Service Dealer Newsletter - Tractor registrations up; Grass Group distribute GKB; AEA link; Trimax appoint; NH set record - SIMON BELCHER COMPLETES FIRST SEASON IN BTCC

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SIMON BELCHER COMPLETES FIRST SEASON IN BTCC
Hugely popular series finale at Brands Hatch last weekend
by Chris Biddle

Last Sunday, thousands of motor-racing enthusiasts made their way to Brands Hatch for the final round of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) where Handy's Simon Belcher was completing his first season in the high competive and hugely popular series.

Together with my future son-in-law, Gary Foyle, I was invited to join the Handy Motorsports team in the pits garage and on the starting line for the final meeting where Colin Turkington driving the West Surrey Racing EBay Motors BMW125i won the overall BTCC 2014 Championship when he finished third in the first race of the day. The racing as ever, with likes of Jason Plato, Alain Menu, Gordon Sheddon in the field was never less than hard fought. Plato won the first round, was the 'winner' of the second round but was disqualified for taking Colin Turkington off the track.

Running as one of the independents in his Handy Motorsports Toyota Avensis, sponsored by Karcher, Simon Belcher finished a credible 20th out of a field of 29 in Race 1, was 19th in Race 2 and 18th in the final race of the day which was run in driving rain and almost complete darkness, despite having a coming together with Colin Turkington in the run-up to Paddock.

The BTCC series, running from March to October, is staged at the UK's leading circuits such as Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Donington, Oulton Park and Thruxton, where Simon had a well-publicised incident when the brakes failed going into Church Corner, reckoned to be the fastest corner on any UK track. His car careered off the track into the woods and over-turned, but much to the relief of the thousands of spectators and those watching on live TV - not to mention Simon himself, his family and team colleagues. The result was a very costly overhaul of the car which meant sourcing specialist components. Fortunately there was a five-week window before the next round and the car was successfully restored and ready to run at Oulton Park.

Simon said, "The car has definitely been working well the last few rounds of the Championship, the team has done a great job and it was fantastic to repay everyone for their efforts this year with a solid result at Brands Hatch. It’s been a dream come true racing in the BTCC this season, everything we expected and much more besides.”

After a hectic debut season, Simon alreading planning for 2015, and the team hope to get in some warm weather testing in readiness for next year.

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