Ben Vicars took victory in Tuesday evening’s re-started Newcomers A Manx Grand Prix, breaking the race’s lap record in the process.

The 20-year-old from Tadcaster brought home his Honda 600 8.943 seconds ahead of Ballymoney’s Darryl Tweed (Triumph), with Stephen Parsons (Kawasaki) a further 27.319 seconds down in third at the conclusion of the three-lap contest that finished in fading light.

The opening GP of the week, which was originally scheduled to take place on Monday evening, was red flagged less than five minutes after its 6.15pm start when Switzerland’s Nicolo Capelli crashed at Braddan Oak, causing his Yamaha to burst into flames. Capelli was taken to hospital with suspected leg fractures and the race eventually re-started at 7.05pm.

Vicars led this from the off, breaking Tim Venables seven-year-old lap record from a standing start with a time of 19 minutes 7.471 seconds aboard the Merlin Sidecars bike. This was five seconds quicker than Venables’ previous standard.

Tweed did his best to reel in his rival but couldn’t close the gap on corrected time to less than 7.647s.

Kendal man Parsons battled with Andrew Fisher for the final podium position for most of the race but ultimately finished 5.364s ahead of his rival.

In the concurrently run Newcomers B race, favourite David Quine was forced to retire at Sulby on the first lap when in top spot.

Irishman Derek Wilson inherited the lead and battled back from a 30-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane to finish 8.197 seconds ahead of New Zealand’s Ben Rosendaal.

Douglas’ Lee Bass was third, a further 57.493 seconds down only four years after taking up the sport.

Full report in Thursday’s Manx Independent.