9 September, 2007: The championship winner's champagne is still on ice for Callum MacLeod after Nick Tandy and James Nash beat him to victory in the Croft rounds of the British Formula Ford Championship.

Tandy won two of the Croft sprints and Nash was the popular victor of the third race of the weekend, James claiming his maiden win in the process.

Despite some setbacks, 19-year-old MacLeod left Croft with a more than healthy 82-point lead in the Ford-backed championship and one hand firmly on the title, which he will now aim to secure in a fortnight at Brands Hatch.

Saturday's race provided yet another fascinating MacLeod v Tandy duel, with Callum rocketing into an early lead from his 12th pole position of the season. James Nash got away cleanly from the front row, slotting his Van Diemen between MacLeod's Jamun-prepared Mygale and the JTR Ray of Tandy.

Nash and Tandy disputing second offered MacLeod the opportunity to build his lead but Callum was unable to capitalise and, once Tandy had overcome Nash on the third lap, Nick was soon latching on to the leader's tail, posting fastest race lap as he did so.

Tandy subjected MacLeod to merciless pressure for four laps, then made the decisive manoeuvre of the race at the Hairpin to dive up the inside of the Mygale and seize the lead. "I had tried it a couple of laps earlier and thought I could do it," said Nick, "so when Callum left the door wide open for me I took the chance." Realising his error, MacLeod tried too late to close the door but succeeded only in banging wheels with Tandy.

Callum kept the pressure on Nick all the way to the chequered flag, but Tandy beat him to it by less than a hundredth of a second. Nash held off a late challenge from MacLeod's team-mate Marc Murray to retain third.

Linton Stuteley had looked set to collect fourth, and possibly third if he could find a way past Nash, but he was nudged into a spin by the pursuing Jay Bridger. Steve Roberts took fifth after passing Sarah Playfair's Mygale on the last lap. Stuteley recovered to seventh with Dan Murray, Takashi Nagase and Roger Orgee rounding out the top 10. Matt Dobson was the unopposed victor of the Scholarship Class.

A good drive from David Brown, who had held seventh for much of the race and who was closing on Marc Murray in the late stages, came to nothing: the Scotsman spun to last two laps from the end.

There was further drama for Brown at the start of race two when he clipped the stalling Mygale of pole-sitter MacLeod. Callum's engine died seconds after blast off due to a fuel flow problem and the unsighted and unlucky Brown ran over MacLeod's rear wheel. The incident triggered the red flags; neither driver was able to make the restart, and nor was championship debutant Alex Jones, who ran over some debris.

At the restart, Nash made a determined getaway to block Stuteley from taking the lead, with Tandy slotting past Marc Murray for third on the run into Tower Bend. Stuteley then ran wide on the approach to the Hairpin to gift second to Tandy.

Nash's defence of his lead was as determined as Tandy's effort to wrest it from him. Nick came close to edging ahead on the fourth lap but it was not until Tower on lap eight that Nick was able successfully to manoeuvre past and into a lead he would hold to the line.

James tried to get back ahead but could not: "The difference was that Nick was able to hassle me; once he was past I didn't have the pace to repay the compliment." Tandy was nine-tenths clear at the flag and was delighted with his second win of the weekend: "It doesn't get much better than that. James was very hard to pass and drove very well."

Bridger claimed third after passing Stuteley on the sixth lap; Linton lost fourth a lap later to Marc Murray but finished well clear of Sarah Playfair to secure fifth. Roberts' hopes of taking seventh went up in smoke three laps from the end when his Van Diemen's catalytic converter caught fire; it had been starved of cooling air due to bodywork damage sustained in an earlier clash. The top 10 was completed by Nagase, Dan Murray, Orgee and Philippe Layac.

Matt Dobson claimed his 11th class win to put his points tally beyond the mathematical reach of any of his rivals and claim the British Formula Ford Championship Scholarship Class title for 2007. "It's been a good learning season for me," said the 23-year-old former kart star, "and I'm delighted to have taken the title. There hasn't been a lot of competition but it's a good result nonetheless. I'll be back next year with Duratec power."

