BRICKLEY AND SMITH CROWNED FIESTA CHAMPIONS
Senior and junior Ford Fiesta championships crowned their 2022 title winners after three races apiece that headed the undercard on Formula Ford Festival weekend. Last year’s junior champion, Jenson Brickley, triumphed again in the senior ranks, while Sid Smith replaced Brickley at the top of the junior standings.
Brickley and Alastair Kellett came to Brands level on overall points, but dropped scores gave Brickley an advantage. But neither driver had an answer to Zachary Lucas, who won both of Saturday’s races and the finale on Sunday. Kellett almost caught him with a late charge in race two and netted fastest lap, cutting Brickley’s championship lead to eight points.
Lucas’s third win came after a challenge from Marlo Cordell, who backed out after making contact at Druids on the last lap.
Brickley survived a heart-in-mouth moment at Clearways on lap one, which dropped him to eighth, but he was soon back in the main bunch and passed Kellett for fifth, putting him firmly ahead on points.
Smith arrived as Fiesta Junior favourite, but any significant problems would open the way for Thomas Jack Lee, with Albert Webster an outside bet. Luke Hilton won all three races on the road, heading Lee and
Smith in race one, but an out-of-position-start penalty relegated him to fourth in race two.
The battle raged for second on the road, the championship leaders apparently determined to live dangerously, but they survived for Lee to head Smith at the flag and inherit the win.
Hilton had a point to prove in race three and, from fourth on the grid, he took the lead on lap seven of 16 and disappeared into the distance. Smith followed runner-up
Lee to secure the title.
A huge Modified Ford entry was split into three groups, with each group having a race against the other two. James Allen’s Focus RS beat Neil Jessop’s Zakspeed Escort Mk2 in the opening encounter after Jessop had led until a caution period allowed Allen to pounce. Jessop was squeezed off the road by a backmarker when in the act of retaking the lead, while Rod Birley’s troublesome Escort was also in the mix, challenging for the lead before fading to third.
A late misfire couldn’t prevent Birley scoring an easy win on Sunday, with Jessop’s car absent from the front row and Saturday winner Allen due out later. Five drivers all wanted to be second, but the honour was taken by David Guthrie (Fiesta). Rory Jose’s Focus ST, mended after breaking its gearbox in qualifying, lost second with a gravel trap visit at Clearways.
Allen won again on a drying track, but only just fended off Steve Goldsmith’s quick Anglia. Kester Cook (Fiesta ST) was third, while Jose made fourth from 31st and last on the grid.
There were no holds barred between brothers Daniel and Lewis Smith in some frantic opening laps of the first of two Intermarque races. They traded the lead while multiple winner Malcolm Blackman looked on. A misfire dropped Lewis back to fourth, while Daniel fought off a late challenge from Blackman to win.
It took little time for the quick men to reach the front again from a grid with the top nine reversed for race two. The Smiths again hounded Blackman, who took a decisive lead when
Lewis Smith failed to stay with him around the outside of Paddock Hill Bend.