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Provisional
championship placings Next rounds: 25/26 May, Rockingham www.britishformulaford.co.uk
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mail your links to editorthegrid@yahoo.co.uk WINS 9 & 10 FOR BOYD AT BRANDS HATCH
Boyd overcame a strong challenge from Westley Barber to clinch Saturday's race and then led all the way on Sunday, once more ahead of Barber's Comtec, to increase his points lead to 77. Boyd's Saturday race win was the hardest-fought of his short British Formula Ford career. First the 17-year-old had to overcome the disadvantage of starting from 'only' second on the grid rather than his customary pole position, and then Wayne had to find a way past the much-improved Comtec of former champion Barber, nine years and many races his senior. Barber was in devastating form in practice, claiming the pole with the first (and so far only) sub-90 second qualifying lap of the Brands Grand Prix circuit; he was four-tenths of a second quicker than the Mygale of Boyd. Westley made a superb start to the race also, leading into Paddock Hill Bend with Boyd tucked in behind and battling to keep Adrian Campfield's Spectrum behind. While Boyd was forced to defend second he had no opportunity to try to find a way past Barber. Wayne's lucky break came on the second lap through Stirling's Bend, when Chris Maliepaard's Mygale touched the back of Campfield's car and Adrian exited stage left. His pursuer delayed, Boyd was given the breathing space he needed to launch an attack on the lead, and he duly found his way around Barber at Paddock at the start of the next lap. Campfield's excitements were not over: he held the spin and regained the track just in front of Victor Correa's Jamun Mygale; the Brazilian swerved to avoid the Spectrum and slid off himself, clouting the barriers and bumping through a gravel trap before he made it back on to the tarmac. Campfield found himself 10th and Correa 18th. Once in clean air Boyd got his head down and went for it, banging in a succession of fastest race laps as he tried, unsuccessfully at first, to distance himself from the pursuing Barber. It was not until the ninth lap (of 12) that Wayne finally managed to put a bit of space between them. At the chequered flag he was only two seconds ahead. "Westley was very quick today," said Wayne. "I'm really still learning this circuit, learning the quick lines, so things have gone pretty well. I made a couple of mistakes in the early laps but once I got into the lead I just kept my head down." As the battle for the lead faded so the duel for third intensified. Maliepaard fell from the fray after his brush with Campfield and his Getem Racing team-mate Linton Stuteley took up the charge, pursued for all he was worth by Australian Champion Tim Blanchard. The Jamun driver tried everything he knew to find a way to squeeze his 2008-model Mygale past Stuteley's '06 example, but Linton had an answer for his every move. Marco Sorensen charged up from ninth on the grid, past his Fluid Van Diemen team-mate David Brown and Maliepaard, who was suffering with gearbox problems towards the end, to take fifth. Campfield staged a brilliant recovery from his second-lap off, and drove around the disadvantage of a bent rear wishbone, to take seventh behind Maliepaard. Brown placed eighth ahead of the Mygales of Philippe Layac and James Cole. Garry Findlay's Mygale overhauled Chrissy Palmer's Ray three laps from home to take 11th overall and the Scholarship class win. Dutch driver Rogier de Wit placed 12th and Correa recovered to 14th, behind Palmer. With Saturday's win and a further 12 laps of circuit knowledge under his belt, Boyd was on devastating form for Sunday's race. Restored to his accustomed position, on pole, Wayne made a superb start to lead into Paddock Hill Bend and begin the charge to his 10th victory of the season. He extended his lead with every lap, set the fastest lap of the race on his fourth tour and cruised to a relatively easy six-second win. "I got a good start," he said, "and just got my head down. I was able to back off a little towards the end." Campfield, fired up for a good race after his disappointment on Saturday, made the best start of all, from third on the grid firing past Barber to latch on to Boyd's tail through Paddock. Adrian held on in front of Barber until Westfield on the the third lap. "It took me quite a time to get past Adrian," said Barber, "and once I did I just didn't have the pace to catch Wayne." Campfield slipped back to fourth towards the end when Blanchard nipped past, but Adrian was in no mood to be denied and regained third with three laps to go, then held Blanchard to the line to score his maiden championship podium. Less than three-tenths of a second covered the cars of Campfield, Blanchard and their pursuers in fifth and sixth, Matt Hamilton and Maliepaard, at the line. Brown took seventh ahead of his team-mate Sorensen, with Correa ninth from de Wit and Findlay, who once again took Scholarship Class honours, leading Palmer all the way. Provisional
