Grindrod doubles up at Pembrey

Nic Grindrod jumped from third to the top of the championship table following a double victory at Pembrey over the weekend.

The #22 driver amassed 36 points from Saturday morning’s qualifying with himself and Carl Boardley the fastest in the two 10 minute sessions. Paul Tompkins made a blast to his Pickup Truck Racing career securing four points in qualifying as did leading rookie Nick White.

It was Exeter’s Lee Rogers who started Saturday afternoon’s Heat One from pole position but it was Phil White who was leading on the run up to the Esses.

As things settled down a little on lap two it was White leading from double Brands Hatch winner Steve Dance with Rogers third. The following lap saw Grindrod up to third and by lap three he had slipped past both Dance, who was carrying 60kg ballast, and White to take the lead.

At the end of lap three Nick White took a huge shunt as he hit the barrier on the start finish straight which brought out the Safety Car. Green flag racing resumed on lap eight and Grindrod played his restart perfectly to get a clean break from the pack and by lap ten was already almost two seconds ahead of White senior in the #63 Truck.

On lap 11 third placed Dance was forced to pit for a change of rear left tyre which promoted Dave Longhurst to the final podium spot. Carl Boardley overcame the extra 20kg weight from his Brands Hatch podium and was on a charge, shooting up three places to third on lap 13, but the tussle didn’t stop there as Michael Smith was up to third on the following lap at Spitfires. On lap 15 Lee Rogers was back in the action and got the better of Boardley. At the chequered flag Nic recorded his first win of the season 8.7 seconds ahead of the 20kg ballasted Smith while Rogers took his second podium of his Pickup Truck career with third.

A long night’s work meant Nick White was able to join the grid on Sunday morning, full of thanks to the rest of his team for their efforts following his crash on Saturday. Dave Longhurst had also put in plenty of work over night, replacing his second gearbox of the weekend ahead of Heat Two.

Charlie Weaver got the holeshot from pole, leading the race until Steve Dance got the better of the #20 Truck going into lap three. Dance almost didn’t make the start of the race after losing the blanking plug from the heater hose on the #16 Truck causing a hairy few minutes in the Assembly Area for his crew. At this point Carl Boardley moved up into second taking Selly Oak’s Nic Grindrod with him with the front three keeping tight as a pack as they moved further away from the rest of the field.

On lap six Grindrod was past Boardley at Hatchets Hairpin but this battle was by no means done. It was all change again two laps later with four-time World Hot Rod Champion Boardley ahead before Grindrod was back in front on lap nine. A lap later Charlie Weaver was forced to pit and retire after his throttle became stuck on the Weaver Brothers-backed Truck.

But out front, Dance’s 50kg of weight seemed to have had little effect on the Truck as he just secured victory by 0.3 seconds ahead of Grindrod while Boardley took his second podium of the season in third place.

Dance’s win meant he headed into Sunday afternoon’s Grand Final with the maximum 70kg ballast on board while Grindrod wasn’t far behind with 60kg additional weight.

The grid was decided upon by the points from the Heats added together and the top ten were flipped. This put Simon Carr on pole and the #15 driver shot off into the lead ahead of Neil Tressler while Dave Longhurst – fresh with a new clutch after his weekend failed to really improve – took up third.

Longhurst was up to second by lap three as Tressler took to grass tracking at Spitfires which also allowed Lee Rogers and a host of others pass the Bulkington-based driver while Dance also moved into third place. Longhurst was not letting Carr get away and was firmly on the back of the #15 Truck. But the Worthing driver had more than Carr to worry about with Dance on his exhaust pipe before the #16 driver was past on lap seven.

A lap later Dance was demoted to third courtesy of Grindrod, who was soon chasing down leader Carr. On lap 11 the two-time Overall Champion made his move with Dance following to put the Sheffield driver down to third. Lap 14 saw new driver Paul Tompkins suffer a huge tank slapper on the start finish straight which demoted him a couple of places after struggling to regain control of his #12 Truck. Also taking an excursion was Carl Boardley who had looked like giving Simon Carr a hard challenge for third until he quite literally took to the Woodlands.

At the end of the 16 lap Grand Final Grindrod’s second win of the weekend saw him leap frog Steve Dance in the championship standings. The lead also changed in the Rookie Championship also with Nick White’s Heat One DNF saw Ireland’s David O’Regan take over as the top new driver.

Pickup Truck Racing Championship standings (after 5 rounds)

1 Nic Grindrod, 1026pts
2 Steve Dance, 999
3 Michael Smith, 988
4 Carl Boardley, 938
5 Dave Longhurst, 932
6 Simon Carr, 892
7 Lee Rogers, 881
8 Neil Tressler, 835
9 Phil White, 766
10 David O’Regan

Next round: 23-24 April, Donington Park


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