|
Formula Ford Championship All Tied Up As Slade Takes Victory |
|
|
|
|
Saturday, 22 July 2006 |
The Formula Ford Championship has been all tied up after race one at Queensland Raceway which saw Tim Slade lead from the first turn to take victory.
Championship leader John Martin was joined at the top of the table by Todd Fiore who came second today after qualifying on pole, while Slade sits just six points of Nathan Caratti who is in third place.
Earlier, Sonic Motor Racing Services trio of drivers started one, two, three in race one, courtesy of their brilliant trifecta in qualifying, before it was red flagged and re-scheduled for later in the afternoon.
When the race was finally run it was Sonic's Slade who got the jump on team mate and pole sitter Fiore at the start and was never challenged.
After taking the lead off the start, Slade pulled out a comfortable gap on Fiore, one he held through to the chequered flag.
"I got a great start today and the car felt great, particularly early on, which allowed me to get a gap on Todd. The car went off a little near the end so we'll try and work on that overnight but the win has really put us back in the championship," Tim Slade said after the race.
Tim Blanchard, the third of the Sonic trio ran wide out of turn two to allow young gun Joshua Scott to take third position. Scott slowly pulled in Fiore but was unable make a strong challenge for position but took his first podium finish in the championship after being fastest in practice on Friday.
Local boy Ashley Walsh, in the VIP Petfoods Van Diemen RF06, showed his track knowledge, posting a new lap record of 1:15.2648 to take the title off current V8 Supercar driver Marcus Marshall and finished the race a strong fourth ahead of Blanchard who fell back to fifth.
While Walsh holds the new lap record, the top five drivers all ran under the old mark set in 2001.
| Attachment 16737 |
| Todd Fiore took out his first pole position today at Queensland Raceway |
Martin repaired his CAMS Rising Star Spectrum 011 Formula Ford damaged from the red flagged race to climb from 10th on the grid to finish sixth and hold a share of the championship lead with Fiore.
Caratti gained valuable points to finish seventh while Joel Spychala in his Spirit followed in eighth.
An impressive first race from newcomer Daniel Cotton gave him his first championship points with a ninth while Brad Lowe rounded out the top ten.
Earlier in qualifying, the field set out to post a fast time in the opening laps while the tyres were at their optimal temperature, as the pole times in the previous two rounds were set in the first half of the qualifying session, and it was the Sonic Motor Racing Services drivers who set the benchmark with a one, two, three in qualifying.
Picking up where he left off from his round two win in Western Australia, Fiore, in the Russel Landscaping Van Diemen RF04, set the pace with a scorching 1:15.0021 on his third lap to claim his first pole position in the championship, eclipsing last year's pole time by over one second.
Fiore's pole meant a different driver had claimed pole position for each round this season.
Also setting their fastest lap on lap three was Sonic's Slade with a 1:15.1216 to qualify second and Blanchard (1:15.3463) in third to give Sonic the trifecta.
Scott, fastest in yesterday's practice, qualified fourth in his best start to a round with a 1:15.3475 on lap four while Dale Wood from Fastlane Racing qualified fifth with a 1:15.3725.
The first of the locals was Walsh in sixth position, followed by Caratti, Sam Sewell, Spychala and Martin who rounded out the top ten.
While run for only one lap before being red flagged, the first race caused championship leader Martin's crew to make urgent repairs to a broken left rear suspension, sustained from an incident on turn two before the race was red flagged, while Tristan Hughes had similar trouble with damage to the right rear suspension and was unable to join the grid for the restart.
Round three of the Australian Formula Ford Championship concludes tomorrow at Queensland Raceway with race two at 9.15am and race three at 2.40pm.
2006 Australian Formula Ford Championship points table (after race one today)
| Pos. |
Driver Name |
Team Name |
Chassis |
Points |
| =1 |
John Martin* |
CAMS Rising Star |
Spectrum 011 |
98 |
| =1 |
Todd Fiore* |
Russell Landscaping |
Van Diemen RF04 |
98 |
| 3 |
Nathan Caratti |
Firepower Group |
Van Diemen RF04 |
78 |
| 4 |
Tim Slade |
Discount Renovators Warehouse |
Van Diemen RF04 |
72 |
| 5 |
Tim Blanchard* |
Jayair |
Van Diemen RF04 |
52 |
| 6 |
Paul Laskazeski* |
CAMS Rising star |
Spectrum 011 |
47 |
| 7 |
Ashley Walsh* |
VIP Petfoods |
Van Diemen RF06 |
45 |
| 8 |
Ben Clucas* |
Team BRM |
Van Diemen RF06 |
30 |
| 9 |
John Mostyn* |
Interpak |
Spectrum 011 |
24 |
| 10 |
Brad Lowe* |
Lowe Earthmoving |
Spectrum 011 |
23 |
| 11 |
Joel Spychala |
Mid Coast |
Ford Spirit WL06 |
20 |
| 12 |
Joshua Scott* |
Kubota Australia |
Spectrum 011 |
16 |
| 13 |
Dale Wood* |
Fastlane Racing |
Van Diemen RF05 |
14 |
| 14 |
Mark McNally |
Nomad Consolidated Pty Ltd |
Van Diemen RF05 |
10 |
| =15 |
Tristan Hughes |
JagMag |
Van Diemen RF04 |
8 |
| =15 |
Sam Sewell* |
VIP Petfoods/Freestone and Kumnick Solicitors |
Van Diemen RF06 |
8 |
| 17 |
Grant Doulman |
Doulman Industries Racing |
Spirit WL06 |
5 |
| 18 |
Samantha Reid* |
Toshiba Mobile Computers |
Van Diemen RF03 |
3 |
| 19 |
Daniel Cotton |
Team Showdown |
Spectrum 011 |
2 |
* denotes Rookie
|
|
Last Updated ( Saturday, 06 January 2007 )
|
