25th March 2008

Handy Motorsports enjoyed a largely successful weekend as the 2008 Legends Cars Championship got underway at Brands Hatch.

The race meeting itself offered everything for the race fan. As well as Legends Cars there was action from the big rig British Truck Racing Association, F1 style action from Formula Renault, Lotus sports cars, saloon cars and the Pickup Truck racing championship. It was the Legends who provided the closest action of the weekend however with six races full of place swapping and nose to tail action.

Variety was not just limited to the race track as Brands Hatch had laid on a considerable amount of family based events around the circuit including monster truck shows, Diggerland, karting and fun fair rides. The weather also played a big part in the proceedings with the drivers having to cope with rain, sleet, snow, wind and eventually (late on Monday afternoon) sunshine.

The Handy Motorsport team this weekend comprised regular driver Simon Belcher with Stephen Treherne driving car 12. This was Simon's debut meeting with the water cooled 1250cc Yamaha engine and thus far he is the only competitor in the field to take up the option of running with that unit.

Simon's lap times in the wet conditions were well up with the top runners and the team were initially buoyed with the new engine although as the circuit dried and power became more of an issue it was clear that there is still development required with the new motor as Simon explained: "It's true I struggled with speed from the new engine all weekend -around two seconds a lap slower than my last visit to Brands Hatch which is a shame. We had other teething problems as well - a broken radiator and water pump."

Saturday's races were not just hampered by development issues as Simon had two retirements in three races - a stark comparison with last season where the #11 car did over 50 races with just one non finish. "The first retirement was me being spun going into the gravel at Paddock Hill by world champion Glenn Burtenshaw. The second was in the final after being hit from behind at the second corner on the opening lap and then hitting John Marshall. That caused a steering failure. Stephen was caught up in this accident too and we had to drive back to Swindon to collect a new front end for his car on Saturday night."

Aside from these problems Simon took and excellent 7th place in the 29 car field in the second race. Monday's results were also encouraging given the power issues as he took 8th, 11th and 7th in the three races. The net result is 11th place in the championship - which is very encouraging given only four finishes from six races in a 29 car field.

Stephen Treherne's weekend was great for the team - he took third overall on Sunday and second on Monday. This was all the more remarkable as it was his first race meeting in the car. His individual race results were: 6th, 2nd , 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd. Thes results place the Handy Motorsport #12 car second in the championship.

Commenting on the weekend Mark Moseley from Karcher UK said: "The cars look great and we all really enjoyed the day's racing."

Jeff Mortonson from Abacus Insurance Services said: "Wonderfully done, my guests commented how professional it was and what a great job you do."