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Arkas man searches for improved luck as BTCC reaches half way point |
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Wednesday, 04 June 2008 |
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Barrow-upon-Humber racer Martyn Bell was left to rue a weekend of bad luck as the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship reached its half way point at Croft [1 June].
The Arkas Racing with Sunshine.co.uk driver was targeting his first outright points finish of the campaign in his second home race of the year, and although he managed to score towards his Independents’ Championship tally, bad luck prevented Martyn from fighting towards the top ten on arguably the most challenging race day of the season so far. Having qualified 21st on the grid, heavy rain greeted Martyn and the rest of the field for the opening race, which was stopped following an accident involving Stephen Jelley and Alan Taylor. Despite worsening conditions, the field lined up for the restart, but with parts of the circuit almost under water and rain continuing to fall, Martyn suffered a spin at Hawthorne on the opening lap. With three cars aquaplaning off at Tower, the Safety Car was called out, which allowed Martyn to close onto the back of the field. However, before racing could resume, the decision was taken to stop the race due to the dangerous track conditions - leaving Martyn with a 20th place finish. After avoiding a spinning John George on the opening lap of race two, Martyn ran in 19th place behind team-mate Erkut before an error on lap six dropped him to the back of the field. He quickly closed down a five second deficit to George and battled past the TH Motorsport man, but despite lapping quicker than the cars ahead, the earlier delay meant he had to settle for 16th place at the finish, making up positions as some of rivals hit problems. As tenth Independent home, Martyn picked up a point towards his Independents’ tally. Unfortunately for Martyn, he was unable to make progress up the order in the final race after an incident on lap one forced his Tech-Speed run Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch into retirement. John George forced Andrew Jordan off the dry line onto the inside at Hawthorne, and the John Guest Racing man was powerless to avoid hitting Martyn’s car – going over the front of the Astra and breaking a front upright. Although Martyn tried to recover to the pits in the hope of repairing the car and returning to the race, the broken upright had also damaged his steering and he ran off track at the next corner and was forced to call it a day. “When will our bad luck come to an end?” Martyn reflected. “The weekend was tricky for everyone with the conditions and was particularly challenging for the smaller Independent teams. However, we scored an Independents’ championship point and also scored points for the team and that is what is important. “We are going into the six-week break now with a lot of data and need to do some solid running during the official test at Snetterton to improve our performance. The team is continuing to work fantastically and keeps giving us a good car, and Erkut and I aren’t driving badly. However, luck just isn’t on our side which is really frustrating. “My plan is to knuckle down when racing resumes and push hard for results as I have unfinished business this season.” Martyn also welcomed a special guest to Croft for the weekend, as actor Peter Martin – best known for playing the role of Len Reynolds in the ITV1 show Emmerdale – travelled to the circuit to see the racing action. “It was really good to have Pete Martin along; it’s just a shame that the weather was as bad as it was,” he said. “He enjoyed the experience and I think we have a new BTCC convert as he looked like he was ready to get his helmet on and join me in the car!”
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