DOMINANT SMITH TAKES TH RU X TON TRUCK WINS
Reigning champion Ryan Smith continued his domination of the BTRA British Truck Racing Championship by claiming all four Division 1 Thruxton race victories.
In the opener Smith led all the way from pole to win by five seconds while in the other three races – all with reverse 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 Division 2 races, claiming the first under pressure from championship leader Luke Garrett. The reverse grid race two was won by Brad Smith who rose from sixth on the grid to lead by lap three, and resisted a closing 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 win his second race 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 victory clean sweep in 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 Claring bould 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 similar 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 slip streamers and Samuel Wilson took his first win of the season in the Sigmax/ Sigmax VCT opener. He led most of the way and just beat Jamie Ellwood, ending the latter’s run of three victories. Reigning Sigmax champion Oliver Gibson won race two.
Declan Dolan continued his 100 per cent campaign initially in the first Caterham Mega/sigma/ Classic race. Simon Griffiths was first over the line but relegated to second behind Dolan by the stewards 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 officially.
Class A1 table-leader Colin Wells eventually won both Kumho BMW Championship races comfortably. He took over the first after poleman Garrie Whittaker retired with a throttle problem. Wells then won race two after passing early leader Piers Reid at one-third’s distance – before Reid retired with a fuel pressure problem.
The two MGOC Championship races were also a reverse of each other – Dean Sullivan beat Simon Kendrick in race one after a long battle, while Kendrick took race two by over 10s from Sullivan.