Spirit of the BTRA alive and well during mixed weekend for MANinBlack

Former British truck racing champion Dave Jenkins took his #MANinBlack race truck to Brands Hatch at the weekend for the first round of the British Truck Racing Championship.

Fresh from his TV exploits in the close season which included an appearance on Channel 4’s “Speed with Guy Martin”, Dave and the team travelled to the Kent circuit with a completely new but as yet untested chassis set up.

Friday practice saw Dave, who is sponsored by Shrewsbury-based Morris Lubricants and his team getting to grips with the new set-up posting some good times, which ultimately saw him qualify fourth in the Saturday morning session. More tweaks were made to the truck, which saw Dave entering the first race in typically optimistic mood.

Race one saw Dave making his way past the Division Two trucks, which start half a lap ahead of the Division One machines, to move up to second place, battling for the lead with Mat Summerfield.

Late pressure from Steve Thomas and Chris Levett meant that Dave had to take a more defensive line, allowing Summerfield to pull clear and take the race win, with Dave ultimately coming home in third behind Levett.

A determined drive from Dave in race two again saw him making his way through the field to take the lead. However, a hard fought battle then ensued with Rickey Collet, which resulted in Collet regaining the lead.

Dave then set about pressuring Collet for the remainder of the race, lining him up for a pass on the last lap only to suffer a prop shaft failure, which caused him to retire from the race with only a few corners to go.

When the team recovered the truck back to the paddock it soon became apparent that they were in for a long night with the prop shaft having caused major damage to the gearbox and diff.

A great effort was made by the team, accompanied by a number of other teams, all working through the night to get the #MANinBlack ready to race on Sunday. Team Thomas very kindly loaned a gearbox and diff, whilst Dave made a dash to Banbury to pick up more parts and the MANinBlack was ready to race with a whole 15 minutes to spare before the start of Race Three.

Dave took his place at the back of the grid unsure on how the truck would perform with the new untested transmission. However, at the green lights immediately set about working his way through the field, making good progress up to fourth position.

An aggressive move from Levett on the exit of Graham Hill bend sent Dave spinning off only to return to the track in last position. Dave once again set about making his way through the field, rising to ninth place by the end of the race.

Race Four saw another difficult race but, with some very good speed coming from the truck, Dave climbed his way through the field to finish fifth.

Dave saved his best drive until last on Sunday afternoon. From the green light he was in determined mood, quickly making his way through the field to take up second place behind Collet. With Dave pressuring him lap after lap, Collet ran wide allowing Dave to pass him and take the lead which he held all the way to the chequered flag despite some late pressure from Summerfield.

Unfortunately his celebrations were cut short upon finding out that he had incurred a five second penalty for exceeding the track limits which saw him drop to third place behind Summerfield and Levett.

“We had a great weekend racing with the truck showing some really good pace,” said Jenkins. “It’s just a shame the results didn’t go our way. The team worked hard all through the night to make sure we made it to the grid on Sunday and it would have been nice to reward them with a race win.”

“It’s great to see such great camaraderie in such a competitive championship,” said James Jenkins, managing director of sponsor ATE Truck & Trailer Sales Ltd. “We couldn’t have raced at all on Sunday if it were not for the help of the other teams.”

The team now turn their attention to getting the truck ready for the next round at Pembrey on May 17-18. Dave and the team are determined to get the most performance out of the new chassis set-up, as well as fixing the damage suffered during the weekend at Brands.

You can follow all the weekend action from the team during each race weekend on Twitter @ATETruckRacing.

For the 2014 British Truck Racing Championship season the Jenkins Motorsport team is supported by Digraph Transport Supplies, ATE Truck and Trailer Sales, Morris Lubricants, Tyre Tracks in association with Alcoa Wheels and MAN.