A tough weekend of racing for Mat and co
COVENTRY and Warwickshire’s DunlopMSA British Touring Car Championship competitors endured a tough weekend at the super fast Thruxton track in Hampshire.
Mat Jackson and the Motorbase Performance squad are enduring a tough time in the opening three rounds of the championship.
Qualifying tenth for race one in round three at Thruxton should have been the springboard for a hatful of points over his three races of the weekend and fighting hard over the 16 laps he finished in a good eighth place.
Race two was a disaster as he had an offtrack excursion which left him down the field in 30th place when the red flag was thrown and the race restarted. He then showed his speed by clawing his way back to 20th.
Race three was a damage limitation exercise and he finished in 14th place.
Jeff Smith once again showed the speed of the Eurotech Racing Honda Civic Type R around the Thruxton speedbowl.
Qualifying sixth for race one he was bundled down to 11th at the finish, which he followed up with a tenth place finish in race two.
Two good race finishes, however, were marred by finishing 27th in race three.
Nuneaton’s Ash Hand and the Team Pyro squad once again showed a good turn of speed but the results never materialised.
Qualifying fifth for race one, he finished down in 13th after becoming embroiled in the midfield scrap.
Eighth on the grid for race two became ninth at the finish of the second Renault UK Clio Cup race. THERE were great rides at the weekend from either end of the age spectrum by Coventry’s Team Jewson MI Racing cycling team.
Youngsters Josh Giddings and Jack Brough, riding for The MI Racing Academy, were a class apart at the third of the Midlands youth omnium series at Wolverhampton’s outdoor track.
Josh won the first four events for a clear overall win and then the pair of them broke away after just three laps in the points race to secure Jack second place overall.
Lotta Mansfield also took her third third place in the series and brother Finn was in the thick of the action with some fine attacking racing.
Meanwhile, former professional Derrick Woodings and teammate Mick Allen were category winners at the Spirit Bikes road race in Cranfield, a tough event in which they were riding against competitors approaching 20 years their junior.
On the tracks around Cannock, Academy rider Joni Wildman scored a great third place in the Midlands Mountain bike series.
Team Jewson MI Racing continue their domination of the LVRC track league at Derby.
In a field of the best over-40 and over-50 riders, Mike Twelves won two of the events on Thursday night and Ian Cooper claimed second places.
Unfortunately Twelves crashed quite heavily in the final event and looks set to miss this weekend’s TLI Circuit Race National Championships.
Team boss Mick Ives, who is in Italy on his Giro d’Italia challenge, has completed the first four stages and is currently on his way back to the Italian mainland.