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The 1999 European Super Truck Racing season is over but looking back on the past year, it is true to say that it probably produced the best and most spectacular racing in the 10 year history of this series writes Roger McCleery.

The Series is run over 11 rounds on Grand Prix and other International circuits that vary greatly from country to country with weather conditions during the summer in Europe playing a big part in the results.

Always popular in France, the season kicked off at the former Formula One circuit at Dijon in April before heading for Barcelona in Spain, Misano in Italy and back to the south of France at the Paul Riccard Track at Le Castellet. All these races were held during a busy May.

Austria and the new A1 Ring hosted their first Super Truck race in June before the big one - the Truck Fest at Nurburgring in Germany in July in front of 250 000 spectators. This is the biggest single crowd to attend any event in Europe this year including Formula One.

Then it was off to Alastaro, 180 km north west of Helsinki, the capital of Finland, in August and the home track of Harri Luostarinen. Steve Parrish’s favourite circuit at Donnington was next. This meeting was held at the end of the summer holidays on August 31^st.

Most in the Czech Republic near the German border is the most polluted area in Europe and it was here in early September that the clean burning Super Trucks with not a hint of black smoke coming out of the exhaust, travelled for round number nine.

The former Grand Prix circuit at Zolder in Belgium - where Gilles Villeneuve was killed - was next before the final at the motorcycle Grand Prix circuit at Jarama near Madrid. Here 105 000 people watched in horror when one of the Super Trucks was destroyed as it shed it’s engine on the track.

Twelve trucks costing nearly R2 500 000 each regularly took part in all eleven rounds. Five trucks came from Mercedes-Benz, reigning champions at the beginning of the year and there were four from MAN - the main challenger. With a brand new racing unit, MAN was expected to be in the forefront.

Two machines were also entered by the Dutch truck manufacturer DAF who were on the pace from race one. Finally, the 1997 champion Luostarinen had his CAT racer by Chris Hodges Racing Development in the United Kingdom with an American Caterpillar engine that started life under the Russian ZIL label. This truck was developed jointly by the Americans and Europeans in Belgium.

DAF started the season with Alain Ferte being in the hunt and giving this new vehicle its first cup win in France at Dijon. Fritz Kreutzpointer, after a bad start despite some spectacular driving, came on strong from round two in Barcelona. He won in Misano before Ferte, the Frenchman, won once again on his home track in France at Paul Riccard.

Mercedes-Benz developed a new rear axle assembly to get their considerable power down onto the road. It was a big improvement but still DAF and MAN with Kreutzpointner went on their winning way.

Loustarinen beat the German drivers at Nürburgring in front of a huge crowd of home fans. This was promptly reversed in Finland when the German, Gerd Korber, the development driver for DAF, scored a perfect score of 60 points from four races with Kreutzpointner adding a considerable total to his score. It looked like the championship was going to go his way.

CAT dominated on the Saturday in Donnington with Ferte taking over to win twice on the Sunday. Kreutzpointner wrapped up the championship at the next meeting at Most whilst Luostarinen dominated. It was the same again in Belgium and Jarama with the DAF getting a look in and Mercedes-Benz at last getting in among the leaders.

Fritz Kreutzpointner finished 176 points ahead of Ferte, Luostarinen, Korber and Albacete in only his second year. Then came the first Mercedes-Benz with the 1998 champ Luduvic Faure. MAN took the manufacturer's prize ahead of DAF.

It was a great year which saw hundreds of thousands of people being entertained by these large-than-life trucks. Well, they're now here in South Africa and, for the first time in the history of South African motorsport, our locals will be able to thrill at the sight of these magnificent machines doing battle.

FINAL POINTS POSITION FOR THE 1999 SUPER RACE TRUCK CHAMPIONSHIP

POINTS SCORING

Qualifying Races : 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 for the first 10 places

Cup Race : 20 / 15 / 12 / 10 / 8 / 6 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 for the first 10 places

Manufacturers : 9 / 6 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 for the first 6 places