Dave Pinkney has ordered BTCC Series Director Alan Gow to bring his chequebook to Thruxton after vowing to end his 2007 season with a race win and take £10,000 off the championship boss. Luton Town FC chairman Pinkney got back behind the wheel of an A-Tech Alfa Romeo for the first time in a test at Mallory Park yesterday since his enormous crash at Brands Hatch in August.

Pinkney said: “I bet Gow £10,000 at last year’s BTCC Awards I’d win a race in 2007. I led at Thruxton back in May and this car now has the latest-spec engine from FIAT. He’d better have his chequebook ready.” Joining Pinkney at A-Tech at Thruxton, but in his own Quest Racing Alfa, will be rapid Irishman Eoin Murray.