Team Virgin Mobile Yamaha lead rider Tommy Hill grabbed a podium spot yesterday in a showdown with the MSA British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch. A select number of BSB Riders including Tommy threw down the gauntlet to a trio of BTCC drivers for a one-lap, winner takes all sprint of Brands Hatch Indy circuit in three wheeled KMX ST pedal karts!
Representing the BTCC were Tom Chilton, Dave Pinkney and Darren Turner, while Shane Byrne, Tommy Hill and Michael Rutter made up the BSB contingent. Joining Team BSB was Dave Rawlings of Motorcycle News while Track and Race Cars magazine editor Keith Wood took up the guest slot for Team BTCC.
Virgin Mobile Yamaha rider Tommy Hill took an early lead from VX Racing's Tom Chilton in a daring move around Paddock, although an engine (or possible heart) failure from MCN journo Rawlings at the top of Hailwoods brought out the safety car and bunched up the grid once more. On the restart, Motorbase Performance driver Dave Pinkney took advantage of a stalled Michael Rutter who had stopped at Graham Hill to recover his keys and mobile phone.
A loose steering arm forced SEAT Sport UK's Darren Turner into early retirement although this didn't stop the BTCC front-runner from taking a rather unconventional shortcut into the back of the pits. A rapidly tiring Keith Wood also took an interesting route down the escape road to avoid Clearways but this still wasn't enough to beat the super fit trio of Byrne, Chilton and Tommy Hill who eventually crossed the line first second and third respectively.
Tommy Hill said: "It was a real laugh, and once I got the hang of the karts they really moved! Hopefully I can put in a repeat performance on two wheels in a couple of weeks!"
BTCC Vs BSB Race Results:1, Shane Byrne Rizla Suzuki
2, Tom Chilton VX Racing
3, Tommy Hill Virgin Mobile Yamaha
4, Keith Wood Track and Race Cars magazine*
5, David Pinkney Motorbase Performance
6, Michael Rutter Stobart Honda*
DNF, Darren Turner (mechanical failure)SEAT Sport UK Dave Rawlings Motorcycle News
*Stewards enquiry on Wood and Rutter for blatant cheating!
Team Virgin Mobile Yamaha Riders Tommy Hill And Billy Mcconnell are in action this weekend at the penultimate round of The Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Silverstone (16-17 September)
Related Linkswww.virginmobileracing.com
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