21 June, 2008: New circuit, new country - same result. Though Wayne Boyd had never before raced at the Belgian Grand Prix circuit of Spa-Francorchamps, it made little difference to his weekend. For Ulsterman Boyd put in a champion's performance to win both of British Formula Ford's Spa rounds, despite some tough opposition.

His Belgian victories for the Jamun Racing team bring to 13 Wayne's tally for the season to date. His championship lead with seven rounds remaining is now up to 58 points. A smiling "It's all good," was his only response when asked how his latest triumphs might have strengthened his title hopes.

The shape of Friday's race was dictated by a first-corner shunt involving the Mygales of Victor Correa, the young Brazilian starting from pole position for the first time in the rd-backed British Championship, and Nick Tandy, who made a blinding start from fourth on the grid. Tandy was making a return at the wheel of a JTR-prepared car as preparation for his August British Formula 3 visit; one vital lesson Nick learned is that the first hairpin, La Source, is extremely tricky to negotiate in the company of 26 determined rivals.

Tandy took the outside line and Correa stuck to the inside; somehow they met in the middle and both spun, Correa's car clouting Adrian Campfield's Spectrum as it regained the circuit. The drivers had differing views of the incident: "I made a normal start," said Correa, "and suddenly Tandy was alongside me and turning in on me." Tandy's response: "I was on the outside, he was on the inside, but when we got to the corner instead of turning right he went straight on into me." Nick was able to recover and continue for six laps. He made good progress, reaching seventh before being forced to the pits with an overheating engine, possibly as a result of water loss due to the accident. Race officials put the clash down as a racing incident.

Campfield excepted, the frontrunners managed to avoid becoming entangled at La Source. Tim Blanchard, who started from second on the grid, led out of the hairpin and through Eau Rouge but the Australian didn't hold on in front for long: Boyd towed past him on the long straight down to Les Combes and seized a lead he would hold to the chequered flag.

It was not a straightforward win for Boyd, however. Before the opening lap's end the field was bunched up behind a Safety Car as the debris was cleared from La Source, and Wayne was forced into a successful defence of his position at the restart. He built a two-second lead, only to have it wiped out once again. "The first-corner accident played into my hands a bit because I didn't make a great start," said Boyd. "Then came the safety car, and then I got caught up with a backmarker at the Bus Stop chicane and I lost my advantage again. It seemed like ages before I could get my head down and break the tow."

This Boyd achieved in his usual impressive style, but he was never able to build much of a gap between him and Blanchard. "I managed to close in on Wayne at one point," said Tim, "but then I made a small mistake and he broke the tow."

Blanchard in any case had his hands full fending off Chris Maliepaard's Getem Mygale. The Dutchman moved into third on the opening lap and stuck doggedly to Blanchard's tail for the duration. He was swarming all over the rear end of his rival's car into the Bus Stop on the final lap but Blanchard was equal to the task of keeping Chris at bay.

James Cole, in the fourth Jamun Mygale, enjoyed his most convincing outing of the season. The Liverpudlian qualified sixth and battled for much of the race with Marco Sorensen's Van Diemen. The Dane moved ahead into fourth on lap six but Cole fought back in the finest possible style - around the outside through Eau Rouge - to retake the place two laps later; fourth was James's best finish of the year to date. Sorensen backed off on the final lap, his car lacking traction out of corners, but held on for fifth.

Matt Hamilton and Linton Stuteley staged a great battle over sixth but lost the tow from those ahead as they duelled. The fight was settled in Matt's favour when Linton went off on to the grass at Les Combes when an overtaking manoeuvre went awry. Stuteley recovered his composure to take seventh spot, 3.5s behind Hamilton.

Correa did well to recover from his off, and a brief subsequent pit visit, to battle back to eighth by the end, ahead of the JTR cars of Rogier de Wit and Philippe Layac. Chrissy Palmer was gifted the Scholarship Class even before the start: Garry Findlay was unable to make the grid due to post-qualifying engine dramas, while poor Alex Jones's Spectrum broke a driveshaft on the warm-up lap. Palmer's Ray cruised to 11th overall and the class win, comfortably ahead of his only remaining Scholarship rival, Felix Scott.

Campfield, his Spectrum nose-less and virtually undrivable after his first-lap mishap, hobbled home 13th, which was at least a little better than his Kevin Mills Racing team-mate Glen Wood achieved. Wood and David Brown's Van Diemen tangled three laps from the end at La Source as they disputed eighth place. Neither man finished, disappointing for both and particularly so for Brown, who had made up 10 places from his grid slot, driveshaft dramas having blighted his qualifying.

In the class for the Dutch Championship, Liroy Stuart took victory by half a second from Henk Vuik Jr.

Saturday's race was an even bigger thriller, with Boyd, Blanchard, Tandy and Correa all taking turns in front in another Spa slipstreaming epic. Wayne made an excellent start from the pole to lead through La Source from Blanchard and Tandy, but by lap's end the championship leader found himself pushed back to fourth as Tandy and then Blanchard took up the running.

Two laps under the safety car as the remains of a Dutch Formula Ford were removed from the track were an unwelcome early interruption. Then the field was given its head for a lap before yet another, mercifully brief, safety period as Brown's Van Diemen was removed to safety; it had spun into the barriers after a collision with another car.

All hell let loose at the restart on lap six with Tandy charging to the front only for Correa and Blanchard to tow past him on the straight. It was after this, at Les Combes, that Jamun team-mates Victor and Tim fell out with each other. "He pushed me on to the grass," said an aggrieved Blanchard of Correa. "My own team-mate. What can you say?" Correa shrugged: "I slipstreamed past Tandy and Tim came with me, then Tim tried to pass me also. I was not going to make it easy for him. He had only a nose in front of me and it was my corner." Blanchard was now a tow-less fourth.

This battle gave Boyd his opportunity to slip in front and, as he likes to put it, 'get his head down'. "The two safety car periods were a nightmare, " said Wayne, "but once they were over and I'd got past Tim and Victor things went well. My tyres were just about finished towards the end, but Nick didn't push me too hard on the last lap, thankfully."

Tandy finished two seconds down having thoroughly enjoyed his Formula Ford return. "I had a great time in this race," said Nick. "Both Wayne and Tim drove exemplary races and we had a great fight."

Correa's third was secure once Blanchard had slipped behind and lost his tow. Maliepaard meanwhile found himself unable to get on terms with the Australian and had to settle for fifth, just ahead of Cole and Hamilton, the latter suffering a brake imbalance which left him "a sitting duck" at the end of the straights.

Sorensen, Stuteley and Layac rounded out the top 10, with Findlay returning to form to take 11th and the Scholarship Class. "We fitted the spare engine overnight," said Garry, "and it was worth all the effort. I was quite some way behind Chrissy Palmer at the start, with several Dutch cars between us, but I managed to get past them and close him down." Less than two-tenths separated them at the flag.

Jones was the KMR team's only finisher; Campfield's Spectrum broke a wheel in a clash with de Wit's car while Wood stretched his no-score record to seven straight races when his gearbox gave up the ghost. In the Dutch class, Simon Knap took the honours ahead of Stuart.

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