BARC serves up scorching weekend at Thruxton Summer Truckfest

The British Automobile Racing Club served up a scorching weekend (July 7/8) both on and off the track at Thruxton, with seven championships tackling the fastest circuit in the country.

Amidst the heatwave the UK is currently revelling in, a bumper crowd turned out in force across both days to watch a variety of categories write the latest chapter in their 2018 campaigns.

Stealing the show was the British Truck Racing Association Championship, which staged a total of eight fraught races. Division 1 saw reigning champion Ryan Smith produce an emphatic display as he kicked off the weekend from storming to pole position. From there, the event belonged to Smith as he surged to four wins from four races, extending his championship lead in doing so too.

Whilst Smith topped the podium, a host of other drivers including Stuart Oliver, Luke Taylor, David Jenkins, Jamie Anderson and Simon Reid all scored rostrum finishes.

In Division 2 there were to be three different winners from four races, with Steve Powell emerging as the man to triumph twice. Powering his way to pole position, Powell took a dominant lights-to-flag victory in the opener before then replicating that performance in the combined Division 1 & 2 race at the end of the weekend.

Brad Smith and Luke Garrett were the other victors from the class with Smith’s victory proving to be a popular one as he broke his 2018 winless duck.

In the Pickup Truck Racing Championship, reigning champion Scott Bourne closed the gap to points leader Lea Wood with a dominant double. In two frenetic encounters, Bourne prevailed from both races narrowly pipping Wood, with just a tenth of a second covering the pair at the chequered flag each time. Mark Willis rounded out the podium in both races too.

Ben Palmer emerged as another double winner from the weekend as he continued his unbeaten run in the Michelin Clio Cup Series. Despite missing out on pole position, the defending champion produced two stellar performances to strengthen his advantage at the summit of the standings. Nic Harrison did the same in the road class of the series, sweeping his way to a pair of wins.

Spoils were shared in the Mighty Minis Championship as Greg Jenkins and David Kirkpatrick took a win apiece. Dicing for the lead in both races, Jenkins bested Kirkpatrick and Alex Comis in race one before the roles were reversed in race two, with Ian Slark rounding off the podium.

Dean Sullivan and Simon Kendrick emerged victorious from the weekend’s two Lancaster Insurance MG Owner’s Club Championship races. Sullivan narrowly pipped Kendrick to the chequered flag in race one before the latter then produced a devastating display to win by more than 11 seconds. Stuart Philps was unable to stop the squabbling duo and instead had to settle for third place in both races.

The Kumho BMW Championship races had a familiar feel to them as Colin Wells took a pair of win. Wells was the dominant force from the outset and despite the best efforts of James Card, Piers Reid and Darren Fielding, the experienced racer wasn’t to be denied.

Rounding off the weekend’s action was a host of races from the APL Health Caterham Graduates Championship. In the amalgamated Sigmax/ Sigmax VCT duels, Samuel Wilson and Oliver Gibson scored a win apiece whilst Jamie Ellwood, Jonathan Curry and Steve McMaster each took podiums.

The weekend’s Mega, Sigma & Classic races had Declan Dolan take honours in race one before Simon Griffiths struck to score a win of his in the second bout. Ben Winrow and Andy Skinner also picked up silverware too.

For the full classification of results from all of the weekend’s action, click here.