LAST-GASP DEAL PAYS OFF FOR DEMPSEY
Jordan Dempsey was straight back on top form in the National Formula Ford Championship after a late call from Kevin Mills created the opportunity for the Walter Hayes Trophy winner to secure a full-season drive in the Spectrum.
Dempsey started strongly from pole, while behind, battles raged as Rory Smith, Tom
Mills, Colin Queen and Lucas Romanek traded places for the right to hunt the leader. Safety car periods meant that Dempsey was never free from danger, but he managed the restarts well and finished untroubled.
There were podiums for Romanek and Mills in
Race 1, and Smith and Queen in Race 2.
If duels in Formula Ford rely mostly on set-up and slipstreaming, the Modified Ford Series produced straight fights between horsepower and agility.
Dave Matthias launched his
Escort Cosworth straight into the lead of Race 1 from way back on the third row but as the end of the first lap beckoned, contact with polesitter Jack Gadd left him beached.
Behind, Ashley Shelswell put his Sierra to good use, scything his way from the back towards the top five.
But it was James Allen who looked most likely, using the power and traction of his Focus RS to bring him within striking distance of Malcolm Harding, leading in the Escort. Pressure applied, Harding ran wide through the chicane, opening the gap for Allen to make the pass and race to the flag, only to later be disqualified for a yellow flag infringement. This gifted Harding the spoils.
The second race was more straightforward. Harding led from pole, always a tenth or two quicker than Shelswell, but also never letting paceman Gadd’s charge from the back get any closer than fourth place.
Reigning Fun Cup champions, UVio/Hofmann’s Lotus driven by Farquini Deott and Fabio Randaccio, finished as they meant to start following a lowly qualifying effort. Poleman Nigel Greensall made the most of his pace to lead the way in the CCS Media car, joined by the #263 Greensall car of Sam Smeeth. For much of the first stint, these two were never much more than a length apart but as the drivers changed, so did positions; the Greensall cars slipping down the order while others used consistency and pit strategies to make progress.
Disaster, in the form a failed gearbox, struck MJ Tec with just over 15 minutes remaining, leaving GCI safe in P2 and Team Olympian to hold-off PLR in the race for third.
Some 115 Mazda MX-5s filled three grids for eight bruising races. There’s not enough room on this page to even attempt to describe the action but a highlight was Race 2 of the MX-5 Championship where the lead pack of seven would cross the line for lap after lap with less than a second between them. Callum Greatrex won this encounter, his first in the championship, while his father Jason finished P1 in the Masters’ class.
Alex Sidwell’s Holden Commodore endured a timesapping encounter against Rod
Birley’s Escort in race one of the Super Saloons, leaving polesitter Charles HydeAndrews-Bird with a clear run home. In Race 2, Sidwell charged straight into the lead but the Holden couldn’t match the BMW through the corners and ran wide under pressure to make it two out of two for the GT4 M3.
Daniel Smith and Steve Burrows took a win apiece from a depleted Intermarque grid.