results Round 11 / Brands Hatch
4/5/08. 12 laps / 27.60 miles
ANOTHER 3 OUT OF 3 FOR WAYNE BOYD
Boyd, 17 and from Templepatrick, started each of the three races from pole position in his Mygale, led them all for most of their distance, and set fastest lap in each. With the Ford-backed series now just past one-third distance, Wayne enjoys a 58-point championship advantage. "It's been a good weekend's work," was Boyd's post-meeting understatement. His domination began on Saturday when he led all but the opening half lap of the first of the weekend's three Croft races. Boyd had claimed his customary pole position by a three-tenth margin in qualifying, with Linton Stuteley's Getem Mygale claiming second spot on the grid. The French chassis dominated qualifying, with seven of the top 10 grid slots filled by Mygales. Boyd's only error came at the start of the race when he allowed Stuteley to get away ahead of him. Linton held on to the lead until the Barcroft/Sunny series of right handers, where Wayne reasserted himself in front and his Jamun team-mate Tim Blanchard followed him through for second. By the first lap's end Boyd was eight-tenths in front and, try as he might, that was as close as Blanchard would get to his rival. By the end Wayne had stroked his advantage out to more than four seconds, and he collected a new lap record along the way. "I pushed as hard as I could at the start," said Boyd, "and kept on banging in the quick laps until I had built an advantage." Blanchard was well aware that he'd been shown the way around on his maiden visit to Croft: "We all need to raise our game if we are to catch Wayne," he said. After a disappointing weekend at Knockhill a fortnight ago, Matt Hamilton enjoyed a much more competitive time in his JTR Mygale. He overhauled Stuteley for third place on the sixth lap and pulled well clear of him to claim his first podium finish of the season. Stuteley came under severe pressure towards the end from his Dutch team-mate Chris Maliepaard, who drove well to make up for a 12th place grid slot, but Linton managed to stay ahead of him to collect fourth. Brazilian Victor Correa recovered from an eighth-lap spin to fight back ahead of his Jamun colleague James Cole and take sixth. Westley Barber was another spinner: he rotated his Comtec back to 12th place on the opening lap but clawed his way up to eighth (and top non-Mygale runner) by the end, just ahead of Glen Wood's Spectrum. Garry Findlay drove his Mygale excellently to claim 10th place overall and an untroubled Scholarship class victory, some 20 seconds ahead of his closest class rival, Chrissy Palmer (Ray). Felix Scott (Spirit) and Adam Batch (Ray) were the other Scholarship finishers; the cars of Peter Daglish and Daniel Walker tangled towards the end and those of Callum Holland and Alex Jones suffered mechanical problems even before the start light flashed green. Another driver in the wars was Adrian Campfield, who had hauled his Spectrum up to a respectable fifth in the opening laps before a tap from behind at the hairpin from David Brown's Van Diemen spun him down the order; he fought back to 12th behind Marco Sorensen's Van Diemen. Heavy overnight rain made the Croft track surface treacherously slippery, and the first-lap charge down to Clervaux corner a hazardous low-visibility adventure for the whole grid. But while the conditions caught out some, there were no errors of note in Sunday morning's race from Jamun team-mates Boyd and Blanchard, who romped to their second one-two of the weekend. Once again it was Stuteley who made the better getaway to lead for the first two-thirds of the opening lap, and once again Linton was pushed back down the order as Boyd and Blanchard moved ahead to take up the running. There was drama at the start as the Fluid Van Diemens of David Brown and Marco Sorensen went grass-cutting; both managed to regain the circuit, albeit having lost many places. Stuteley and Hamilton provided an entertaining duel for third in the early laps, the Mygale men swapping position time and again until Matt managed to make it stick at the hairpin on lap five. Alas for Linton, he was pushed wide during the manoeuvre and slipped to sixth as Barber and Campfield followed Hamilton through. The real star of the show, other than Boyd, of course, was Scholarship runner Chrissy Palmer, who revelled in the wet conditions in his two-year-old Sterling Motorsport-run Ray. The 17-year-old was in spectacular form, particularly so given his heavy accident in the Oulton Park opening round in March, and he picked off car after car as he battled through from 17th on the grid. He made the top 10 on the opening lap and charged up to fourth by the end to record what was the highest-ever finish for a Scholarship class driver in the Duratec era. Ahead of Palmer at the chequered flag were only Boyd, who set fastest lap of the race on his final tour to secure pole for the third Croft event, Blanchard and Hamilton, who was less than a second ahead of Chrissy and nervously eyeing his mirrors. Palmer was almost apologetic after the race: "I tried my hardest," he said, "but starting where I did on the grid fourth was about the best I could have achieved." There were no excursions for Barber on this occasion and he rewarded the Comtec team with fifth, ahead of Campfield's Spectrum and the massing Mygales of Stuteley, Correa, Rogier de Wit and Maliepaard. Findlay was 11th and was Palmer's closest Scholarship class rival. There was no tardy getaway in race
