MOTORCYCLE RACING: THE third round of the Bennetts British Superbike at Thruxton on Monday was always going to be spectacular.

The weather that had been so atrocious at Donington just a few days before had all the makings of a warm and sunny weekend and the thousands of fans that packed the circuit were looking forward to a thrilling day's racing.

On the warm-up laps in the morning Victor Cox from Staverton, Trowbridge, riding the Yamaha 1000cc R1 for the STP racing team, found his luck was out. He was sideswiped by another rider which broke the gear lever and almost pushed him into the gravel trap. Repairs were made but too late to test them and he had to wait for his race and hoped that no other damage had been done.

Cox wasn't confident. He had qualified way down the pack in 30th place and was two seconds off the pole position man. He knew he had to pull something special out of the bag, but with a dry race Cox was up for the challenge. After the first lap he had already made up several places and starting to feel optimistic about his chances of some world championship points. Alas, that was not to be but after a meteoric ride he finished in a very creditable 17th place.

Cox said he had been pushed wide on one of the last bends and had the race been a few laps longer he would have had a points finish.

Team principal Jon Strike said he felt this could be a turning point and hoped that the test session at Oulton Park on Friday prior to the next round would give them the boost to performance which would improve the bike still further.