A BLOWN engine earlier in the season cost Lea Wood a crack at the Pickup Truck racing title as the Hereford driver had to settle for second overall.

Although Wood beat title rival Scott Bourne in the first two races of the Brands Hatch finale, third place in race two was still enough to give Bourne his title.

Wood started the opening race of the weekend from third on the grid, due to the reverse grid system, but was already up to second on the opening lap, before ousting early leader David O’Regan.

The lead duo managed to break clear, but were still locked together.

O’Regan was back in front after five laps and although Wood retook again a lap later the gap remained at just over 0.5 secs, with Wood the victor, as Bourne slipped to fifth.

In the second race Wood was into fourth on the opening lap, but quickly became embroiled in a huge scrap, which enabled the lead trio to escape.

“The BTRA Trucks had been on track before us and made it very greasy, so I made sure I was very careful, but it was a hectic first lap,” Wood said.

“ I knew I needed to up my game after Lee Rogers had spun right in front of me losing more time,”

Bourne had challenged O’Regan for second place and both ran wide after a slight touch and Wood exited in third place, which became second when with Paul Tompkins spun.

The last three laps were tremendously close, with Wood keeping Bourne & O’Regan at bay to battle it out themselves, but that was enough to settle the title in Bourne’s favour.

Any hopes of a second win were soon dashed in the third and final race of the weekend and the final one of the season.

As the field were on the opening lap, Mark Willis spun and Wood was forced to drive through the gravel trap in avoidance.

The safety car was out for the clean-up, but Wood was back on, last place on the road with a daunting recovery.

By lap nine he was back in the top 10 and continued to close in, snatching eighth, consolidating his second place in this years championship.

Wood added: “Overall the season has been great for me.

"I am pleased to finish second, but not winning the title is obviously a slight disappointment.

"The blown engine when I was leading at Snetterton was our turning point, without that circumstances would have been a lot different."