three from Wayne Boyd: he rocketed off pole this time and into an early
lead over Blanchard, with Tim's fellow Aussie Glen Wood third in his
Spectrum thanks to a front-row grid slot. Correa, who had been pursuing his team-mates, was slowed by the incident and this allowed Maliepaard to steal through into second. Chris was just 2.1s behind Boyd at the line to record his best result of the season. Correa recovered to claim third and the final podium slot, with Wood fourth to record his best finish also. Barber finished fifth again, ahead of Stuteley, who lost time with an off, and Layac, who survived a brush with Brown which left a front wheel hanging from David's car. De Wit placed eighth, just ahead of Palmer, who put in another strong drive to take ninth and the Scholarship class win. Findlay was much closer behind this time and took 10th. Campfield was the unluckiest man in the race: he had been shadowing Wood, in sixth spot, before an over-optimistic passing manoeuvre by Hamilton at the Complex caused both drivers to spin. Hamilton recovered to 11th and Campfield claimed 15th. The Formula Fordsters have no time to rest on their laurels: they are back in action again next weekend at Brands Hatch, in support of A1 Grand Prix. Provisional results Round 8 / Croft 27/4/2008. 11 laps /
23.37 miles Round 9 / Croft 27/4/2008. 10 laps /
21.25 miles
Next rounds: 2-4 May, Brands Hatch
BOYD TAKES A HAT-TRICK AT KNOCKHILL
At the wheel of his Jamun Racing Services-prepared Mygale, 17-year-old Boyd, from Templepatrick, was in a class of his own in the first two Knockhill races and bounced back to win the third after a scary off-track moment. He was more than pleased with his weekend's work: "It's been really good," he said, "and the car has been fantastic all weekend. The first two races weren't really a problem but the third was not so straightforward - basically I was a passenger in the car when it hit some oil and that dropped me back to third. But I managed to make it up by the end." Boyd's domination of Saturday's fourth round of the championship was near total, Wayne leading every inch of the way from pole position, through some difficult weather conditions and a safety car period, to the chequered flag. That he missed out on the extra point for fastest lap - which went to his team-mate, Tim Blanchard - was more down to the deteriorating weather than oversight on his part.
Effectively, Boyd won the race on the startline, beating off a
determined challenge from Westley Barber's Comtec, A collision involving the cars of Matt Hamilton and Glen Wood, which left Wood's Spectrum beached, brought out the safety car and saw Boyd's handsome lead reduced to nothing. Wayne kept his head, however, and handled the restart impeccably. Fate had more to chuck at the leader in the shape of a hailstorm three laps from the end but even that failed to prevent Boyd's third win of the season, by nearly three seconds over Stuteley. "It was a cracking race," said Linton. "When the hail came it made it very difficult indeed. It was all I could do to keep the car on the circuit." The race was shortened by a lap or so thanks to the weather, conditions which led to a number of cars, including that of championship newcomer Callum Holland, leaving the circuit. The red flags flew at precisely the right moment for Barber, whose engine let go in spectacular style on the finish line, but who nonetheless claimed third place. David Brown might have been fourth, after a strong fight from 10th on the grid at his home circuit, but for an error which cost his Fluid Motorsport Van Diemen two places on what turned out to be the final lap. His team-mate Marco Sorensen took fourth in his place. Blanchard's lap record-breaking drive to fifth after a dire start, which left him languishing 13th on the opening lap, was the performance of the race. The top 10 was rounded out by Victor Correa's Mygale, Adrian Campfield's Spectrum, and the Mygales of James Cole and Philippe Layac. Holland's exit gifted the Scholarship class to Alex Jones's Myerscough College-prepared Van Diemen. The unhappiest driver in the field was Dutchman Chris Maliepaard, whose 17th birthday present - third on the grid - was followed by a startline shunt. Sunday's opening race enjoyed much better track and weather conditions but the result was the same: another Boyd benefit. Wayne once again drove away from Stuteley at the start, pulling almost a second ahead on the opening lap, and then sped into the middle distance. "I tried as hard as I could to make a gap straight away," said