Round 13, 14 & 15 - Pembrey

Stevens closes the gap on championship leader

Pete Stevens closed the gap on championship leader Steve Dance following three fantastic races at Pembrey over the weekend in the LINE-X Pickup Racing Championship.

The Coventry driver recorded his first victory of 2010 at the same track he took his only win of his championship winning 2009 season to reduce the points deficit to Ben 10 driver Dance from 123 to 101.

The weekend started on Saturday morning with the 20 minute qualifying session but this only determined the grids for the two heats (rounds 13 and 14) with points collected in those races setting the grid for Sunday’s Grand Final. Nic Grindrod was the highest points scorer from qualifying adding 40 to his tally, but it was Dave Longhurst who would start on pole for rounds 13 and 14 having qualified tenth.

And the Mallory Park winner in the #23 truck made his advantage pay from the start, shooting into the lead from Lee Rogers and Damien Carr. Grindrod in the #22 tried his hand at grasstracking at Hatchets Hairpin on the opening lap which knocked him down to ninth, but was soon back fighting through the pack to put the Viking Auto Dismantlers truck sixth on the following lap.

By lap four Longhurst had a 1.68 second advantage over now second placed Damien Carr in the #14 LINE-X liveried truck. Lap five saw a first DNF of the season for Team Rockingham’s Antony Hawkins after the lead to the ECU box of the #98 truck had worked itself lose. Back at the front Lee Rogers had a heart stopping moment on the start finish straight which saw him run wide and lose five places. This put Steve Dance third with a charging Grindrod now on his back bumper in fourth going into lap six.

The #22 truck was through to third on lap nine while Damien Carr had also closed the gap to leader Dave Longhurst to just 0.35 seconds. While Simon Carr was forced to pull off on lap 13 with a gear box problem, Phil White, Steve Dance and Carl Boardley were having a great battle for fourth place as the three pushed each other hard and were attempting to run three abreast. Steve Dance finished up off track during a close encounter with Carl Boardley on lap 14 which let both the #41 driver and Pete Stevens through.

A lap later Grindrod had worked his way up to second place having played the waiting game but still had more than a second to make up on leader Longhurst. But on the final lap it was the hairpin again that saw all the action with Grindrod getting level and the Worthing driver having a wobble, the #22 was through for the lead and victory with Boardley following through into second. Longhurst did manage to regain his composure for a well earned podium.

Sunday lunchtime’s Heat Two saw Dave Longhurst once again dash into the lead from the green flag with Pete Stevens and Michael Smith close behind. There was plenty more door-to-door action in true Pickup style while Longhurst firmly had Stevens in his mirrors with the #4 driver just 0.22 seconds behind by lap five. On this lap Damien Carr was forced to retire when his gear stick came off in his hand.

On lap six the close action saw Michael Smith run wide going into Spitfires knocking him down to sixth with Phil White inheriting third place. It was then all change at the front with White and Stevens getting the better of leader Longhurst heading into lap nine. Smith’s off-track excursion had given him more determination; with spotter Barry shouting in his ears he moved back through to third while Stevens was also charging into the lead past White on lap 11. The #63 driver then lost further places to Smith and Carl Boardley but by lap 12 he was on a mission once again and back up to third.

Steve Dance had meanwhile got caught up in the bumper-to bumper action finding his actually hanging off the back of his truck resulting in him falling back to tenth. Places were constantly changing between White, Smith and Boardley until things settled down on lap 15 with the #63 truck in second behind Stevens while Boardley was in third.

At the end of the 18 laps Stevens had just held on for victory by 0.43 seconds ahead of White with Boardley taking his second Pickup podium in third.

The Grand Final saw Neil Tressler on pole after the top ten highest points scorers from the heats were reversed. But it was fellow front row starter Dave Briggs who got the hole shot to take the lead while Damien Carr found his #14 truck facing in the wrong direction just before the Esses.

By lap two Steve Dance was through to second with Carl Boardley third but the Reading driver was through for the lead on Park Straight going into lap three. Briggs was to lose a further place to Michael Smith at Spitfires before the Hartlepool driver was through to second.

As in race one, Nic Grindrod was on a charge having started from row nine, and by lap four was up to fourth having got the better of Phil White at Hatchets Hairpin. He was then up to a podium placing on lap six with Boardley losing out before taking second off Smith going over the line into lap nine.

Lap ten saw Smith lose out in a close Pickup style manoeuvre and he spun at the hairpin pushing him back to 12th. The following lap Grindrod was right on the exhaust pipe of the Ben 10 Truck and on lap 12 he was past and into the lead. Dance was not letting the fellow former champion get away though, keeping around a half second gap and doing everything he could to regain the lead.

But at the chequered flag it was Grindrod taking the spoils and his second victory of the weekend just 0.54 seconds ahead of Dance with Carl Boardley claiming his second third place on his first outing at the Welsh circuit.