Motor Racing: Robbed of my glory chance says Harry

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), April 15, 2008

Byline: By ZOE BURN

NEWCASTLE'S Harry Vaulkhard is upbeat about the rest of the BTCC season, despite being 'robbed' in Sunday's third race at Rockingham.

The Northamptonshire circuit proved a tough track to crack for the North boys as they suffered a torrid weekend in the British Touring Car Championship.

Tyneside-educated Jason Plato endured one of the worst rounds of his career, while the Boldon-based Robertshaw Racing drivers were hit by teething troubles as they struggled through their second round.

Despite dominating earlier practice, Plato was only able to make his SEAT Leon TDI fifth quickest in qualifying, while the two Robertshaw Lancettis of Matt Allison and Harry Vaulkhard finished the day 14th and 17th respectively, with the Honda Integra of Alan Taylor lining up 21st.

Running wide in the opening lap of race one, Plato was lucky to recover and finish in ninth spot as Allison came home 12th.

Vaulkhard was forced to quit just three laps in thanks to an engine misfire, while Taylor battled on with a broken drive shaft to limp home 21st.

Race two started with a bang for Plato when he was hit by Tom Chilton's Honda Civic.

After darting into the pits for urgent repairs, he managed to rejoin right at the back, and fought his way back through the field to end with his second ninth place of the day.

Meanwhile, Allison's car took a rear-end swipe from the BMW of Rob Collard, smashing the rear suspension and damaging the oil coolers, sending him straight into retirement for the rest of the day.

Vaulkhard, forced to start from the back after his earlier DNF, kept his cool and was able to make up 10 spots to finish 13th, while Taylor was 23rd.

Further drama ensued in race three, when Plato was hit with a 30-second stop-and-go penalty after his team was caught changing his tyres after the three-minute board had gone out.

Rejoining dead last, the 2001 champ clawed his way back through the traffic, finally pipping Colin Turkington's BMW for sixth place.

And it was a case of what might have been for Vaulkhard, after he made the decision to start on wets as the clouds grew darker in the minutes leading up to the race, while the rest of the pack remained on slicks. But at the last moment, race chiefs abandoned the start and declared it wet, giving the rest of the field the chance to change rubber.

"I was robbed," he said last night. "If we'd been able to start the race as we were, we'd have blitzed the rest of them - we could've won it.

"But it was just one of those things, and there was nothing we could do. During qualifying when the conditions were wet and just starting to dry, I was running second quickest, so I know I could've been up there.

"But we've come away feeling happier. The car is more than capable of going well in the wet, so once we've ironed out a few problems with our dry set-up, we should be laughing.

"Our next race is at Donington in three weeks so we're hopeful we can get any problems sorted out, so we can come out fighting."

Plato is sixth in the championship on 35 points while reigning champion Fabrizio Giovanardi leads on 63 Allison is 13th with three

CAPTION(S):

VAULKHARD; PLATO