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Sunday at Brands Hatch – a variety of winners in Class A; Mäkinen’s the master of Class B

Sunday at Brands Hatch – a variety of winners in Class A; Mäkinen’s the master of Class B

27. March 2017Brands Hatch - The weather was as splendid on this second day of the opening round of the British Truck Racing Championship as it was the day before, with scattered clouds and the occasional brisk breezes.
The trucks in the higher-performance Class A were first out early this morning for the second of their four races. The start grid was an inversion of the finishing order of the first race yesterday, which meant Stuart Oliver (Volvo) und Ryan Smith (MAN) shared the last row, and Oly Janes (Buggyra Freightliner) was on pole. Having seen their performances yesterday, you’d have expected at least one of the two potential challengers for the title to finish atop the podium, but that was not to be. Instead it was Shane Brereton who, starting from seventh, powered his MAN clear into the lead. It was the best David Jenkins could do to follow in his treads, the MAN duo securing the two podium spots for themselves by a huge margin. Mat Summerfield made it an all-MAN lockout by holding off Michael Oliver (Scania) and his father Stuart till the very end.
In the third race Smith had a very promising third spot on the grid, two rows ahead of Stuart Oliver. The MAN pilot cashed in on this advantage in as soon as the lights turned green, and led the race strongly all the way to the flag. Stuart Oliver swiftly climbed to third, but then was held up by Ray Coleman (MAN) till mid-race. Then, having overpowered his obstinate adversary, the Volvo pilot quickly widened the gap to the field behind him, but simply ran out of road in his pursuit of Smith. Coleman, meanwhile, only managed to salvage third by a fraction of a second ahead of Brereton and Jenkins.
The concluding Class A race was led by polesitter Janes for several laps and it looked like the Buggyra Freightliner pilot would after all be celebrating his first win of the weekend, even if he had the whole pack, led by Summerfield and Smith, coupled as it were to his rear crash guard. Tragically, with just two laps to go, a sudden defect forced Janes to throw it in.
It was an extremely close race and a heart-stoppingly tight finish, five trucks cutting the timing beam within two seconds. Summerfield took his first win, followed by Smith, Jenkins, Stuart Oliver, and Brereton.
The action in Class B, by contrast, was dominated entirely by one man: Mika Mäkinen. The Sisu driver had already finished first and second in yesterday’s two races, which required him to start from the rear of the grid. Today too he had to fight his way up the entire field on both occasions. But there was no stopping the flying Finn, who consistently lapped between 2 and 3 seconds quicker than everyone else.
All his scrambling pursuers could hope for were the leavings. In the third race he was joined on the podium by Simon Cole (Mercedes) and Tony Smith (Sisu), and in the fourth by the two Volvo drivers Adam Bint and Paul McCumisky.

Impressions:

Sunday at Brands Hatch – a variety of winners in Class A; Mäkinen’s the master of Class B
Sunday at Brands Hatch – a variety of winners in Class A; Mäkinen’s the master of Class B
Sunday at Brands Hatch – a variety of winners in Class A; Mäkinen’s the master of Class B
Sunday at Brands Hatch – a variety of winners in Class A; Mäkinen’s the master of Class B
Sunday at Brands Hatch – a variety of winners in Class A; Mäkinen’s the master of Class B
Sunday at Brands Hatch – a variety of winners in Class A; Mäkinen’s the master of Class B