HEREFORD driver Lea Wood is closing in on the Pickup Truck Racing Championship following a successful weekend in Pembrey which saw him take two victories.

Having set fourth and third best times in wet qualifying sessions, Wood started from fourth on the grid for the first of the weekend’s three races.

It was still wet as the grid assembled, but when the lights went out, he soon slotted into third behind David O’Regan and Mark Cooper.

Having ousted Cooper on lap three, he began to threaten O’Regan’s lead as they both eased themselves well clear of the rest of the field.

By the end of lap five Wood had the lead by only 0.323 seconds, but patience paid off two laps later, not only snatching the lead on the inside of the new chicane, but quickly consolidating to secure the win, leaving O’Regan to duel with reigning Champion Scot Bourne.

“I had the new tyres on and managed to get a break, but there was a river across the start and finish line and they had nearly cancelled he race,” Wood said.

There was still damp conditions for race two, but Wood and Bourne had both fought passed early leader Dale Gent by the end of the second lap.

On this occasion Bourne couldn’t stick with Wood’s pace however and the lead quickly exceeded two seconds and continued to grow.

“It was still wet enough for the wet tyres, but they started to off towards the end,” Wood added.

Having peeked at over three seconds, Wood backed off slightly in the closing laps to secure win number two of the weekend.

It was finally both dry and bright for the final race, but Wood had a fight on his hands. For the first five laps he was fifth behind O’Regan, having started from sixth on the part reversed grid.

Having finally got past O'Regan on lap six, Mark Willis was his next target, but it took another two laps to breach his defence.

“I managed to get him at Brooklands Hairpin, but it was hard as he can be very defensive, with all that experience,” said Wood.

With Michael Smith retiring on lap 10, fourth became third, but the gap to second place Bourne was still three seconds at the flag, with winner Gent a further three clear.

“I was over the moon with the whole weekend," added Wood.

"We are back into second into the Championship and now need to just go for wins to try and beat Scott (Bourne) to the title."

The title fight now goes down to the Brands Hatch finale on November 3 and 4, with three more races on the programme.