Donington Park Sunday 18th August 2013

Marshals standing away from their posts. Barriers in place to stop spectators standing where they shouldn't. The distinct smell of diesel in the air.....It can only mean one thing- Truck Racing! The Spectator's first trip to Donington in 5 weeks saw the British Truck racing championship highlight a 13 race schedule which also included Pickups, Legends, Caterham Graduates & Saxmax.
Saturday had seen qualifying and 8 races take place and it was good to see a healthy crowd in attendance on the Sunday. It's not everyday you see truck racing and the sheer novelty factor certainly helped draw a crowd with a lot of families and barbecues camped out on the grass banking.
I voted last year's European Truck meeting at Donington as my meeting of the year last year, simply as it was a great spectacle. The domestic series didn't quite reach the same heights this year though, but despite there being 12 rigs they were still entertaining. Indeed there was quite a bit of contact in the days 3 races with Ben Horne's MAN getting turned round at the Old Hairpin in the first race and then being hit at Redgate in race 3 causing the days only red flag. Burtonian Matt Summerfield won 2 races and David Jenkins the other. Jenkins should have won race 2 but he was given a 10 second penalty for an out of position start. Lunch time saw a parade of well over 100 trucks of all desciptions. The spectacle was cross between a French truckers blockade and most sequences in Smokey and the Bandit II....(I loved that film as kid!)
Without a doubt the highlight of the days other 10 races were the 3 Legends encounters. The little Yamaha powered screamers put on some excellent racing and the 12 lap final was superb. Just 0.121 of a second separated the top three of Dean Brace, Ben Power & John Mickel at the flag with equally close racing throughout the large field.
You can't witness a meeting these days it seems without a Caterham race or two and Sunday saw 3 races for the Graduate championships. Bridging the gap between the Academy and the main Caterham racing classes, the series is probably the less frenetic of all the varying forms of Caterham racing. It also has the mysteriously named "Sigma" class...(The 18th letter of the Greek alphabet by the way) joined now by "Sigmax". Looking forward to Tau & Upsilon classes in future years.....
The SAXMAX championship is for 14-17 year old drivers in identical Citroen Saxo's and after being part of the 750MC's portfolio for several years, now races with the BARC. Grid sizes have never been particularly strong for these junior classes. The Ginetta Junior and Junior Fiesta series are in the same position in the market place and who remembers T-Cars? 9 cars were on the grid and Guy Wenham should have won both races but crashed at the Chicane on the penultimate lap of the first race when his steering failed. I've never been entirely comfortable with kids racing on the big circuits but if they want to (and their parents want to) then so be it. The fact that somebody born in 1999 can race doesn't make me feel old at all!!
Strangely the poorest races of the day were the pair of 16 lap Pickup races. 15 trucks on the grid and coupled with too long a race distance and mechanical woes led to a pair of fairly dull races. On the Rockingham oval they were fantastic last year but are they starting to show their age? A crazy schedule doesn't help either. Not many championships have Magny-Cours, Lydden Hill & Knockhill to go to within a 4 week period!
All in all an enjoyable days racing with decent sunny weather in the most part although the famous Donington stiff breeze kept a lid on temperatures all day. Admission was £10 with DPRAC discount and programme £3.