Croft circuit in Yorkshire on a cloudy morning saw the latest rounds of the 2011 Kumho tyres BMW championship. For qualifying there were 7 class A cars & 3 class B cars 1 invitation car and a huge 15 class D cars out on track. Croft is flat with some tight chicanes but also some very fast flowing sections. There would be 1 qualifying session followed by 2 races later in the day making it a hectic few hours for teams and drivers. The invitation car was driven by Michael Cutts who races at the circuit in the saloons championship.

After the session it was Garrie Whittaker (E36 M3) heading the way again with a time of 1:32.025 ahead of Michael Cutts ( M3) with David Kempton (E36 M3) 3rd quickest. The fastest class B car in the session was that of Rodger Card (E30 M3) in 7th place overall with a time of 1:37.576 with Evelyne Buanic (E36 M3) 2nd in class B in 9th position. Paul Bellamy (318 is) the joint championship leader was the top placed class D driver with a time of 1:42.161 for 11th place ahead of Karl Skitt (318 compact) and Darren Fielding (318 compact).Graham Heard (3 series ) was returning after breaking his ankle was 10th overall and the last of the class A cars after qualifying.

The 1st race of the afternoon for the Kumho was to be over 20 minutes and was full of excitement. When the race got underway as expected pole man Whittaker moved away from the rest of the cars and headed them around the 1st lap of the circuit.Cutts and Kempton & James Card (E46 M3) were his nearest challengers. Card and Adrian Gilbert (E36 M3) were battling in class B. Bellamy was leading class B. On lap 2 of the race Whittaker threw in a lap of 1:31.554 which was to be a new lap record and was now leading by a huge margin. The large pack of class D cars were having the best dices of the race with places changing hands on every corner. Lap 7 saw Cutts take to the grass and when he went to rejoin the track was in such a position that Ian Crisp (E36 M3 EVO) went into his car at very high speed which resulted in both cars being badly damaged. This incident brought out the red flags to stop the race. The race was ended so it was another win for Whittaker to go with his new lap record. Kempton & Card took the next 2 places in the race. Card & Gilbert took the top 2 places in class B.Bellamy was 6th overall and the top placed class D car to finish with Matthew Fielding (318 coupe) and Robert Salisbury (318 is) next. Card and Bellamy were the quickest drivers in there classes.

Another 20 minute race later in the day saw a depleted grid take to the track. Heard had damaged his car in qualifying and the incident which stopped race 1 had put Crisp & Cutts out of the race also. Another blistering start saw Whittaker take the lead once again. Kempton had a mechanical problem and pulled out on the 1st lap leaving Card the nearest challenger to Whittaker. In class B Card also pulled out with problems on lap 1 leaving Gilbert leading his class. Bellamy was having a dice in class D with the Fielding cars with Matthew ahead of Darren. After on a couple of laps of the race Whittaker was so far in front he was trying to break his own lap record which unfortunately he never achieved. The race ended with Whittaker taking win number 9 making it a clean sweep of race victories this season for him. Card took 2nd ahead of Stephen Pearson (M3) in 3rd. Gilbert was 5th overall and took the class B win ahead of Buanic.Bellamy won class D ahead of M Fielding and D Fielding.

Fastest laps in the race for Whittaker,Gilbert and Bellamy. The time of 1:41.81 for Bellamy gave him the lap record.

The cars will now head off to Cadwell park where the class D cars will have there own races. The joint leaders of the championship are Whittaker and Bellamy who still have maximum points. Rodger card is leading class B in 5th overall. A total of 33 different drivers have competed so far this season.
    

Winner Race 1 Garrie Whittaker	Class B winner Race 1 Roger Card
Winner Class D Race 1 Paul Bellamy	Winner Race 2 Garrie Whittaker
Class B winner Race 2 Adrian Gilbert	Winner Class D Race 2 Paul Bellamy