The Formula Fordsters saved their best for last - the third of the Croft races was a cracker from beginning to end, with a seven-car battle for victory for much of the distance.

Nash got another excellent start to bottle up behind him the cars of Tandy, Bridger, Stuteley and Marc Murray, and James the proceeded to give a masterclass in the art of defensive driving. Though Tandy was crawling all over the back of his Kevin Mills Racing-prepared Van Diemen, Nash cool-headedly held his line at every corner. By mid-distance Nash's train of pursuers was joined by MacLeod, who had battled through from dead last on the grid.

The pressure finally told on the ninth lap when Nash left the door ajar on the run up to Tower Bend; there was no hesitation from Tandy, who sliced past to take up the running and - he hoped - bag a hat-trick of Croft victories. But it was not to be: rounding Clervaux on the next lap, Tandy hit a kerb and was launched off the track and into a tyre wall.

A surprised Nash then found himself back on top once again with the relatively much easier task of fending off Bridger, which he achieved in grand style to claim his maiden win. "I was beginning to think this moment would never come," said James, who had made 13 prior visits to the podium and was at last atop it. "It was such a difficult race - I had to defend so hard." His victory puts him clearly into championship second place.

MacLeod made it past Murray for third with three laps to go but could do nothing to dislodge Bridger. Playfair came home fifth and Roberts sixth, with less than three seconds covering the top six finishers. Brown started from pit lane but raced up to seventh by the end, ahead of Stuteley, who was delayed by a pit stop, Orgee and Jamie Jardine. Dobson was again the Scholarship victor, but he was beaten to 'Zetec class' honours by Jones.

Provisional results
British Formula Ford round 19 (of 25)
Croft 8/9/2007. 13 laps / 27.62miles
1, Nick Tandy, UK/Bedford, JTR/Ray, 18m23.165s
2, Callum MacLeod, UK/Northampton, Jamun/Mygale, +0.095s
3, James Nash, UK/Newport Pagnell, Mills/Van Diemen, +4.026s
4, Marc Murray, ZA/Sudbury, Jamun/Mygale, +4.625s
5, Steve Roberts, UK/Whitchurch, Mills/Van Diemen, +12.032s
6, Sarah Playfair, UK/East Lothian, Jamun/Mygale, +12.341s
Scholarship class: Matt Dobson, UK/Colchester/Van Diemen RF03, 13th +1m01.365s
Fastest lap: Tandy 1m23.539s / 91.57mph Est Rec

Round 20 / Croft 9/9/2007. 12 laps / 25.5miles
1, Nick Tandy, UK/Bedford, JTR/Ray, 17m01.197s
2, James Nash, UK/Newport Pagnell, Mills/Van Diemen, +0.940s
3, Jay Bridger, UK/Tonbridge, Fluid/Mygale, +1.776s
4, Marc Murray, ZA/Sudbury, Jamun/Mygale, +4.184s
5, Linton Stuteley, UK/Stevenage, Getem/Mygale, +6.432s
6, Sarah Playfair, UK/East Lothian, Jamun/Mygale, +11.031s
Scholarship class: Matt Dobson, UK/Colchester/Van Diemen RF03, 12th +53.329s
Fastest lap: Tandy 1m23.962s / 91.11mph

Round 21 / Croft 9/9/2007. 12 laps / 25.5miles
1, James Nash, UK/Newport Pagnell, Mills/Van Diemen, 17m12.550s
2, Jay Bridger, UK/Tonbridge, Fluid/Mygale, +0.371s
3, Callum MacLeod, UK/Northampton, Jamun/Mygale, +0.731s
4, Marc Murray, ZA/Sudbury, Jamun/Mygale, +1.077s
5, Sarah Playfair, UK/East Lothian, Jamun/Mygale, +2.406s
6, Steve Roberts, UK/Whitchurch, Mills/Van Diemen, +2.965s
Scholarship class: Matt Dobson, UK/Colchester/Van Diemen RF03, 13th +43.790s
Fastest lap: Tandy 1m24.427s / 90.61mph

Links  |    Teams area   |    Archive  |    Site map  |