14 June, 2009: Three new faces were welcomed to the MSA British Formula Ford Championship winners' circle this weekend at Knockhill, Ben Barker, Garry Findlay and Chrissy Palmer claiming the victory spoils in a hectic trio of Scottish races.

Barker and Findlay took the first wins of the season for Van Diemen, while Palmer and his Mygale brought a first victory for the GV Racing team, the squad formed by former champion Michael Vergers.

It wasn't a great weekend for championship leader James Cole, nor for his Jamun Racing team. They made the podium only once and Cole's series lead was reduced from 29 points to 16.

Barker's pole-to-chequered flag victory in Saturday's Knockhill race was as impressive as it was unexpected, the Fluid Motorsport driver's previous best race result having been a sixth.

The Suffolk 17-year-old beat Jamun Racing's Irish driver Patrick McKenna to the pole by just three-thousandths of a second in what was the season's closest-yet qualifying session: less than a second covered the top 18 cars.

Barker led the field away at the lights like he had been taking control of Formula Ford races all his life; by one-third distance he was 4.4s clear and with two-thirds of the race completed Ben was 7.0s up the road and well on the way to a notable maiden victory.

Barker's getaway was aided by a furious scrap for second place which resulted in several incidents. Alex Jones held second early on, his Spectrum in good form after a rebuild necessitated by a heavy qualifying off, until he was passed by McKenna at the hairpin on the fourth lap. The Jones/McKenna duel continued for two laps until there was contact between them, which delayed the Irishman and led after a couple of laps to Jones's retirement.

That promoted championship leader Cole to second, pursued by the Spectrums of Daniels Erickson and Cammish, until there was a coming-together between the three of them, again at the hairpin. Cammish emerged largely unscathed to slot into second ahead of his team-mate, while Cole slipped well back after a grassy moment.

Barker crossed the line 8.2s clear of Cammish to record Van Diemen's first win of the season, with Erickson close behind for third. "I just put my head down and went," said Barker. "It wasn't until half way through the race that I looked in my mirrors and found there was no-one to be seen. I was so chuffed. The car handled perfectly from start to finish."

Erickson was later judged by race stewards to have overtaken another car while yellow flags were being displayed, and was excluded from his third-place finish. This promoted Spanish 16-year-old Jordi Cunill, the leading Mygale finisher, to the final podium position in what was only his seventh race for GV Racing.

Cunill's new team-mate Palmer was right behind him for fourth, with Cole recovering to fifth after passing team-mate McKenna four laps from the end. Garry Findlay's Van Diemen was sixth after a spin, with McKenna, Rogier de Wit, Josh Hill and Liroy Stuart completing the top 10.

Josef Newgarden, a race winner last month for JTR, finished 15th after fuel pressure problems in qualifying and a drive-through penalty in the race for a warning flag infringement. Local hero Joe Tanner gave the new Danish-built Aquila an encouraging championship debut, taking 17th in a straight-from-the-box and largely untested chassis.

There was to be no fairy-tale repeat win for Barker on Sunday morning, nor any further joy for the luckless Jones. Barker was out even before he took up his grid slot, a broken driveshaft halting his Van Diemen, while pole-sitter Jones jumped the start and was penalised with a pit lane drive-through.

Thus it was Findlay, who started third on the grid, who took up the running for the Fluid team early on. Garry twice built a handy lead over his pursuers only for the Safety Car to come into play and wipe out his advantage. Erickson was a close pursuer after the final safety car period, but fate dealt Findlay a useful card when Josh Hill spun at Scotsman Corner, dislodging some tyres.

"The tyres got moved out in front of me and I clipped them," said Erickson. "My front wheel was out for the rest of the race, so there wasn't much I could do." Findlay took the win - his first - by just under a second.

Cammish might have taken third but he got caught up with Erickson's tyre trouble. "I had the speed to win that race, but Daniel unfortunately clipped the tyres, bounced back and clipped my car, which knocked the steering out of line." Cammish slipped to sixth but was, for the eighth straight time, the Scholarship Class victor.

Thus it was championship leader James Cole who quietly progressed from sixth on the grid to third, just ahead of his team-mate McKenna, who scored his best result of the year despite having to nurse a bruised thumb. Newgarden took fifth, with Cammish followed home by Kieran Vernon, Hill, Palmer and Tanner. Championship newcomer Josh Benson was 11th in his DW Racing Ray.

And still the drama kept on coming... For race three it was Newgarden's turn to start from the pole thanks to his second-race fastest lap, with Findlay and Palmer behind him on the grid. Findlay made the better start but his efforts to relieve the American of the lead into Duffus Dip resulted in his Van Diemen's front wheel tagging the Mygale's rear, with Newgarden launched into a violent spin from which he was fortunate to recover.

Findlay was delayed by the incident also, so it was Palmer who profited, the GV Racing Mygale pilot completing the opening lap a useful 2.5s ahead of Daniel Erickson's Spectrum. Findlay and Newgarden got going again fifth and sixth, and Findlay was quick to dispose of Cammish and Cunill to slot into third.

Erickson dedicated himself to nibbling away at Palmer's lead, reducing it to nothing by the 12th lap and then, six laps later, stealing past Chrissy for the lead into the hairpin. Erickson led for a lap and a bit until Palmer responded in great style to regain top spot through Carlube corner.

Enough drama for one race? Not quite... At the last corner of the final lap, fourth-placed Cammish launched an impossibly optimistic move to try to pass not only Findlay but also Erickson, and the Australian got punted off the track within sight of a podium finish.

Palmer, the 2008 Scholarship champion, crossed the line 1.4s clear of Findlay to claim his and the GV Racing team's maiden victory, with his team-mate, 16-year-old Cunill, snatching third from the last-corner scrum. Cammish emerged a sheepish fourth ahead of Newgarden, Cole, Hill and Jones. Barker was ninth after battling through from last on the grid, and Rogier de Wit 10th ahead of his countryman Liroy Stuart.

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