Dominant Smith takes Trucks clean sweep
THRUXTON BARC JULY 78
Reigning champion Ryan Smith continued his domination of the BTRA British Truck Racing Championship by claiming all four Division 1 race victories at Thruxton.
In the opener Smith led all the way from pole to win by five seconds, while in the other three races – all with reversed grids – he was able to move into first by mid-distance to win comfortably.
“It’s tactical this weekend because at Thruxton the asphalt’s really difficult,” said Smith. “It’s about managing tyres – push hard at the beginning, mid-race have a rest, push on at the end.
“No damage on the truck; it’s home safe.” Steve Powell won two of the four races in Division 2, claiming the first under pressure from championship leader Luke Garrett. The reversed-grid race two was won by
Brad Smith, who rose from sixth on the grid to lead by lap three, and resisted pressure from Simon Cole late on.
Garrett claimed the race-three win as Powell fell to second-last after losing speed when a gear didn’t split properly. Powell stayed there to ensure a front-row start for the final race, and converted that chance to take his second win of the weekend.
Reigning champion Scott Bourne pipped points leader Lea Wood to victory in both Pickup Trucks Racing Championship races.
Ben Palmer maintained his clean sweep of
the Michelin Clio Cup, but only just. In race one, Palmer resisted race-long attentions from Simon Freeman and Tyler Lidsey, then in race two held off Lidsey again.
The Mighty Mini races were multi-car slipstreaming battles. The first was won by Greg Jenkins in the Super Mighty Mini class just ahead of David Kirkpatrick and Alex Comis, the top three able to break away from the chasing pack late on when Tony Claringbould and Jim Carolan spun at the chicane and rejoined in the leaders’ path. Kirkpatrick turned the tables in race two, pipping Jenkins to win by two tenths.
Lee Poolman took the Mighty Mini race-one class honours after a similarly tight battle, beating his title rival Stuart Combes. Race two was a reverse of the first race, as Combes won a race-long fight with Poolman.
The Caterham Graduates races were also bunched slipstreamers, and Samuel Wilson took his first win of the season in the Sigmax opener. He led most of the way and just beat Jamie Ellwood, ending Ellwood’s run of three victories. Reigning Sigmax champion Oliver Gibson won race two.
Declan Dolan continued his 100% record in the first Caterham Mega/sigma/classic race. Simon Griffiths was first over the line but relegated to second behind Dolan for cutting the chicane when taking the lead on the last lap. Griffiths was able to end Dolan’s run in race two by beating him to the flag without transgressing.
Class A1 table-leader Colin Wells eventually won both Kumho BMW Championship races comfortably. He took the first after poleman Garrie Whittaker retired with a throttle problem on lap two. Wells then won race two after passing early leader Piers Reid at one-third distance, before Reid retired shortly afterwards with a fuel-pressure problem.
The two MGOC Championship races had a degree of symmetry – Dean Sullivan (ZR 160) beat the MGF of Simon Kendrick in race one after a long battle, while Kendrick took race two by over 10s from Sullivan.