Round 1 & 2 - Brands Hatch

DOUBLE TIME DANCE AT BRANDS HATCH

Defending Champion Steve Dance began his title defence in the best possible way at Brands Hatch over the weekend with a double victory at the opening rounds of the Pickup Truck Racing season.

The 53-year-old took full advantage of his new Ford Duratec engine to out power and out-wit the rest of the field, leaving him top of the championship standings after the first two rounds.

Qualifying got underway at midday on Saturday with defending Oval Champion Nic Grindrod taking a maximum 40 points having finished top of the timesheets in both sessions.

It was an early start on Sunday morning for round one of the season, which saw Damien Carr begin from pole. And it was the #14 driver who took the initial lead, charging up Hailwood Hill ahead of Steve Dance. Last season’s Rookie Champion, Charlie Weaver, almost experienced a nightmare start to his second season in the championship as he suffered a problem with his Truck on the green flag lap. Fortunately he managed to get the #20 Weaver Brothers-backed Truck going and was able to catch the rest of the pack.

The new engine gave Dance enough power to challenge the younger Carr from the second lap while the furore of the opening lap battles saw Grindrod disappear momentarily into the dirt coming out of Paddock Hill Bend.

By lap three Dance showed the calibre of his three championship titles and was past Carr while Damien’s brother, Simon, was now third. Dance immediately started to pull a slight gap on the Sheffield-based brothers who now had Michael Smith and Carl Boardley to play with.

By lap five it was all change with the #93 driver Smith now second and Nic Grindrod right on his exhaust pipe, while Simon and Damien were being left by the leading three. On lap seven the #22 Truck was past the Hartlepool driver and began his attempts to reel in Dance, who was now two seconds ahead.

The middle of the field saw a fantastic battle emerging and a charging Phil White was slowly weaving his way through the traffic. One driver he passed was Lee Rogers at McLaren on lap nine. The #69 Truck was also demoted a further place behind Dave Longhurst after having his rhythm thrown.

By lap 11 Grindrod was almost inviting himself to join Dance in his cab having caught the Reading driver. It was as much as Dance could do to defend his lead for the remaining seven laps as Grindrod continually attempted to get past.

A lap later Damien Carr’s now fifth placed Truck began to sing a different tune to the rest of the field, having lost its exhaust. Just 11 seconds behind the leader, Dave Longhurst, Phil White and Lee Rogers were still battling it out, with all three attempting to be sixth.

But come the end of the 18 lap race, it was Dance who took the first spoils of the season 0.205 seconds ahead of Grindrod while Michael Smith, who has had numerous podiums at the Kent circuit, was third.

Race two saw Charlie Weaver begin on pole for the first time of his Pickup career but it was Lee Rogers whose front row start gave him the opportunity to jump into the lead at his favourite track.

The closeness of the Trucks resulted in an action-packed opening lap, which saw Simon Carr spinning at Graham Hill Bend. Veteran Phil White was the next spinner at McLaren while pole man Weaver received a drive through penalty.

Things started to calm a little on lap two with Rogers holding off Damien Carr and Nic Grindrod. The Selly Oak driver took the lead at the end of lap three, just before the Safety Car was deployed to ensure safe removal of Weaver’s #20 Truck which was parked at Paddock Hill Bend, as he finished a bad day with a broken gear stick.

Green flag racing resumed on lap seven with Dance taking up second place behind Grindrod, while Carl Boardley made light work of his first trip to the Kent track to slot into third place, although he did have a grass tracking moment on lap eight at Graham Hill Bend.

There was plenty of action right through the field in typical Pickup racing style, while up front Grindrod began to build a lead of 1.5 seconds. On lap 12 Michael Smith was past Lee Rogers and into third but had a lot of work to do to catch Boardley’s #41 Truck. Simon Carr meanwhile suffered a problem with his Truck’s half shaft which forced him to slow right down to try and nurse his #15 Truck to the chequered flag.

On lap 15 rookie Nick White experienced his first high-speed spin at Clarke Curve but managed to get going again and the drama continued just two laps later when leader Nic Grindrod’s #22 Truck got stuck in first gear meaning he was a second truck at near walking pace on track. This handed the lead to Steve Dance who was to charge to his second victory of the day 4.2 seconds ahead of Boardley with Michael Smith taking his second podium of the day.

The season continues with two heats and a final at Pembrey in South Wales on April 9 and 10.