Michael Crees pleased to regain Jack Sears Trophy advantage

Michael Crees admitted he was pleased with a perfect weekend at Snetterton that saw him reclaim the lead of the Jack Sears Trophy with just one round of the BTCC season left to run.

The BTC Racing man had endured a rough run of form in the preceding meetings at Silverstone and Croft, where he failed to finish five of the six races to slip down the standings.

Crees was back on form in Norfolk however as he took class honours in all three races, with a fine run from 17th on the grid to tenth in race one – a third top ten finish of the season – being the highlight.

With previous points leader Bobby Thompson missing as a result of concussion suffered in his accident at Croft, Crees now holds a lead of eleven points over Carl Boardley in the standings, with Thompson, Sam Osborne and Jack Butel all still in contention.

“I’m really happy with the way this weekend went,” he said. “I just sort of cruised in the last race. Once I knew I was leading the championship again, I didn’t want to take any risks. I’m glad to be going into the final weekend eleven points clear. I knew we had the pace in the car all weekend, but we did struggle with the tyre temperature.

“It was great to finish all three races, take three Jack Sears wins and also score points in all three races in the main championship for the first-time. It’s a huge boost for the final round at Brands Hatch.”

There would be mixed emotions for team-mates Tom Chilton and Josh Cook, with the former failing to score all weekend after turbo troubles and the latter bringing home three top eight finishes, despite picking up damage in race three after an early clash with Dan Cammish.

“After Croft, it feels like an average day,” he said. “Three decent finishes and points in all three races; but it’s not what we wanted. We learned a lot about the car, but we were vulnerable in the first few laps, which hurt us – especially in race three.

“I had contact from behind in the final race which sent me into Cammish and caused quite a bit of damage. We could well have been on for a shot at the podium had that not happened.

“I’m over the moon for Creesy today though. To come back from a rough couple of weekends and perform like that was mega. He really deserved those results today, and I couldn’t be happier for him and the team.”