TAG Racing Honda rounded off round five of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch in style, with a top ten finish for Fraser Rogers in Sunday’s final 20-lap Superbike encounter, with Shaun Winfield notching up his best result of the season, taking seventh place.
It was a successful start to the weekend in Kent for the TAG Racing quadruple, with the squad improving on their lap times during Saturday morning qualifying session. In the Bandero Cafe Qualifying shootout, Dutchman Jaimie Van Sikkelerus missed out on Q2 although he bettered his fastest lap of the weekend to line him up 21st on the grid for race one that afternoon.
Team-mate Fraser Rogers on the other hand did progress into Q2 after a increasing his overall speed in the opening 15-minute session. The shorter, second, session saw Rogers head out on track in pursuit of solid grid slot for the opening race, but unfortunately he struggled to better his time, posting a 1:25.991, lining him up 14th on starting grid.
It was also a solid qualifying session for the Superstock pairing of Matt Truelove and Shaun Winfield, with the duo both improving their personal best lap times of the weekend. Winfield knocked off 2.1 seconds, posting a 1:27.062 to line him up fifth on the grid for the afternoon’s 14-lap race. Team mate Truelove would start one row behind, in eighth place, following his weekend PB of 1:27.235.
A threat of rain quickly subsided ahead of the start of the opening Bennetts BSB race of the weekend, and from the lights both Fraser and Jaimie made great starts, picking up one place each on the pack after the opening lap.
By half race distance Rogers held his position while battling with fellow Honda riders, Josh Brookes and Charlie Nesbitt, as JVS sat in 19th, hunting down Davey Todd on his 8Ten Racing BMW with MLav Racing’s Richard Kerr also in the mix.
With just five laps remaining, Rogers was riding a lonely race as he held 13th, however he was posting consistent lap times, continuing with his positive race pace, and it would ultimately be enough to fend off Scott Swann who lay behind, allowing Fraser to home a handful of Championship points.
As the race entered its final stages, Jaimie continued to battle with Todd and Kerr for 18th, and the trio swapped places until the flag with the Dutchman crossing line 20th, gaining valuable data for his garage ahead of Sunday’s two races.
Just ten minutes later it would be the turn of the Superstock boys for their first race of the weekend, with Winfield starting on row two and Truelove on row three.
After an intense opening set of laps, where the two team-mates traded paint and places, Truelove battled his way up to third by lap five, and began to dice with David Allingham and Josh Owens. By mid-race Allingham had forced his way through and pulled away from the group, leaving Matt to battle with out with his fellow Honda rider.
The pair then diced it out for fourth, but unfortunately with just a handful of laps remaining, the Lincolnshire-man was passed by Owens and couldn’t respond before the flag, crossing the line in fifth, collecting his eighth consecutive top eight finish of 2025.
Team-mate Shaun Winfield made a great start off the line, making his way into the fourth after the opening corner, however he was pushed wide into turn two and unfortunately lost out on his spot, dropping back to sixth.
He quickly regained his composure, posted a solid lap time, which would line him up sixth for Sunday’s second race, and began to tussle it out in a group of two. Two false-neutrals would halt his progress, but once again he kept his composure to cross the line in eighth, to collect his best finish of the season to date.
From the lights on Sunday afternoon to signal the start of the 12-lap sprint race, both riders got off the line strong, with Van Sikkelerus holding his grid slot of 21st, however Fraser dropped three places after the opening sequence of corners.
By half race distance Rogers had worked his way into 12th place, picking up four spots and posting his fastest lap of the weekend in the process. Following a safety car deployment, he joined a four way fight for ninth. He would then better his lap time with just four laps remaining, however it wouldn’t be enough to catch the group in front, as he crossed the line in 11th.
After a challenging first four laps, Jaimie quickly regained his composure and began to reel in the group ahead of Davey Todd and Blaze Baker, improving on his best lap of the weekend in the process. He would continue to chase the two ahead down, and by two thirds race distance he’d worked his way past Baker. The Dutchman would then battle hard to fend off the man behind, and as the flag came out he did just that, crossing the line in a solid 18th place.
