AS VENUE'S SEASON OF HEADLINE EVENTS BEGINS WITH SUPERBIKES
Tens of thousands of people packed into the Croft Circuit near Darlington during the weekend (13-15 May) as the North East’s premier motor sport venue got its season of high-profile events under way with the latest round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship.
“This has been a terrific way to get our season of headline events under way,” commented Circuit Manager Tracey Morley. “Even despite the odd bit of drizzle on race day morning, our spectator banks overlooking the first two corners all the way round to far side of the circuit at the Tower and Sunny Out corners were full of people. Certainly, our policy of free admission for children aged 15 and under enables many families to come and enjoy a really exciting day out together at Croft.
“To all those public who attended – and we know many travelled some distance to be here – we’d like to thank them for contributing to a really wonderful atmosphere all weekend and for their co-operation with all our staff. Thanks also to our fabulous trackside marshals as well as the Highways Agency and North Yorks, Cleveland and Durham police constabularies for ensuring a smooth and safe flow of traffic.
“This has been one of our most successful events in recent years in terms of crowd size and we very much hope everyone enjoyed the on-track action as well as the entertainment off it. We very much look forward to seeing them back at our other major events during 2011.”
On track, Jon Kirkham (Samsung Crescent Suzuki) and Shane Byrne (HM Plant Honda) won the two Superbike races that topped Sunday’s bill of action while Stuart Easton, from ‘just up the road’ in Hawick, managed sixth and second places to keep up his title challenge. But there was disappointment for the Guisborough-based Swan Yamaha team – its best result of the weekend was achieved by Tommy Hill who, despite severe pain from a bad shoulder injury, took a heroic sixth in race two.
BTCC next big headline event at Croft
Croft Circuit is already now looking ahead to its next major high-profile event – the latest round of the UK’s premier motor racing series, the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship on Father’s Day weekend 18-19 June. The event will feature the BTCC’s latest three races of 2011 as well as top-notch single-seater, saloon and sportscar car action from the supporting Ginetta Junior, Ginetta GT Supercup, Formula Renault UK and Renault Clio Cup categories.
Race day (Sun 19 June) tickets can be purchased at the special advance rate of just £24 per adult. Admission for children aged 15 and under is FREE. Other pricing options, including full weekend tickets and grandstand seating, are also available – for details and to book visit croftcircuit.co.uk or call 01325 721815. Furthermore on BTCC weekend there’ll be the opportunity to rub shoulders and meet the star touring car drivers thanks to an open paddock policy plus an autograph session with them in the Croft Circuit pit lane.
To whet fans’ appetites, before that on the weekend of 28-29 May comes a top-class British Automobile Racing Club race event. The non-stop action-packed bill includes no fewer than 18 short sprint races for six hugely popular categories: Kumho BMWs, Legends (stock cars), Clubmans Cup and Classic Clubmans (open-topped sportscars), Classic Formula Ford 2000 and Classic Formula Ford 1600 (single seaters). Tickets on the gate are priced just £12 per adult per day with admission for accompanied children aged 15 and under again free.
