The latest rounds of the Delphi British Truck Racing Championship took place at a sunny and warm Thruxton circuit last weekend (August 15/16) – and saw a double win for Stuart Oliver in Class ‘A’ and one win apiece for Ben Horne and Elton Boocock in Class ‘B’.

But with the high-speed Hampshire circuit taking it’s toil on many machines the results could have been very different in an all-action weekend of heavyweight racing.

In Class ‘A’ the first championship race was won cleanly by Oliver – fending off Jenkins and Gibbon. In fact Summerfield had initially led the way – but he was forced to take a ‘Drive Through’ penalty for ‘anticipating’ the start and corner cutting at the complex on the opening lap. That dropped Mat down to 5th at the finish.

The second of the Delphi Championship races looked set to fall to the flying MAN of David Jenkins… the Stone racer having forced his way ahead of reigning champ Oliver in a tough battle. But race officials judged that ‘jumping Jenks’ had been clipping the chicane just a bit too much (and too often) and imposed a 30 second time penalty – dropping Dave to 5th position. That left Oliver to win comfortably – some 13.6 secs clear of runner-up Summerfield with Ricky Collett taking the final podium spot.

In Class ‘B’ the seemingly unbeatable David Ball didn’t continue his winning streak as mechanical troubles hit his Seddon Atki. In the first race he struggled home 4th in Class – leaving victory to the delighted ‘comeback kid’ Ben Horne (White) – in front of the battling Elton Boocock (Seddon) and Steven Powell (Ford).

Ball was a non-starter in the second outing…leaving the way clear for Boocock to claim victory – fending off Powell by just over half a second at the flag with 3rd falling to Adam Atkins (White).
Unfortunately many of the Class ‘B’ runners suffered mechanical trouble – it seems the high-speed, full-bore nature of Thruxton really does find any weaknesses in the machinery!

The Grand Final of the Anglo-French Challenge produced some real excitement – but the foreign visitors really didn’t get a look in. Like last weekend at Donington – Mat Summerfield kept his best performance for the final race of the weekend and led from start-to-finish.

Jenks was certainly looking threatening in the early stages – and this duo soon pulled well clear of the remainder of the field.
So far in fact that even when he collected a ‘Drive-Through’ penalty for ‘excessive keep hopping’ at the chicane Jenks still managed to return in 2nd place and hold on for the runner-up spot.
A great charge from back of the field saw Oliver take the final podium spot – ahead of top French runner Philippe Arlaud (Renault).
Sadly many drivers did not even manage to take the start of the final… understandable if you’ve really broken something – but I remember the days when everybody used to try and get out in EVERY race!

Hopefully they will all be back up to speed for the next Delphi British Championship rounds at Pembrey on October 17/18.
       
by JONATHAN REEVES
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