Browne on champion form again
BRANDS HATCH MSVR 19-20 SEPTEMBER
Two high-quality Formula Ford 1600 races highlighted a 21-race Blue Oval-based programme at the second Ford Power Live event, giving Jonathan Browne the chance to maintain his 100% winning record in a truncated Champion of Brands season.
With a National championship round at Brands only a week away and the Festival on the horizon, the local series again drew a strong entry to Kent. Reigning Festival winner Browne burnished his reputation in his Low Dempsey Ray after battles that would not have been out of place in the October finale.
Neil Maclennan (Spectrum) and reigning National champion Ross Martin (Van Diemen) were second and third on the road both times, but both dropped down the race-one order with track-limits penalties. The second race was decided by less than half a length in Browne’s favour.
Focus Cup points leader Andrew Godfrey had to wait for the third of four races to record a win. In race one he fell victim to an overambitious move by Richard Avis at Druids while they contested the lead, meaning ex-renault UK Clio Cup man Luke Warr inherited the victory. Godfrey finished fourth in race two, with Gary Mitchell winning, while Warr was firmly in charge of the finale, followed by Avis and Godfrey.
Team-mates Adam Blair and Stratton Mackay dominated the first Enduroka sprint race but were penalised for a yellowflag offence and track limits respectively. Adam Smith’s Octane Junkies car therefore inherited the spoils. Blair gained his revenge by passing both Junkies machines in race two from a second-row start, and his superiority continued in the two following races, leaving the rest well behind.
The power of Dave Cockell’s Escort Cosworth proved irresistible in the first Modified Ford race, although Michael Saunders grabbed a cheeky lap-one advantage in his Tvr-engined Escort
Mk1. Cockell’s car expired in race two, giving local man Saunders the chance to fend off Malcolm Harding’s later Escort at the head of a 30-plus field. Another
Kent driver, Nathan Dew, scored fourth and third places in a Sonny Howard Pickup.
A quartet of Monoposto races gave a small Saturday crowd plenty of action.
Still only 16, Billy Styles was having his first races at Brands after a karting career followed by time out recovering from a non-racing accident. He inherited victory in the opener when fellow Jedi pilot Dan Clowes retired with a jammed throttle, and won again later after a straight fight with his far more experienced rival.
Tony Bishop’s Dallara won the first
Mono F3 clash despite a jumped-start penalty, but tangled on the last lap of race two after a rather too close contest with
Lee Fern. Bishop crashed and Fern won.
Triple Sports 2000 champion Michael Gibbins (MCR) recorded his 13th and 14th successive race wins, beating Tom Stoten’s Gunn in race one and Josh Law (MCR) in race two, after Stoten spun and retired.
Late entry Mark Charteris was in control of the first two Clubmans races but was beaten at the third attempt by Clive Wood. That was despite a poor start by Wood, who had worked overnight to banish understeer.