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PYE PLANS TO
REVERSE HIS FORTUNES AT CASTLE COMBE
11 June 2010:
After the drama of the Zandvoort rounds of the Dunlop MSA Formula
Ford Championship of Great Britain, which provided two debutant
race winners, the series swings into Wiltshire next weekend (19/20
Jun) for a double-header at Castle Combe.
With championship
leader Scott Malvern's advantage now stretched out to 43 points,
the Jamun Racing team and its front-running driver, Australian
Scott Pye, are hoping for an improvement in their fortunes at
Combe.
For despite winning
four of the season's eight races, 20-year-old Pye has slipped to
third in the championship standings, largely due to an electrical
problem at Zandvoort last weekend. "The ignition switch,
which costs around £3, failed on my first flying lap," said
a rueful Scott. To add insult to injury, he endured further
problems this week in testing at Castle Combe.
"We've just
finished testing there; we were going really well but
unfortunately on my new-tyre run I tangled with another car -
someone wasn't checking their mirrors and turned in on me and took
me out - so I missed the last three sessions of the day. It was
going really well up to that point, though, and I'm feeling quite
confident for next weekend and we're looking to get a couple of
poles and race wins.
"The big
problem for me at the moment is the points deficit; we have the
pace but our hopes have taken a bit of a whack. All we can do is
to try our best and continue along the lines we have been and try
to win some more races. I hope our luck turns around a little
bit."
Cliff Dempsey
Racing driver Malvern has led the championship since round two at
Oulton Park, even though the Essex racer's Scholar-engined Ray has
won only one race. Crucially the 21-year-old has finished off the
podium only once and he's the only driver in the entire field to
have scored points in every race.
Pye's Jamun
team-mate Josh Hill, son of '96 World Champion Damon, scored his
maiden Formula Ford win last month at Knockhill but failed to
capitalize on his pole position for both Zandvoort races. Josh
starred last autumn at Combe and will be hoping to secure another
win. Meanwhile, Jamun's other chargers, Emil Bernstorff and Jeroen
Slaghekke, show continuing signs of promise as they get to grips
with Formula Ford in Britain.
Zandvoort's two new
race winners were Dan Cammish and Dennis Lind. Cammish, the
reigning Scholarship class champion, had a so-so start to his
season but a switch to a JTR-prepared Mygale for the Dutch rounds
provided him with that long-expected victory and promoted him to
championship second. Danish driver Lind's win put the Fluid
Motorsport and Van Diemen names back on top for the first time in
12 months.
Others out to
impress include Jake Cook, who will be hoping to celebrate his
17th birthday with a maiden win to top the podium finish he scored
in Holland for Getem Racing; fast Finn Antti Buri in the Enigma
Racing Mygale; JTR's Cypriot charger Tio Ellinas and Lind's Fluid
team-mate James Tucker.
Gloucestershire's
Kevin Mills Racing will be fielding one of its Spectrum chassis in
the guest class for Castle Combe FF1600 Championship frontrunner
Marcus Allen, who will make his maiden appearance in one of the
latest Duratec-engined Formula Ford chassis.
The Scholarship
class battle is expected to be a three-way fight between Juno
driver Luke Williams, JTR's young Mexican star Dani Domit and
Raysport's Tristan Mingay. Domit scored his maiden class wins at
Zandvoort last time out and now trails four-time class victor
Williams by only 10 points.
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