Race one report

Sun 14th June 2009 Colin Turkington moved into the lead of the championship following his fourth win of the season at Croft this afternoon. Turkington led home a 1-2 for Team RAC, as Stephen Jelley collected his first BTCC podium finish. However, the race ended a lap early after a collision between Harry Vaulkhard and Tom Chilton at the Complex which left the Lacetti and Focus stranded on the racing line.

Turkington made the most of his pole position, leading the pack away from the line, while he was followed into the first corner by teammate Jelley, who leapfrogged Jason Plato when the lights went out.

Adam Jones started fourth, but his hopes of a strong result quickly disappeared when he was handed a 30-second stop-go penalty at the end of the first lap. The Cartridge World team picked up the hefty penalty for continuing to work on Jones’ Leon on the grid after the three-minute board was shown.

At the end of the opening lap, Turkington led from Jelley and Jason Plato, with Mat Jackson – still recovering from a bout of food poisoning – running in fourth. Harry Vaulkhard was fifth, with Rob Collard up to sixth from his 10th place grid spot.

There were early problems for James Thompson, whose Team Dynamics Honda Civic slowed and dropped down the order on lap three. There was also further misfortune for Cartridge World Carbon Zero Racing, with Dan Eaves running off into the gravel at Clervaux.

Six laps in and there were no changes at the front, except for an extended lead for Turkington. Behind the top three, Mat Jackson lost control of his Racing Silverline Chevrolet at the chicane and spun into the barrier, bringing his race to a premature end. At the same time, Rob Collard’s strong run in the Airwaves BMW was continuing as he pressurised Harry Vaulkhard for what was fourth position after Jackson’s retirement. vIt took Collard a couple of laps to find the right line, but he was soon past Vaulkhard, squeezing inside at the hairpin and pushing the Lacetti wide on the exit. It was the beginning of the end for Vaulkhard, as his race quickly deteriorated.

Within a couple of laps of losing out to Collard, local racer Vaulkhard was passed by reigning champion Fabrizio Giovanardi, before coming under pressure from Giovanardi’s VXR teammate Matt Neal, with Jonny Adam close behind. Neal made his move on Vaulkhard at Tower on lap 14, taking the position. However, Vaulkhard fought back, perhaps with little chance of success and this was his undoing.

As he lunged back at Neal, Vaulkhard slid sideways off the track into the ploughed infield that is a feature of the Croft circuit this year. This appeared to damage the rear of Vaulkhard’s car, although he was able to rejoin the track and headed back towards the pits. Before he made it back to the waiting Tempus Sport team, a further spin followed at the Complex and he was collected by the unfortunate Tom Chilton in his Team Aon Ford Focus. Both cars were left stranded on the track and race officials were left with little choice but to bring out the red flags.

Chilton and Vaulkhard both emerged from their cars, shaken, but with a wave to the crowd to signal they were relatively unscathed. The incident and subsequent red flags deprived Turkington, Jelley and Team RAC of the opportunity for a formation finish, but it didn’t prevent Turkington from scoring his fourth win of the season and Jelley from finishing on the podium for the first time.

Turkington said, “I got a good start and I was able to manage the situation after that. Credit to the guys because they’ve given me a fantastic car this weekend. It’s great for Stephen as well. We all wants points and this helps a lot.”

Turkington and Jelley were joined on the podium by Jason Plato, with Rob Collard fourth for Airwaves BMW. Fabrizio Giovanardi was the first of the Vauxhalls in fifth, despite damaging his steering during the race. Next up was Matt Neal with Jonny Adam seventh, in front of Andrew Jordan and Paul O’Neill. David Pinkney finished tenth to score a single point for Team Dynamics.