Ben Nicolson in action at Phillip Island last weekend.

A rain-swept Phillip Island greeted Victoria’s best and brightest road races for the opening round of the 2013 Motul Victorian Road Racing Championships on 18-19 May.

In extremely challenging conditions, 2012 Victorian Superbike champion Ben Nicolson rode through the deluge to claim the overall round victory in the Superbike and the Open 500cc classes.

“I got the overall round victories for the Superbike and Open 500cc classes and finished third overall in the Prostock class so that’s not a bad start,” Nicolson, who rides for NextGen Motorsports, said.

“The weather played some havoc on Saturday, constantly switching from wet to dry. I qualified okay; I finished near the top half. On Sunday, it absolutely bucketed down. It was the heaviest rain I’ve ridden in for a long time but it was the same for everyone.”

Nicolson won two out of three Superbike-Prostock races, and finished on a total of 68 points, over the likes of fellow Victorians Nathan Jones and Tyson Jones.

“I took home three wins for the weekend, a third and two fifths so it wasn’t a bad weekend. My lap-times were just a little bit shy of my personal best around there considering the conditions,” Nicolson continued.

His teammate, Glenn Allerton (who did not feature in the points), was the fastest man at the Island on the weekend recording a 1:33.919 on lap three in race one.

“We had a lot of interstate guys come down and race who were very competitive and fast,” Ben added.

Victorians Duncan Rogers and Rod Bell took out the overall victory in the F1 Sidecar class, and young Victorian Callum Anderson finished second in the Superlites-250cc GP classes.

Lahrra Cloak, Sophie Lovett, Lisa Scibberas, and Tracey Davies also rode well in their respective classes in trying conditions at one of the world’s most famous motorcycle circuits.

Nicolson aims to cement his place at the top of the Superbike class during the remaining rounds at Broadford.

“I’ve broken lap-records there. Hopefully, I can get some good results there and keep moving forward in the Championship,” Ben added.

The next instalment of the 2013 Motul Victorian Road Racing Championships already looms on the horizon as round two takes place at Broadford’s State Motorcycle Sports Complex on 29-30 June.