British Trucks Race Meeting - Review
The British Truck Racing Championship once again made its mark on Thruxton as it provided plenty of talking points this past weekend (3/4 June 2017), headlining a bumper card of the British Automobile Racing Club (BARC) action.
Making their annual visit to the fastest circuit in the UK, a healthy grid of BTRC machines arrived with both championships delicately poised.
Division 1
Defending champion Ryan Smith entered the weekend with an eight-point advantage and would ultimately leave with it as well.
Stuart Oliver took the opening victory of the weekend as he narrowly pipped Mat Summerfield and David Jenkins. Smith bounced back from a tough opening encounter to underline his title credentials with a superlative victory in race two with Jenkins and Oliver again on the rostrum.
Former champion Summerfield then really asserted his dominance in the third race of the weekend. Hitting the front early on, Summerfield stretched his legs out front, building up a lead of more than ten seconds come the chequered flag.
Shane Brereton rounded off the list of Division 1 winners as he triumphed in the final race. Arguably the biggest winner of the weekend was Summerfield who not only took a race win but also moved into second in the standings.
Division 2
Saw the complexion of the points standings change as defending champion Adam Bint took control at the summit.
Mika Makinen, who had entered the weekend as the leader, started his weekend off on the right foot with a win in race 1 but that was as good as it was going to be for the Finnish star.
Tony Smith and Simon Cole shared the remaining spoils, the latter taking a brace of wins.
Support Races
From the heavyweight nature of the BTRC to the smaller Mighty Minis; which boasted a 32-car grid. Scott Kendall and Elliot Stafford took a win apiece in the Super Mighty Mini class whilst Sarah Moore proved to be too much for her rivals as she bagged both wins in the Mighty Mini category.
The Lancaster Insurance MGOC Championship staged a brace of wins and both brought the same result; Lee Sullivan in his MG ZR 160 1800.
Oliver Taylor enjoyed a weekend of dominance in Class A of the Kumho BMW Championship as he topped every session he took part in. Hustling his BMW E90 M3 3200 to pole position, Taylor took a lights-to-flag victory in both encounters.
John Bradburn was also dominant too as he won the amalgamated Class B, C & D races, taking both victories.
Rounding off the BARC track action was the ever-popular and ever-growing Hyundai Coupe Cup. Fielding its biggest grid since its inception with more than 20 cars taking to the track, the cost-effective series produced scintillating action. William Taylforth emerged as the winner of both races.
Thruxton now moves from four-tonne monsters to the British Superbikes, who arrive from Fri 4 - Sun 6 August 2017 for more spectacular two-wheel racing action.