MURRAYPROVESTHEMAN TOBEATINNATIONALFF1600
Niall Murray’s crushing pace all weekend meant that the rest of the National Formula Ford Championship field was fighting over second in the opening two races.
Murray’s Van Diemen RF99 took the first by nearly six seconds from Joey Foster (Ray GR08), who evoked memories of his latest Festival triumph with a pass around the outside of Michael Eastwell (Spectrum 011C) at Paddock Hill Bend. On this occasion though, not only did he brave it around Paddock, he also hung around the outside of Druids before passing.
Foster kept Murray in his sights in race two, but was unable to mount a challenge for victory as the opener’s podium was repeated. Points leader Murray rose from eighth to third in the reversed-grid race three, his task made harder by yellow flags. Polesitter Neil Maclennan led from lights to flag in his Cliff Dempsey Racing Ray GR16, having progressed from the back of the grid in race two. He had stuttered to retirement after running second in the opener; running out of fuel after the race was extended due to a safety-car period. Hugo Bentley-ellis took second for his maiden National FF1600 podium.
The large Caterham 310R entry required a two-from-three race format, with Alan Cooper ducking out of Lee Bristow’s slipstream to take the first by 0.04s after a thrilling battle also involving Chris Hutchinson and Gordon Sawyer. Bristow was beaten by Christian Szaruta by an almost identical margin in race three, which was shortened after Nathan Bell’s engine blow-up led to a multi-car accident on the run to Graham Hill Bend. Chris Rankin won a typically close race two from Szaruta and Cooper.
The closest finish of the weekend though was in the Caterham Roadsports, when James Murphy held off Caterham CEO Graham Macdonald to win the second race by just 0.016s. Early leader Daniel French was third, having dropped to eighth when momentarily stuck in second gear exiting Clearways. French had taken a more comfortable victory in race one, from Dan Halstead and Murphy.
Pete Walters lost the opening Caterham 270R race after being slapped with a 10s penalty for excessively blocking Jamie Falvey on the run to the flag but such was the pair’s advantage that Walters retained second. They duked throughout, with Walters moving ahead when Falvey was baulked by a backmarker, and it was a similar story in race two with Falvey prevailing.
Reigning champion Luke Herbert added two more wins to his tally in the Mazda MX-5 Supercup, holding off Jack Harding and James Blake-baldwin in race one. The following pair’s order was swapped in race two, where Herbert admitted he was helped by numerous yellow flags allowing him to take better lines for defending the available overtaking spots.
Blake-baldwin claimed a more frantic race three, spiced up by a top-eight grid reversal. He sealed the win with identical lunges on both Aidan Hills and then Jon Greensmith at Paddock Hill Bend, as Herbert managed fourth.
James Colburn took his Austin A40 to victory in the HRDC Touring Greats, passing Ding Boston’s 1959 Riley 1.5 OUMF and the 1962 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Ti of Gavin Watson after the pitstops. Neil Brown was closing on Boston in second when he spun his Austin A35, but recovered to third.