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Blanchard Makes It A Clean Sweep |
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Tuesday, 22 May 2007 |
Tim Blanchard continued on his merry way at Winton Raceway this afternoon, taking out race three of the Australian Formula Ford Championship in style and picking up maximum points for the race meet, giving him the Championship lead in the process.
Blanchard qualified fastest yesterday morning and won all three races to be the dominant driver of the round, while team mate and series leader heading into the round James Moffat encountered problems off the start line resulting in mayhem for drivers on the starting grid.
Moffat missed the start leaving Taz Douglas to cannon straight into the
back of Moffat's Mygale, effectively ending both their races before
they had started as drivers did their best to avoid the two stranded on
the grid.
Blanchard start from pole and missed all the commotion, leading from
start to finish in his Jaylec Mygale opening up a sizeable gap after
holding off early challenges from Nick Percat and CAMS Rising Star
Kristian Lindbom who finished second and third for race three and the
round respectively.
"Obviously there was some trouble off the line on the grid, so I was
fortunate to be on pole and stay out of the way," explained Blanchard.
"The car felt great all weekend, it handled the different conditions
that were served up really well and it's a bonus to finish the round
back on top of the points, all in all it was an extremely successful
round for me."
Nick Percat was hot on the tail of Cams Rising Star Kristian Lindbom
from the outset and was able to consolidate and pass to finish second
and gain some valuable championship points.
Lindbom was equally consistent this weekend, finishing third in all
three races and consolidating his overall Championship points tally
remaining in third position in the race for the National title.
CAMS Rising Stars Joshua Scott and Ashley Walsh made the most of the
dry race three conditions, after their Spectrum's failed to handle
yesterday's wet conditions very well at all.
Scott took full advantage of the hold up on the start line jumping to
fifth position after just two laps, eventually finishing fourth.
His CAMS Rising Star team mate in Ashley Walsh moved from tenth to
fifth position with four laps remaining where he battled with Glen
Wood, eventually winning out to finish fifth overall after a
frustrating weekend.
Tim Blanchard now holds a thirty point Championship lead over Moffat
after starting the round just five points behind him in second position.
Championship Points after Three Rounds:
1. Tim Blanchard 156
2. James Moffat 126
3. Kristian Lindbom 112
4. Ashley Walsh 78
5. Glen Wood 74
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