Boyd. "I pushed like mad and fortunately we had the pace to do it." He won by a 5.7-second margin on this occasion. Impressive though Wayne's metronomic performance was, the spectators had eyes only for the duel over second between Stuteley and Maliepaard, the former getting the better start to head his team-mate, and the battle for sixth, which at its peak involved no fewer than eight cars. Maliepaard drove brilliantly for someone with so little experience of Knockhill and British racing in general to snatch second away from Stuteley at the Real Radio Hairpin on the 12th lap, and held on in front for a lap and a half until Linton's greater experience won the day. Third was nonetheless a great result for the Dutch driver; unhappily it was snatched away from him when his car failed to start in post-race scrutineering. Blanchard thus made the podium, the Australian Champion passing Barber and picking up a further place when his team-mate Correa ran wide at Carlube Corner. Barber took fourth, Correa fifth and Brown sixth after surviving a brush with the car of Hamilton. Matt recovered to seventh ahead of Cole, Campfield and Sorensen. Holland was a surprised Scholarship victor - his Van Diemen was one of only two class finishers, a lap down after he had served a pit-lane drive-through penalty for corner cutting. Boyd was hoping for a repeat domination of Knockhill's third instalment, and all the signs were in the opening laps that he would get his wish. By lap three Wayne was a second clear of his closest pursuer, Barber, and was looking uncatchable. Fate intervened on the fourth lap, however, when Rogier De Wit's JTR Mygale veered off the track at Butcher's and back on again, clouting his team-mate Layac's car. Jamie Jardine's Comtec became embroiled and, somewhere along the line, a quantity of oil was dropped on the circuit which sent Boyd slithering off the circuit. He regained the track third, behind Barber and Blanchard, and had then to endure a six-lap safety car period for recovery of the crashed cars, which by now included Sorensen's Van Diemen, which had also found the oil. At the
restart Barber held on in front of the massing Mygales of Blanchard
(pictured left) Blanchard never said die but had to settle for second by a six-tenth margin, with Correa making it a Jamun 1-2-3 with his best finish of the season. Brown took fourth ahead of Stuteley, Campfield and his improving Spectrum, Hamilton, Wood and Maliepaard, Chris finally salvaging some points after a difficult weekend with a spirited drive to ninth from the back of the grid. Cole came next, just ahead of Jones, whose dying Van Diemen coughed and crept its way across the line for Scholarship honours half a second in front of Holland.
Provisional results Round
5 / Knockhill 13/4/2008. 21 laps / 26.70 miles Round
6 / Knockhill 13/4/2008. 17 laps / 21.61 miles Knockhill Pics - R Pascal 11/56 Motorsport
BOYD & BLANCHARD DOMINATE AT OULTON
Wayne Boyd leads his team-mate Tim Blanchard for a Jamun 1-2 finish at Oulton Park Team-mates Wayne Boyd and Tim Blanchard gave reigning champion team Jamun Racing the best possible start to its British Formula Ford Championship season at Oulton Park today (Monday), Ulsterman Boyd winning two of the day's races and Australian Blanchard taking victory in the third to establish a slender points lead. Although two of the three races were shortened by accidents and some foul Easter weather did its best to dampen proceedings, there was some thrilling action in the best Formula Ford fashion for the Cheshire spectators. In addition, several new drivers and teams gave clear indications of their pace, and the likelihood is that Jamun and its star Mygale drivers are unlikely to run away with things this season... The first of the three Oulton Park openers provided a thrilling but all-too-brief duel for victory between Boyd and Blanchard, with the race curtailed after just six laps after a three-car backmarker crash. The tricky damp conditions may have caught out some but there were no mistakes from 17-year-old Boyd, the reigning Ulster Formula Ford Champion, nor from '07 Australian Champion Blanchard, 20. Wayne's Mygale led away from the pole and was leading again - just - when it mattered, as the red flags flew. "Tim gave me a bit of a hard time, passing me on the second lap," said Wayne, "but I managed to repass him and once I'd made a bit of a break I knew I'd be OK." Dane Marco Sorensen was in close attendance throughout, but the premature end to the race put paid to his chances of getting his Fluid Motorsport Van Diemen in among the Mygales. The top three were covered by just 1.6s at the end. The accident which prompted the red flags involved the Mygales of Rogier de Wit and James Cole, and Chrissy Palmer's Ray; the latter came off worst, rolling and suffering major damage in the collision. Chrissy was shaken and the 17-year-old Sussex lad was hospitalised for checks. Matt Hamilton's JTR Ray overhauled David Brown's Van Diemen for fourth on what turned out to be the last lap, with Westley Barber