HARRY Vaulkhard must have thought the Gods were against him at Croft this weekend.
Racing at his home circuit, a circuit he uses in his employ as a driving instructor, and with tens of thousands of local fans cheering him on, the Newcastle- born Touring Car driver was looking forward to a terrific outing.
But, in a sign of things to come, on Friday the Tempus Sport driver was struck down with a bout of food poisoning.
He was feeling so bad that a live TV interview had to be cut short due to his uneasy stomach.
Still very much under the weather on Saturday, Vaulkhard looked like qualifying down the order, until a oneoff flying lap saw him put the Chevrolet Lacetti on fifth spot on the grid for the opening of yesterday’s three races, rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship.
Boosted by that performance, but still feeling decidedly sick, Vaulkhard tore off the line in the bright sunshine and not only consolidated his position, but managed to grab fourth when Mat Jackson left the track in his own Chevrolet and smashed into the barrier between the chicane and Tower Bend.
Vaulkhard was being caught by Rob Collard in the Airwaves BMW, but was managing to fend off his advances.
That was until the end of lap ten when Collard saw an opening at the hairpin entering the start and finish straight.
Forcing Vaulkhard wide by going up the inside, the local man was pushed onto the grass and, in so doing, bent the steering.
That proved to be the beginning of the end, Vaulkhard criticising Collard afterwards for being overly aggressive.
“These things happen in motorsport, especially in Touring Cars, but he ran me straight onto the grass. How much of that was intentional I don’t know, unless he let go of his steering wheel or it slipped out of his hands, but it pushed me really wide,” he said.
“The steering wheel was sideways.
It bent something in the front and it cost us a lot of pace.”
Vaulkhard was told by his team to keep plugging away, but he was being caught all the time and shortly after was passed by reigning champion Fabrizio Giovanardi (VX Racing Vauxhall Vectra).
Worse was to come though as the race reached its climax.
Vaulkhard was passed by Matt Neal in the second VX Racing car, but saw a way back.
“Matt made a mistake when he overtook me and lost a bit of time as he ran wide into Tower corner, so I managed to get back up the inside of him, which was the outside for the next corner,” said Vaulkhard, who said he had made room for Neal to pass and expected the same in return.
“He didn’t afford me the same luxury and gave me a choice of hitting him or the tyres and we had a little bit of a rub together and that resulted in me ending up in the field on the inside,” he said. “I didn’t realise at the time, but it had obviously punctured the rear tyre. I rejoined and went to turn left (in The Complex) and the right rear tyre just let go.”
Even then Vaulkhard would have been able to recover, had fate not intervened again and Tom Chilton (Team AON Ford Focus ST) not entered the bend with Vaulkhard immediately in front of him.
“I feel sorry for Tom because he is the innocent party in it all and has come round the corner to find my car sat right where he wants to be. It didn’t leave him with a lot of options as to where to go.”
Chilton struck Vaulkhard’s car heavily on the driver’s side, the impact stoving in the body and leaving a deep crease in the roof, rendering it undriveable.
“It was definitely a pretty big hit,” he said. “I was winded, and couldn’t get my breath initially and just talked to the team to let them know it looked like it was game over.”
The race was red-flagged as a result, with Colin Turkington and Stephen Jelley leading home a Team RAC one-two with the Racing Silverline Chevrolet of North-East raised Jason Plato in third.
“It takes a lot to write-off one of these cars, but it needs a vast amount of work done, bits cut off and new bits put in,” Vaulkhard said.
“Luckily, we now have sixweek gap so it should be right for Snetterton.”
Vaulkhard can nearly always be found with a smile on his face, but even he was finding it difficult to look to the positive.
“It has been a bit of a rollercoaster, with highs and lows and has had a bit of everything,” he said of the weekend.
“We were on course for a fourth-place for definite and should have had one and through no fault of our own we have lost that – that’s just the way it goes sometimes I guess.
“The positive side is that we had good pace, top three-four car running pace, so that’s the positives to take away from it, but obviously, there has been a whole bin liner of negatives which go with it as well.”
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