MALVERN TO THE
POWER OF 10
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS
8 JULY 2011: Scott Malvern claimed his "best win
yet" today at the Belgian Grand Prix circuit of Spa-Francorchamps,
the 22-year-old from Essex overcoming the handicap of a 14th-place
start slot to clinch the first of the weekend's EuroCup races.
Malvern, the
current leader of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of
Great Britain, suffered a broken gearbox in qualifying which left
him two-thirds of the way down the Spa grid. Undeterred, he
ploughed through the field to reach ninth on the opening lap,
picked up a further three places on lap two, and then shot up to
second on lap three behind early leader Jeroen Slaghekke in the
sister Jamun Racing Mygale.
From there Malvern
was able to pick his moment to bid for the win, passing the JTR
Mygale of Geoff Uhrhane, which had by now demoted Slaghekke from
top spot, through Eau Rouge on the penultimate lap. Once in front,
Scott was able to pull a gap and cruise to his 10th consecutive
Formula Ford race victory.
"That was my
best win," said Malvern, "and to take the record of 10
wins in a row, as well… It's just unbelievable. The first couple
of laps were really hard. The guys at the back fight just as hard
as those at the front. For the lead, I managed to get a run on
Geoff down through Eau Rouge and just managed to pull a gap.
Sounds easy, but it wasn't…"
Slaghekke started
from the pole and led the opening lap, under pressure from
Australian Uhrhane, who had started alongside, and Geoff's
countryman Nick McBride in another Jamun car. McBride pushed past
both to lead on lap two before Slaghekke regained top spot on lap
three. Jeroen led a six-car train of Duratec-powered machines for
two laps before Uhrhane found his way in front to become the third
different lap leader.
But on lap seven
Geoff came unstuck through Eau Rouge and Malvern pounced: "I
went in too wide and it didn't quite work out,
unfortunately," said Geoff. "Scott was lucky then to get
a break. It's tough round here." On his way to second Uhrhane
broke the circuit lap record by four tenths of a second.
Malvern was 2.1s
clear at the line from Uhrhane, with Slaghekke a disappointed
third: "When you start from pole position you are never going
to be pleased with third. But it was an exciting race with lots of
slipstreaming. Very hectic."
Antti Buri held
second in his LMS Racing Mygale going into the final lap but
slipped back, beaten to fourth by McBride, with Matt Parry, who
gave the new Van Diemen LA11 an encouraging race debut, close
behind in sixth. Spike Goddard led the second group home, seventh
for Jamun, ahead of Philippe Layac's Enigma Motorsport/Rendez-Vous
Racing Mygale and the Dutch championship Mygales of Steijn
Schothorst and Michel Florie.
Jason Down enjoyed
his first Spa experience, placing 13th in the Getem Mygale, behind
the cars of Bas Schouten and John Svensson.
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