Round 11 & 12 - Thruxton

Steve Dance leads championship after Thruxton victory

Steve Dance jumped to the top of the championship standings as the LINE-X Pickup Racing Championship returned to action at Thruxton for rounds 11 and 12 over the weekend.

Nic Grindrod was the highest points’ earner from qualifying amassing 36 points, although he was also carrying the maximum 70kg ballast. Race one took place on Saturday afternoon with Lee Rogers beginning on pole. Following the nine week summer break the drivers were keen to get competitive again, although their eagerness finished up with a first lap collision involving Steve Dance, Pete Stevens and Nic Grindrod. Nic in the #22 truck was proved to be the most unfortunate with severely damaged front bodywork leading to a puncture and retirement on lap two.

Up front it was Phil White who took up the lead ahead of Simon Carr and Antony Hawkins. But Michael Smith in the #93 truck was on a mission from the off moving through from his row seven start to take seventh place from Dave Longhurst on the start-finish straight for the second lap.

Another man on a mission was Steve Dance in the Ben 10 liveried truck as he overcame his 40kg of ballast to jump up from fourth to second on lap four while Michael Smith made Antony Hawkins his next victim for fourth position a lap later.

With Phil White struggling to keep Dance off lap six saw Smith assess his chances to pass the pair of them at the chicane and with it take the lead. But in typical Pickup racing style White and Dance were not happy to let Smith take off into the distance with the three of them vying for the lead over the ensuing laps. And the battles went back through the field as on lap ten Damien Carr, Lee Rogers, Pete Stevens and Dave Longhurst were four wide heading to turn one.

Another driver with plenty of work to do following his first lap incident was Pete Stevens. Having completed lap one last, he picked off the places to finish seventh. But it was Smith who held on by just 0.129seconds at the end of the 12 lap race from Steve Dance while 1.3 seconds behind him was Phil White taking the final podium position.

The teams had plenty of time to prepare for race two, which was held on Sunday afternoon. Team Rockingham’s Antony Hawkins started from pole and managed to get the slingshot to take up the lead ahead of Lee Rogers whilst Nic Grindrod slipped into third place. Simon Carr’s race came to an end at Campbell as he spun out while Grindrod was in trouble again just as in race one with back end damage and a puncture which forced him to make a visit to the pits.

Once again Pete Stevens was on a charge and managed to climb up from seventh at the end of lap one to third by lap three. Race one winner Michael Smith did not have the same success as the bolt came off the oil pump from the #93 truck leading to retirement and plenty of damage to the engine. The drama did not end there though as Richard Novell was next to perform a Pickup pirouette.

By lap four Hawkins had built up a lead of almost a second but the now second placed Pete Stevens cut this to 0.35seconds by the following lap. Dave Briggs’ mechanics were next to be called into action as the #2 driver came in with a puncture and his back panel hanging off.

Back on track the action was hotting up and Stevens shot into the lead past Hawkins, taking Steve Dance and Phil White with him on lap six to send the #98 truck into fourth. The 40kg ballasted White saw his opportunity to sneak past Dance a lap later, although the #16 driver did not make it easy for him. But now with his usual steely determination a regular battle was being replayed as White fought to pass Stevens to take the lead, which he duly did on going into lap nine going into Allard. Dance also got the better of the #4 driver going into lap ten to take second place before spending the rest of the lap working out where he could get his advantage on White. On lap 11 the job was done with Dance now in the lead but the top three were remaining close with just 1.1seconds covering the three of them at the chequered flag. In true Pickup style there was a huge question mark hanging over who was on the podium as Carl Boardley made a last lap desperate lunge for third place but just missed out by seven thousandths of a second to 2009 champion Pete Stevens.

By taking his first victory of the season, Steve Dance now takes a 23 point lead in the championship to Pembrey where the LINE-X Pickup Racing Championship will be in action next weekend (August 14-15)