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| Martin Wins Championship In Formula Ford Thriller |
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| Sunday, 10 December 2006 | |
 John Martin has won the 2006 Australian Formula Ford Championship ahead of Tim Slade in a thrilling finale to the series at Phillip Island today, while Ashley Walsh, in his final drive for the VIP Petfoods Van Diemen, clinched his first round victory and also third in the championship.A smoky haze still sat over the Phillip Island circuit and the heat was already beginning to take its effect as the field made their way out on the track for race two. Race one winner and pole sitter Joshua Scott sat on the front position in front of Ashley Walsh, with the two championship combatants John Martin and Tim Slade third and fourth.  Scott made a clean start ahead of Walsh and Slade got the jump on Martin to take third.Heading into the turn four hairpin, Walsh took the lead and Slade passed Scott down straight to put a driver between Martin and himself. Tim Blanchard, Slade's teammate was pushing hard and mounting a serious challenge on Martin. Scott reversed the move on Slade down the straight on the following lap and Blanchard also passed Martin. Slade sat comfortably in third as Scott regained the lead over Walsh on the straight and Martin moved back up on Blanchard. Heading into the tight hairpin at turn four Blanchard and Dale Wood came together bringing out safety car with Scott leading from Walsh, Slade, Martin and Paul Laskazeski. Two laps remained when racing resumed and the top three pulled away from Martin before another incident occurred at the now notorious turn four hairpin when Scott collided with Walsh sending both into a spin. Slade did all he could to avoid any contact but lost valuable time and track position to Martin. Martin took the lead ahead of Slade but contact to the rear of Martin's Spectrum from the Dexion driver on the same lap resulted in the nose cone coming off and getting wedged under the left front tyre. Martin cruised to an unlikely win with teammate Laskazeski behind, while Slade managed to get his car to limp to the finish line, salvaging eighth position but surrendering the championship lead to Martin who enjoyed a 15 point lead with one race remaining. "I lost a lot of time when the leaders came together at Honda (turn four) which gave Martin the lead and then we came together around the back of the track as we went around turns five and six where I had a lot more pace than he did but I lost my nose cone and unfortunately it got stuck under my front left tyre which slowed us to a crawl through to the finish line." The field lined up for the final race of the championship with Martin on pole and Slade in eighth, effectively needing Martin to finish worse than tenth to win the championship and himself to win. With teammate Laskazeski alongside Martin the two made a clean start and Martin cleared out to a small lead while Slade got caught up in the pack battling for position. Race one winner Scott started at the back of the grid but soon retired ending his season early as did Samantha Reid. Blanchard progressed up to sixth after starting well back, but up front Walsh was making his move on Martin. With the championship in mind, Martin put up little resistance to Walsh and surrendered the lead before a safety car on lap six for Nathan Caratti came out. Meanwhile, Slade was struggling to find his way through the tight field and sat in tenth. Todd Fiore sat third racing a consistent round with Kristian Lindbom and Dale Wood fourth and fifth. On the restart Blanchard made the move and jumped up to third ahead of Martin and Lindbom, then on the final lap up moved to second behind Walsh. As the chequered flag flew to end the season, Walsh took the race win ahead of Blanchard, Fiore, Lindbom and Wood. Martin carefully brought his car home in sixth to clinch the championship as Slade struggled to make inroads and finished ninth. Walsh took his first ever round win over Martin and Fiore and also sealed third in the championship. Slade finished the year a strong second in the championship in a brilliant season where he had more pole positions than any other driver. But the day belonged to the newly crowned championship winner John Martin in the CAMS Rising Star Spectrum 011 prepared by Borland Racing. "This is just everything, it was the goal all year long and to win the championship is just awesome,"" John Martin said. Martin also reflected on the significance of the title. "You look at the past winners, Lowndes, Whincup, Tander; the list goes on so it shows that if you can win this title you have a really good shot at a great racing career, which is exactly what I am chasing." Martin, who also is set to launch his new website www.johnmartinracing.com, plans to race in Europe next year also claimed the Rookie of the Year title to cap of a memorable season for the young Queenslander. With season 2006 now finished, the next Australian Formula Ford Championship round will be the opening round of the 2007 season commencing in Adelaide at the Clipsal 500, 1-4 March, 2007. 2007 Australian Formula Ford Championship Schedule Round Date Venue State 1 March 1-4 Clipsal 500 SA 2 March 23-25 Barbagallo WA 3 May 18-20 Winton VIC 4 June 9-11 Eastern Creek NSW 5 July 19-22 QLD Raceway QLD 6 Sept 14-16 Sandown 500 VIC 7 November 16-18 Symmons Plains TAS 8 Nov 30-Dec 2 Phillip Island VIC 2006 Australian Formula Ford Championship Standings Driver Name Team Name Chassis Points John Martin * CAMS Rising Star Spectrum 011 300 Tim Slade Dexion Van Diemen RF04 279 Ashley Walsh * VIP Petfoods Van Diemen RF06 229 Todd Fiore * Russell Landscaping Van Diemen RF04 192 Tim Blanchard * Jayair Van Diemen RF04 186 Dale Wood * Sign Point Van Diemen RF05/Mygale SJ06 182 Nathan Caratti Firepower Group Van Diemen RF04 152 Brad Lowe * Lowe Earthmoving Spirit WL06 146 Joshua Scott * Kubota Australia Spectrum 011 142 Paul Laskazeski * CAMS Rising Star Spectrum 011 117 Joel Spychala Mid Coast Ford Spirit WL06 86 Grant Doulman Doulman Industries Racing Spirit WL06 56 Kristian Lindbom * CAMS Rising Star Spectrum 011 32 Ben Clucas * Team BRM Van Diemen RF06 30 John Mostyn * Interpak Spectrum 011 24 Sam Sewell * VIP Petfoods/Freestone and Kumnick Solicitors Van Diemen RF06 22 Taz Douglas * Caterpillar Used Equipment Van Diemen RF05 14 Samantha Reid * Toshiba Mobile Computers Van Diemen RF03 13 Mark McNally Nomad Consolidated Pty Ltd Van Diemen RF05 10 Tristan Hughes JagMag Van Diemen RF04 10James Bergmuller JB Racing Van Diemen RF06 7 Tony LeMessurier Escalate Management Van Diemen RF06 6 Daniel Cotton Team Showdown Spectrum 011 4 Luke Wood Anglo Australian Motorsport Spirit WL06 1 * denotes Rookie |
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 10 December 2006 ) |
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