He will go into the second round of the event on his home circuit in confident mood after making his mark in the Pre-Injection 600 class at East Fortune.

After just four laps, snow and hail lashed the circuit but Vickers and his Blackbird Corporate Yamaha R6 managed to qualify in 16th place out of 39 riders.

It provided a platform as he achieved one 14th and two 16th place finishes. Afterwards he said, “It has been one of the most interesting weekends of racing I think I am likely to have.

“Never did I expect to be qualifying in falling snow and hail, but it definitely made it interesting. I really enjoyed racing in the wet, which is when I got my 14th place finish. The biggest downside is due to the amount of spray from the bikes in front I couldn’t see my braking points. I want to thank everyone at Melville Motorsports club and the marshalls for a great weekend’s racing. Also my sponsors Blackbird Corporate Ltd, Lime Salon and Pops for supporting their continued support.” In the superbike class, Crossgates duo Greg and Sean Gilfillan enjoyed a solid start ahead of the Knockhill round, occupying fourth and fifth place respectively in the overall standings.

Greg secured two third place finishes and the fastest lap of the weekend by 0.5 of a second, while Sean took three fourth place finishes as they accumulated 32 and 24 points respectively.

The next round in the championship will be held at Knockhill on Saturday and Sunday.