The third and final Bennetts BSB race saw Fraser start from 12th on the grid, with Jaimie 19th, by virtue of their lap times in the earlier sprint race, and after the opening lap Rogers had dropped two places following a challenging start, with VanSikkelerus holding position.
By the end of lap six, following a deployment of a safety car due to a crash for Lee Jackson, Fraser had worked his way back through the pack and found himself in 11th, hunting down the group battling for eighth. By half race distance he sat in 10th place and began to post consistent lap times as he looked to hunt down the group ahead, however even though his pace was strong, it wouldn’t be enough to pass the riders ahead and he crossed the line 10th, collecting solid championship points.
Jaimie endured a challenging final race, following the safety car, he lost the tow to the group ahead riding a lonely race, eventually crossing the line in 17th.
The second, and final, National Superstock race of the weekend got underway at 1:35pm and as the lights went out both Matt and Shaun made good starts to the 14-lapper, holding their grid slots of sixth and seventh respectively, as the pack headed into the woodland section for the first time.
However, as the leaders headed into Westfield corner for the first time Truelovecrashed out of the race, unhurt, leaving him with his first DNF of the season, meaning Winfield would have to fly the flag for the team alone.
The 32-year-old held sixth place at half race distance, leading the second group of riders and in a battle with Callum Bey. By half race distance Shaun had dropped back to eighth, but he quickly regrouped and began to match the lap times of the riders ahead. The duo quickly became a trio as Kam Dixon joined the party, and they began to trade places over the next set of laps.
By the last lap Shaun had made his way to the head of the group and began to pull a comfortable gap in order to hold his position until the flag, however with just a handful of corner left he lost out to a charging Finn Arscott, crossing the line seventh, thus achieving his best result of the season.
Fraser Rogers: “After what was a challenging start to the weekend we’ve rounded it off with a top ten, so I can’t really complain. We’re still struggling in a few areas, but as a team we’ve worked really hard to get on top of it and I feel like we’ve made some good progress. I’m happy, the bosses are happy and the team are happy, so all in all we’re leaving here in a good place.”
Jaimie Van Sikkelerus: “This weekend has been a challenge for me but we’ve not stopped working to make the package better, and I’m proud of the team for that. It was good for us to be fighting with some of the other riders in Saturday’s race as it gave us a good indication of the areas of our bike that we needed to improve for Sunday, which we did for the Sprint Race, but unfortunately the final race was a bit more difficult and I couldn’t stay with the riders ahead. There are lots of positives to take and build upon ahead of Thruxton.”
Matt Truelove: “Overall I’m pleased with how this weekend has gone, but obviously I’m disappointed to have my first DNF of the season. The first race on Saturday was really positive, and I felt like we had the pace for a podium but it just wasn’t to be. We showed good speed throughout the weekend, and I feel that if things had have gone differently in race two we could have been at the sharp end. I’m looking forward to Thruxton now, we’ve made some good steps forward this weekend and it will show at the next round.”
Shaun Winfield: “I’m really happy with how this weekend has finished, our best result of the season and we’ve made massive steps forward, so all in all I’m really pleased. We started off poorly on Friday, it wasn’t good enough but we worked hard to find a solution and it showed. I want to keep the ball rolling now, Thruxton is my favourite track on the calendar so I’m aiming to kick on now as we head into the second half of the season.”
Team Manager Gary Winfield: “All in all I’m really pleased with this weekend, we’ve rounded it off on a positive note and as team we’ve made good steps forward with all of our bikes. As the lads have said the weekend didn’t get off to the best of starts, so I’m really proud with how hard everyone has worked to get us into this position. We’re now heading to Thruxton full confidence and I’m sure we can build on the momentum we’ve created this weekend.”
Fraser Rogers now sits 13th in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship standings on 66 points, with Jaimie Van Sikkelerus 23rd on one point. Matt Truelove holds sixth place in the Pirelli National Superstock on 120 points with Shaun Winfield 10th on 53.
The team now has a two week break before travelling South once again to Thruxton in Hampshire for round six of the Championship, on August 8-10.
