Sun shines on memorable weekend at Pembrey for Spring Truckfest

Pembrey Circuit served up a captivating two days of track action this past weekend (May 11/12) as several British Automobile Racing Club championships continued their 2019 campaigns.

Basking in bright sunshine throughout both days, a bumper crowd descended on the picturesque Welsh venue for one of the biggest events of the year – Spring Truckfest.

Making the first of two visits to South Wales to headline the action was the MV Commercial BTRA Championship, and all seven races didn’t disappoint. Division 1 saw the ongoing duel between reigning champion Ryan Smith and David Jenkins take another turn, as the pair squabbled for supremacy.

Smith struck first with victory in the opening encounter before Jenkins bounced back with a win of his own in race two, albeit narrowly ahead of the three-time title winner.

A stunning last lap overtake in the third encounter handed the advantage back to Smith before the three-time title winner capped off his weekend in style by completing his hat-trick in the combined finale.

In Division 2, Luke Garrett continued his march towards securing back-to-back titles with another superlative performance. Storming to pole position, the MAN driver clinched a lights-to-flag victory in the opener before doing the same in race three.

Paul Rivett scored a hugely popular first win in the series also whilst Steve Powell also tasted success by powering towards the top step of the podium in the final race of the weekend.

The Pickup Truck Racing Championship served up plenty of unpredictability once more as a trio of races were played out around the 1.49 mile layout. Paul Tompkins edged out a nail-biting battle for victory in the opening race ahead of Michael Smith and Mark Willis before Reece Jones came to the fore in race two to prevail.

The third and final race from the Pickup Trucks saw Dale Gent charge towards the summit to become the third different race winner in the series.

Malcolm Blackman continued his dominant start to the year in the BARC Super Silhouette Championship with a further three wins at Pembrey. Having topped the podium twice at the Brands Hatch season-opener, Blackman extended his unbeaten start to the season with a commanding performance.

As Blackman starred Chris Brockenhurst, Steve Burrows and Danny Hunn all also picked up podium finishes.

There was further dominance in the Max5 Racing Championship as well as Paul Roddison notched two wins to extend his perfect start to the 2019 campaign. Coming off the back of claiming a sensational hat-trick of wins at Croft, Roddison underlined his credentials as the man to beat in superlative circumstances.

Roddison battled back from fourth to head Ian Loversidge and Andrew Pretorius in race one before then doing the same in race two, this time doing so from lights-to-flag.

The BARC Saloons Series, TDi North Honda VTEC Challenge and KW Automotive Classic VW Cup amalgamated together once again to give fans of all things tin tops plenty to get excited about.

William Casswell piloted his Honda Civic to the top of the rostrum in race one before the eye-catching Ford Sierra XR4i of Ashley Shelswell triumphed later on.

Rounding out the weekend’s action were a pair of races from the Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Championship which were both won by Keith Butcher.

For the full classification of results from Pembrey across the weekend, click here.