Rockingham Sunday 19th August 2012

The lure of Pickups racing on Rockingham's 1.5 mile oval was enough for The Spectator to travel slightly further afield and head East to the less than salubrious surrounds of Corby. Given the cost of travelling in the UK currently, it takes something special to make the cost of travelling worthwhile and I'm glad the trip turned out to be worth it. It takes a lot for me to get excited about racing nowadays but I have to say that the 2, 35 lap Pickup races were fantastic. The oval is one of the most under utilised pieces of racetrack in the UK and it is only the Pickup series that races on it currently. Several years ago all the trucks were converted from right-hand drive to left-hand drive so they were compatible with oval racing safety and 18 were on show at Rockingham. Both races featured multiple passing and both results were in doubt until the chequered flag with Nic Grindrod winning the 1st and Paul Poulter winning the 2nd. Backmarker Geoff Dixon crashed on the very last lap of Race 2 between turn 3 and turn 4 and had to be taken away in the ambulance with back injuries, so I hope he recovers soon. The action was so good on the oval that I came away from Rockingham wishing that they could get Indycar or a NASCAR series over from the USA to do the place justice and put on a race that the track was built for. Will it happen?- probably not in the current financial climate- but here's wishing!
There were 9 other races on Sunday with the BRSCC in charge. After the spectacle of the oval races I have to say that races on the road course definitely paled in comparison but were entertaining enough in their own right. There were hordes of Mazda MX-5's with 4 races for the main Ma5da MX-5 Championship and 2 for the MX-5 Cup. There were single races for the TVR Challenge, BRSCC Porsche's and Formula Jedi. Sadly the Formula Jedi race provided the days only poor race with only 6 finishers in a race of attrition. The long straights at Rockingham perhaps not ideal for the highly stressed motorcycle engined single-seaters.
All in all an enjoyable meeting and one that got my enthusiasm going again after a mid-season lull! Weather wise it was a warm, humid morning which then became briefly thundery in the afternoon with about 15 minutes worth of rain that soon dried up when the sun came out again, thankfully in time for the Pickups to run their 2nd race on the oval. Admission was £15 on the day with an A5 size programme £3.

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