Aaron Thompson took his win tally to ten for the season in the Pickup Truck Racing Championship after reigning supreme in a frenetic opening encounter at Donington Park.

Starting from pole position, the Essex racer initially endured a less than ideal start as reigning champion Ryan Hadfield leapfrogged him on the run down to Redgate, while Mark Willis also showed his nose.

Fending off the advances of Willis as the field plunged down the Craner Curves for the first time, Thompson soon set about closing the deficit to Hadfield and by the end of the first lap he was glued to the rear bumper of the #1 machine.

On lap two, Thompson finally made his move as he got a run out of the Old Hairpin and swept past Hadfield as they ascended McLeans. Behind, Allen Cooper made his presence known as he dispatched Willis and Hadfield in quick succession.

There was no opportunity for Thompson to rest on his laurels out front however because he soon had his mirrors filled by Cooper. Despite his best efforts though, the latter could not find a way past his championship rival.

Things would unfortunately go south for Cooper too in the latter stages as he was handed a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits. This in-turn meant that Hadfield – who had got the better of Willis – moved up to second, with Cooper completing the podium in third.

Willis had looked on course to finish fourth but he tumbled down the order late on, which promoted Tom Hutchins up to fourth and Dale Gent – who at one point had been as far down as eighth – rounded out the top five.

Simon Ward and Chris Land were sixth and seventh respectively ahead of Willis, while Chris Brockhurst, Jonathan Hadfield, James Goldstraw and Michael Smith bounced back from their respective travails. Failing to finish was Mark Chalmers and Melvin Collins.