Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship racer Simon Belcher took the second Independents Trophy points finish of his maiden season in the category during round 15 at Croft in North Yorkshire on Sunday, 29th June, the highlight of three action-packed races for the Toyota Avensis driver.Happy to finish each of the weekend’s encounters at the 2.12-mile track without any major dramas, the event did still have its share of misfortune for the Swindon racer with suspension damage to his Handy Motorsport-run machine in round 13 spoiling a sensational first couple of laps.Lining-up for the first race on the 15th row of the grid, Belcher made a terrific launch and managed to gain places on the run into Clervaux before neatly negotiating his way past more cars at Hawthorn and on the run to Tower Bend.Gaining a full eight positions on his starting slot over the course of the first half of the lap, the BTCC rookie headed into the complex in 22nd position but a bid to continue his ascent up the order into the top 20 was prevented after picking-up suspension damage over one of the kerbs. In the end, the KÄRCHER-backed driver had to settle for 26th position with an ill-handling Avensis.In round 14, Belcher lined-up in 26th place on the grid and held position for the first few laps before an unfortunate excursion onto the grass led to a blocked radiator. Following a quick pit visit to have the offending material cleared away, the Handy driver returned to the race and with several other competitors also hitting troubles he was able to finish in 22nd place, even though being a lap down.Beginning race three from 27th on the grid, Belcher made decent progress after an early Safety Car period and displayed a good level of pace. Breaking into the top 20 overall at mid-distance, the Wiltshire driver moved into 18th position by lap 11 but was then nudged back a couple of spots.Moving back up into 19th place into the closing stages, he then grabbed 18th position on the last lap to also break back into the Independents Trophy points for the first time since the Donington Park race meeting in April.“The last race was good, we were certainly on the sort of pace we wanted to be – we were only about 1.5 seconds off the leader so that was very encouraging”, commented Belcher, “To get back in the Independents points was nice too, three finishes was the main aim so I’m pretty pleased overall.“We’re still getting back into it to be honest [after the Thruxton accident]. It’s not as easy as I thought it was going to be to get back to where we were at Donington but, having said that, we’ve definitely made an improvement this weekend over Oulton Park, so that’s positive.”He added: “Race one started really well, it was a fantastic first lap, but I caught a kerb and it knocked the suspension out. The car went off to the point it was a struggle just to get round Tower, so to just bring the car home was as much as we could do. Unfortunately in race two, I filled the radiator with grass so had to pit to get that cleared out. Overall, though, I’m happy with the weekend.”There is now a five week break from action for the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship with the sixth event of the season taking place at Snetterton in Norfolk on 2nd/3rd August.Provisional 2014 Dunlop MSA BTCC ‘Independents Trophy’ standings (after Rd15):23rd Simon Belcher, 3ptsProvisional 2014 Dunlop MSA BTCC ‘Independents Team Trophy’ standings (after Rd15):15th Handy Motorsport, 35pts