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Slade Takes Formula Ford Series Lead In Dominant Display |
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Sunday, 17 September 2006 |
Tim Slade has stormed to the championship lead after a dominant weekend at his home track of Mallala where he had pole position and two race wins.
Slade now holds a slight four point lead over John Martin, while Tim Blanchard had his first series podium with a second and Nathan Caratti a strong third.
Race one saw an even start from Slade and Martin, with Martin holding the inside line into turn one for the lead while Wash held third in front of Caratti.
Martin pulled a small lead on Slade although never holding a comfortable gap and by lap four Slade was on Martin's tail, while further back, Paul Laskazeski, Dale Wood and Todd Fiore battled hard for fifth.
Joel Spychala lost the front of his Spirit Formula Ford mid race at the northern hairpin while Grant Doulman, Samantha Reid and Joshua Scott battled with Doulman coming of worst and spinning at the same turn.
Up front, Slade also made use of the northern hairpin on the second last lap taking the lead after moving up on the inside of Martin, while Reid and Scott were joined by Laska and Wood in a four way battle for top ten positions.
When all looked to be settled, the final lap threw up a series of incidents, notably Martin and Slade coming together at the northern hairpin, resulting in Martin dropping to eighth and suffering front right suspension damage, while Slade recovered to salvage third.
But in the end it was two drivers, unnoticed for much of the race, in third and fourth in Walsh and Caratti who after the Slade/Mating incident found themselves battling for the lead on the final corners, with Walsh showing poise to hold on for his second race win of the year ahead of Caratti.
Down at turn three on the final lap, Reid and Wood came together resulting in both retiring from the race and suffering damage.
Slade recovered for third, and set a new lap record of 1:11.4133, ahead of teammate Tim Blanchard and Brad Lowe, while Spychala held on for sixth ahead of Fiore.
Martin came home in a damaged car for eighth ahead of Scott and Laksa.
Samantha Reid's weekend continued to get worse with her Oakley/Chicane/Toshiba Mobile Van Diemen unable to be repaired in time for race two.
The start of race two saw Caratti take the lead over Walsh while Slade settled into third.
Martin made up two positions on lap one after starting in eighth while Blanchard and Spychala sat in fourth and fifth.
Walsh made his move on Caratti at the now notorious northern hairpin and went wide and off the track, costing him to fifth in front of Martin who soon found a way past Walsh and then Joel Spychala at the hairpin.
Up the front, Slade applied the pressure on Caratti, who after holding off the local driver through to lap eight, locked a front right wheel heading into turn seven, giving Slade the lead and dropping Caratti to fifth.
Slade proceeded to gap the field and held a commanding lead while Martin continued his rise to second place ahead of Blanchard who was having a strong weekend.
However, for Martin, things went bad when two cylinders failed in the engine which saw him slow and drop down the field and fail to score points for race two.
Up front it was the two Sonic drivers, Slade and Blanchard who coasted to a one-two finish, Slade taking victory and narrowing the championship gap to only eight points on Martin.
Blanchard finished a strong second ahead of Spychala and Caratti who recovered for fourth.
Brad Lowe made his way around Walsh to finish fifth while Fiore finished a solid seventh.
Scott finished eighth ahead of Wood and Laska after a race long battle between the three.
Race three saw a full grid take to the track with Reid fixing the car for the final race at her home track however the weekend to forget got worse for Reid with the South Australian forced to retire the car on the warm-up lap.
The only South Australian left in the field, Slade took the lead into the first turn after starting on pole and was never challenged as the Sonic driver again cleared away from the field in a commanding display.
"The Sonic/Dexion car has been brilliant all weekend...we had the pace from the first practice and it's great to come away with a win and take the championship lead as well," a champagne soaked Tim Slade said after the final race.
While Slade dominated the race, behind him, Martin was making a charge through the field after starting 15th to finish sixth and gain valuable points on a weekend where nothing went right for the CAMS Rising Star.
Battling for second on the track and for the round, Blanchard and Caratti fought a fierce battle for the entire race, with Caratti briefly passing Blanchard before the Sonic driver took back second position to claim second and his first podium in the category.
"The car has been strong all weekend and to get my first podium is a big step; plus the team has come away with first and second for the round so it has been a great weekend for us," Tim Blanchard said.
Caratti showed strong pace all weekend and finished with third in race three and the round giving him a lot of confidence as he sets off to England to compete n the Formula Ford Festival.
"It has been a pretty good weekend and it's good way to head off to England with a bit of form," Nathan Caratti said.
But the weekend belonged to Slade (232 points) who now holds a four point lead over rival John Martin (228) with two rounds remaining while Walsh (157) has jumped to third after a strong fourth for the weekend ahead of Fiore (154) and Caratti (144).
A two month break now awaits the national championship before the series heads south to Tasmania round seven of the Australian Formula Ford Championship, 10-12 November, with a new leader and a title well and truly up for the taking.
2006 Drivers Championship - After Mallala (6 of 8 rounds)
| Driver Name |
Team Name |
Chassis |
Points |
| Tim Slade |
Discount Renovators Warehouse |
Van Diemen RF04 |
232 |
| John Martin* |
CAMS Rising Star |
Spectrum 011 |
228 |
| Ashley Walsh* |
VIP Petfoods |
Van Diemen RF06 |
157 |
| Todd Fiore* |
Russell Landscaping |
Van Diemen RF04 |
154 |
| Nathan Caratti |
Firepower Group |
Van Diemen RF04 |
144 |
| Tim Blanchard* |
Jayair |
Van Diemen RF04 |
138 |
| Dale Wood* |
Sign Point |
Van Diemen RF05/Mygale SJ06 |
118 |
| Brad Lowe* |
Lowe Earthmoving |
Spectrum 011 |
109 |
| Joshua Scott* |
Kubota Australia |
Spectrum 011 |
102 |
| Joel Spychala |
Mid Coast Ford |
Spirit WL06 |
86 |
| Paul Laskazeski* |
CAMS Rising star |
Spectrum 011 |
51 |
| Grant Doulman |
Doulman Industries Racing |
Spirit WL06 |
31 |
| 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 |
| Mark McNally |
Nomad Consolidated Pty Ltd |
Van Diemen RF05 |
10 |
| Tristan Hughes |
JagMag |
Van Diemen RF04 |
10 |
| Samantha Reid* |
Toshiba Mobile Computers |
Van Diemen RF03 |
6 |
| James Bergmuller |
JB Racing |
Van Diemen RF06 |
5 |
| Tony LeMessurier |
Escalate Management |
Van Diemen RF06 |
4 |
| Daniel Cotton |
Team Showdown |
Spectrum 011 |
4 |
| Luke Wood |
Anglo Australian Motorsport |
Spirit WL06 |
1 |
| * denotes Rookie |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 14 December 2006 )
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