MURRAY MAKES WINNING RETURN TO FORMULA FORD
Returning champion Niall Murray provided an overtaking masterclass on his way to winning at Silverstone in the opening round of the Formula Ford National Championship. The three races were full of frenetic action but Murray kept a cool head to secure third, second and first place finishes to head the points.
From seventh on the reversed-grid race three, Murray’s Van Diemen RF99 jumped to fifth then passed Jack Wolfenden and Matt Round-garrido in one move around the outside at Becketts. Murray repeated the trick on race-one winner Joey Foster, then used the outside line at Brooklands to overtake polesitter Stuart Gough. The leader was aided by second-placed Foster spinning after being run into by Wolfenden, with the squabble for second settled in RoundGarrido’s favour, from Luke Cooper and Gough.
Foster’s race one win had come after trading places with Murray, following race-leader Josh Fisher’s spin at Brooklands. Michael Moyers secured second place after passing Murray into Copse on the final lap.
Cooper took his Swift to a narrow victory in race two after a classic slipstreaming battle involving at least six cars at a time. Murray had hurt his aerodynamics by nudging the back of Fisher’s Van Diemen, and was passed for the lead by Cooper and Moyers at Brooklands with a lap to go. Murray retook second on the run to Becketts but Cooper was able to repel his last-gasp attack.
Lotus Cup champion Will Stacey experienced the highs and lows of motorsport when he took a convincing win in the opening Mazda MX-5
Supercup race, then suffered a heavy crash in the next. Stacey and Rob Boston Racing team-mate Steve Roberts took their new cars to a 1-2 finish, with thirdplaced Jon Greensmith also in the mix.
Jumping the kerbs while running in the lower reaches of the top 10 knocked Stacey’s brake pads out in race two, and he collected the unfortunate Richard Wicklen at Becketts. Following an overnight engine change, Jack Harding took the win after on-the-road victor Luke Herbert was given a track-limits penalty. James Blake-baldwin inherited second with Aidan Hills claiming a maiden podium after a thrilling slip streamer of a contest.
Reigning champion Herbert had earlier blown his chances in race one, stopping on the way to the grid to fix an air filter that he had incorrectly fitted, and forfeiting pole position in the process. From the back, he rose to seventh. Herbert was second to Blake-baldwin in race three, the pair edging Harding after another terrific scrap. Dennis Strandberg won twice in the
Volkswagen Racing Cup. Turbo problems left him sixth on the grid but he breezed through to take the opener from Jamie Bond. A puncture denied Bond victory in race two, while Tom Walker also lost a likely podium to an electrical failure. Martin Depper was excluded from second for passing under yellow flags. Owen Walton inherited the place. Danny Hobson scored a maiden Civic
Cup win from fourth on the reversed grid. He’d qualified 11th after being hampered by traffic, then rose to seventh in the opener, which was won convincingly by Daniel Reason.
Pete Chambers just held on to defeat Andrew Jordan, driving the similar Lotus Cortina Mk1 started by Take
That’s Howard Donald, in a thrilling finish to the HRDC Coys Trophy.