BARC serves up memorable Rockingham send-off

The British Automobile Racing Club served up a memorable farewell at Rockingham Motor Speedway this past weekend (September 22/23) as a trio of championships battled it out one last time.

With the impending closure of the venue fast approaching, the Pickup Truck Racing Championship, Max5 Racing Championship and Kumho BMW Championship took on a starring role as part of the popular Truxx Factor two-day extravaganza.

Having been a permanent fixture on the oval layout for the past 15 years, the Pickup Truck Racing Championship brought the curtain down on its time at the Corby-based venue with two pulsating races.

Since the inaugural oval race in 2003, the series has flourished at Rockingham and the last chapter proved to be an enthralling one. Paul Tompkins wrote his name into the history books by producing a scintillating double victory – the first by a mere two tenths of a second ahead of Dale Gent.

Tompkins was in similarly irritable form in the second encounter of the weekend as he once again edged out Gent, this time by more than four seconds. Mark Willis and Scott Bourne capped off the weekend by filling the remaining podium positions in both races.

Paul Roddison continued his dominant run in the Max5 Racing Championship with another pair of race wins. Proving to be the benchmark driver in 2018, Roddison narrowly pipped Ian Loversidge in race one before then repeating the performance in the second race, albeit by a bigger margin.

Whilst Roddison and Loversidge filled the top two positions, Jeremy Shipley kept the pair honest with a brace of third place finishes.

Garrie Whittaker continued the theme of commanding performances in the Kumho BMW Championship with two victories at the wheel of his BMW E36 M3.

In addition to the on-track action, several heavyweight machines from the British Truck Racing Association Championship were also in attendance ahead of their penultimate event of the season at Pembrey on October 13/14, providing spectators with the opportunity to get up close and personal with the five-tonne behemoths.

For the full classification of results from all sessions and championships, click here.

Rockingham’s last competitive meeting, the Super Send-Off, will take place on November 24/25.