Mansfield champion truck racer Ryan Smith aiming to edge closer to fourth title in a row at Donington Park

Mansfield’s triple British Truck racing champion Ryan Smith travels to his local circuit Donington Park this weekend (10th-11th August) to try to continue his season’s success and move a step nearer to the 2019 Championship.

The Nottinghamshire truck racing ace and MV Commercial British Truck Racing Association Champion of 2016, 2017 and 2018 has had a faultless 2019 season to date and is in a league of his own so far, winning almost every race that’s been thrown at him.

Hoping to etch his way into truck racing history books further, Smith has excelled this season in the Taylor Transport of Mansfield-sponsored Taylors Trucksport and Knorr Bremse MAN TGX trucksince he won two out of the weekend’s four races at Brands Hatch in April.

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He moved to Pembrey and another succession of first and second places showed fellow racers who was in command.

No change in June when a trip to Thruxton in Hampshire, the fastest race circuit in the UK, saw Smith take his first pole position after a fantastic qualifying session.

Race one saw some close wheel to wheel racing between Smith and Dave Jenkins, who was championship runner-up in 2018, that saw Smith get the better of the pack and take the chequered flag.

In race two Smith started the race at the back of a reversed grid but that didn’t stop him from having a scintillating drive picking his way through the field to take another race victory.

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Nothing was going to stop him and race three saw him take another win with a lights-to-flag dominance.

Smith then made an unprecedented clean sweep of the weekend to win race four, cementing his place firmly in the driver standings.

Smith’s team mate Mark Taylor, son to the sponsors, shared the podium with Smith and more points were in the bag for the Taylor Trucksport Team.

Taylor, also from Mansfield, only started his first full season this year after two outings last season that proved successful and the decision for Taylor Trucksport to enter a second truck into the championship.

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Prior to that he had been supporting Smith for over three years.

Mid-July was a weekend to remember as the heavyweights descended upon Nurburgring circuit in Germany to fly the flag and Smith was all revved up and rearing to reach the midway point of the season.

The weekend was part of the ADAC Truck Grand Prix with some of the leading European names in truck racing taking part for the coveted Mittelrhein Cup.

Qualifying saw Smith shine, taking top spot in his usual style.

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Lining up on the front row for race one in the coverted pole position, Smith took into a commanding lights-to-flag win again, ultimately taking the chequered flag by more than 10 seconds.

A frantic race two saw Smith at the back, but not for long as he wheedled his way through to P1 that followed a brief yellow flag lap, A red flag soon after shortened the race by three lap to see Smith take his second weekend win.

The third and final race of the weekend from the British contingent saw another virtuoso performance from Smith as he brought the curtain down on the weekend in style.

Just as he had done in the previous two races, the current points leader stormed to victory to secure outright honours in the Mittelrhein Cup

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Smith left Nurburgring in top position in the MV Commercial British Truck Racing Association Championship with 230 points and teammate Mark Taylor is third with 167 points

The fans of Smith are expected to turn out this weekend for the ever popular and biggest truck extravaganza on the UK calendar at Donington Park this weekend.

Now entering its third year, Convoy in the Park is already established as the UK’s biggest celebration of all things trucking, with ferocious on-track action interspersed by a huge line-up of entertainment around the circuit, including massive show truck displays, representations by all the leading truck manufacturers, live music and stunt shows including the legendary caravan smash.