following Hamilton through for fifth to give the new Comtec an encouraging debut. Brown held on to sixth ahead of Chris Maliepaard's Mygale, the Spectrum of Aussie debutant Glen Wood, Linton Stuteley - whose Mygale was delayed in avoidance of another's spin - and runaway Scholarship Class victor Garry Findlay's Mygale, which placed an excellent 10th. A full 18 minutes of racing in round two gave Boyd the opportunity really to underline his pace. Wayne simply blasted away from his second pole of the day and by the end of the opening lap had opened out a 1.5s advantage over Blanchard, whose pursuit was vigorous but ultimately futile. Echoing the 2007 performances of his Jamun predecessor and reigning champion Callum MacLeod, Boyd banged in fastest lap after fastest lap, lowering the circuit record by half a second as he pulled clear; by the seventh of the 11 laps Wayne was a full 5s clear of Blanchard. "It went really well," said Boyd. "I got my head down early and made the break, and then I was able to slow the pace towards the end." Blanchard was a gracious runner-up: "Wayne drove very well," he said, "and I need to find a little more pace in my car if I'm to stay with him." It might well have been a Jamun 1-2-3, with young Brazilian Victor Correa (a spinner in race one) keeping well in touch with his team-mates and fending off Barber until a sixth-lap error at Knickerbrook handed third to Sorensen. Barber's hopes of a podium finish had meanwhile ended on the fourth lap with mechanical problems. Correa made no further mistakes and was able to cling on to fourth ahead of Hamilton, with Stuteley avoiding the problems which beset him in race one to claim sixth ahead of his Getem team-mate Maliepaard. Brown, Wood and Adrian Campfield completed the top 10, the latter lucky even to make the race after his KMR Spectrum required extensive repairs following race-one damage. Findlay's hopes of another Scholarship win came to nought on the opening lap when he slithered off; Myerscough College entry Alex Jones took the class honours. Boyd made another superb getaway in race three and pulled a useful early lead over Blanchard once again, only to see all his hard work negated by another safety car deployment, this time after the sleet-slicked track triggered a multi-car crash accounting for Hamilton, Wood and De Wit. It all went wrong for Boyd after the restart, Wayne out-braking himself into Cascades and handing the lead on a plate to Blanchard. "He sort of chucked it up the road a bit," said a grateful Tim, "but in fairness to him the track conditions were awful and changing every lap. I've never raced on snow before!" Blanchard came under severe pressure from Sorensen towards the end but failed to yield, crossing the line to take victory ahead of the Dane by three-tenths of a second. Brown was an excellent third, hauling his way up from eighth on the grid and revelling in the slippery conditions. Campfield ended his tricky first day with Kevin Mills Racing on a high note, taking fourth despite late-race pressure from Barber, with Stuteley in the Comtec's wheeltracks for sixth once again. Correa survived a spin under the safety car to recover to seventh, ahead of team-mate Cole, who had been forced to sit out race two. Boyd, who had dropped virtually to last, set fastest lap on the final tour on his way to ninth, just ahead of Maliepaard. There were no errors from Findlay this time, and he claimed 11th as well as the Scholarship class win. Provisional results Round 2 / Oulton Park 24/3/2008. 11
laps / 29.61 miles Round 3 / Oulton Park 24/3/2008. 9
laps / 24.23 miles
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Wayne Boyd accelerated further into
the overall lead of the British Formula Ford Championship this weekend
at Brands Hatch, scoring a brace of impressive race wins at the Kent
circuit in front of a huge audience of spectators gathered for the final
rounds of A1GP.
Hat-trick
hunter Wayne Boyd added another three British Formula Ford Championship
race victories to his collection at Croft this weekend, dominating the
proceedings and, thanks to some bad luck afflicting his Jamun Racing
team-mate and chief title rival Tim Blanchard, the Ulsterman left
Yorkshire with a usefully increased overall points lead.
Ulster
sensation Wayne Boyd swept the board at Knockhill, claiming a hat-trick
of impressive British Formula Ford Championship race victories - all
three from pole position and two of them in difficult circumstances - to
recapture the overall lead of the Ford-backed series.
(pictured
below) which had started alongside him from the front row. Wayne was
well in command by Scotsman corner, with Linton Stuteley's Getem Racing
Mygale bumping Barber back to third on the opening lap; Linton was
powerless to prevent Boyd from pulling a two-second gap within a matter
of four laps, however.
and
Boyd for a lap, until he too came unstuck at Carlube and ploughed into
the gravel. Through Hislop's and into the hairpin Boyd unseated his
team-mate and restored himself to a richly deserved lead.