Superswedes' dominate Mobil Truck Superprix
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• The "superswedes" dominated last weekend's Mobil Truck Superprix at Brands Hatch with Slim Borgudd first, Curt Goransson third and Rolf Bjork fourth. Only Richard Walker gave the home crowd something to cheer about, driving a magnificent race from lath on the grid to second over the winning line in his Cummins-powered, bonnetted Kenworth W9004.
Borgudd was never really under threat. From pole position he led all the way in the massive Mobil-sponsored West Coast Diesel Volvo White Road Boss 2 DDA, powered by a 12-litre Detroit Diesel veeeight producing more than 600kW (800bhp) of power.
In the early laps he stormed ahead, trailed by number two off the grid Curt Goransson in his Volvo N12, Rolf Bjork in the R B Racing Scania 143, and then Rod Chapman in his Cummins-powered Ford Cargo.
Goransson, still walking shakily after the terrible truck accident in Sweden at the start of the year that broke both his legs, stuck close to Borgudd for the first three laps while Rod Chapman and Richard Walker were battling hard in the middle of the field.
He was true to his word, and on lap four he was career ing round the hairpin bend at Druids sideways and overtaking at least one place every lap. By the middle of the 20-lap race Walker was clearly the fastest man on the track and he was in third position chasing Goransson. Borgudd seemed to sense the threat and he was beginning to edge away from the rest of the field.
Walker took Goransson on the inside along Cooper Straight and then set about catch-mg Borgudd. He never did, but he managed to shave Borgudd's lead down from just under four seconds to 2.5 seconds as the Swede took the chequered flag and the honours. Following an accident on the grid during the first race of the day, the Brands Hatch programme of events fell into a shambles and only one truck race took place all morning. The Superprix, which should have been over 25 laps was shortened to 20. Walker would undoubtedly have closed the gap between himself and race leader Borgudd if he had had five extra laps: he might even have challenged for the lead.
Willie Green and Mel Lindsey had a disappointing race, coming tenth and ninth respectively. Lindsey will have to work hard to regain his 1986 European Champion's title.
The 60,000 crowd set a new attendance record for the Brands Hatch short "Indy" circuit and the fastest lap of the day went to Curt Goransson at 108.78 seconds — another record breaker.