Fraser has been unlucky to not come away with some silverware this weekend, but the progress we’ve made with his dry set up and the result he got in race has made up for that disappointment. We’re all delighted for Jaimie, he’s worked his socks off this year so for him to get his best result of the season, at his home round, is just reward.”
Fraser Rogers has now increased his championship points tally to 95 as he continues to hold 15th in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, with Jaimie Van Sikkelerus moving into 21st in the standings on 7 points.
The team now has a ten day turn around before heading to Oulton Park for round ten of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship on October 3/4/5.
