Snetterton, or Wetterton as many dubbed the Norwich circuit over the weekend, played host to the British Superbike Championship for Round 5; the heavy rainfall throughout the weekend which resulted in every session on Saturday being red-flagged with a total of 93 crashes on the same day across all the classes.
Unfortunately TAG Honda entered the weekend with a rider down as Fraser Rogers was involved in a training accident whilst at a moto-cross session the previous weekend, ruling him unfit to ride. All eyes were on Jaimie van Sikkelerus on the Pathway Superbike and fresh from the podium, Matt Truelove on board the new 2024 Honda CBR1000RR-R SP Fireblade alongside team mate Shaun Winfield.
The action got underway with Race 1 Superbike on Saturday after a frustrating qualifier for van Sikkelerus as he crashed after 3 laps due to the unbearably slippy surface. Starting from P24, van Sikkelerus held on for as long as he could, sadly losing the bike to another crash. Unhurt, van Sikkelerus was feeling eager and ready on Sunday for Race 2, starting slightly higher on the grid in P23. Holding form under arguably better conditions, van Sikkelerus returned with a P22 finish ahead of the DAO Kawasaki of Danny Buchan and current 7th place holder in the Championship, Leon Haslam. Confidence restored, van Sikkelerus returned with a P22 finish overall, P2 in Pathway Superbike.
All eyes were on the Pirelli National Superstock Championship as the heat intensifies at the top with narrowing point advantages separating the top 6 riders, including TAG Honda’s very own Matt Truelove. Qualifying 12th, Truelove was confident he would keep with the leading group as the race got underway. Meanwhile, Winfield knew he had some work to do after only becoming acquainted with the 2024 Honda Fireblade at a very changeable Snetterton, starting from 21st on the grid. Both riders made significant gains in the dry, however half way through the race a red flag was shown due to rain. Returning to the garages, it was unclear whether the race would restart with both machines on slicks or wet tyres. A 5 lap sprint was declared to complete the one race of the weekend for the Superstock class, giving both Matt Truelove and Shaun Winfield an advantage as both were able to return to the grid for the quick start procedure from 6th for Truelove and 13th for Winfield. Truelove broke away early to fight at the front, whilst Winfield got struck off the line by another competitor causing damage to his bike and dropping back yet again to 19th. Both riders claiming solid point scoring results, with a P6 finish for Truelove and P12 finish for Winfield.
Gary Winfield, Team Manager said, “If you could bottle the grit and determination these lads have to race, we would make millions. After a successful testing session with all 4 riders, we were confident to come to Snetterton knowing we were making positive steps in the right direction. As a team we were gutted to hear of the freak-accident that caused Fraser to miss this Round, however we were assured he was going to be ok and we pulled together as a team to refocus our strategy for the Pathway Superbike and Superstock machines. Fending back injury, van Sikkelerus has remained determined to pursue his Superbike career and despite the slips this weekend, has shown consistent improvement and development in his maturity, knowing what it takes to compete with the country’s best. Our 2024 Superstock Honda Fireblades are performing very well; however both riders prefer entirely different setups and adopt quite different riding styles. This weekend has provided us with some invaluable data in both wet and dry settings and we are looking forward to taking this knowledge into Round 6, Brands Hatch.”
