| SEVENTH
WIN FOR MACLEOD AT BRANDS HATCH
14 July, 2007:
Callum MacLeod notched up British Formula Ford Championship win
number seven at Brands Hatch today, the Northamptonshire-based
19-year-old picking his way through the chaos at Brands Hatch to
further extend his overall championship lead.
It was a great
start to the weekend for MacLeod as he bids to net a hat-trick of
wins at the Kent circuit. Rounds 11 and 12 of the championship
take place tomorrow, Sunday.
But while there
were smiles all round from MacLeod and the Jamun Racing team,
there were long faces elsewhere after a series of incidents on the
start/finish straight which left several cars badly damaged and
several drivers fortunate to have escaped serious injury.
The crashes were
triggered when Linton Stuteley's fifth-placed Mygale stalled on
the grid and was collected by the car of Dutch novice Chris
Maliepaard. Race officials called out the safety car to lead the
pack at reduced pace on to the second lap, but there were further
incidents nonetheless. The most serious of these involved Lee
Mumford, whose Ray was launched into a series of barrel rolls down
the track. Red flags flew as Mumford and others, including Garry
Findlay, extricated themselves from their wrecked machines and
dusted themselves down.
The restarted (and
shortened) race saw Nick Tandy produce a brilliant start from
second on the grid in his JTR Ray, the Bedford 22-year-old
slingshotting his way past pole-sitter MacLeod to establish an
early, if short-lived lead.
MacLeod regained
his composure quickly, muscling his Mygale past Tandy on the
circuit's Grand Prix section to reassert his dominance. Nick took
to the grass to avoid a collision and that cost him another two
places as he slipped behind James Nash and Sarah Playfair.
Alas the race
struck further trouble on lap two when Tandy's team-mate, Freddie
Hunt, spun into the gravel trap at Paddock Hill Bend and prompted
a further two-lap safety car interlude while his stricken Ray was
recovered to safety.
That left two
racing laps for MacLeod to hang on to his lead and for Tandy to
try to recover lost ground. Both men responded in style, Callum
extending his advantage to nearly 1s at the chequered flag while
Nick displaced both Playfair and Nash to move back into second.
Another man on the
move was Jay Bridger, who made a bold move on Nash into Surtees on
the last lap to move up to third. "James went a bit wide and
I stuck it in there," said Jay. "It was a bit of an
'eyes closed and hope for the best' moment." It was Bridger's
first podium finish of the year, appropriately on the Tonbridge
driver's home circuit.
MacLeod was pleased
with his performance: "The start was frustrating but I
managed to get past Nick and get the win. We definitely have the
pace here to win all three races and that is what I am aiming
for."
Playfair, her car's
handling awry after a minor collision in the aborted first race,
slipped to sixth on the last lap, behind Nash and Adrian
Campfield. David Brown took seventh ahead of Takashi Nagase,
Daniel Murray and visiting Norwegian Anders Krohn. Matt Dobson
emerged a deserved Scholarship Class winner over his only class
rival, Spaniard Marcello Conchado.
Provisional
results
British Formula Ford round 10 (of 25)
Brands Hatch 14/7/2007. 6 laps / 13.80 miles
1, Callum MacLeod, UK/Northampton, Jamun, Mygale, 10m54.756s
2, Nick Tandy, UK/Bedford, JTR, Ray, +0.905s
3, Jay Bridger, UK/Tonbridge, Jamun, Mygale, +1.923s
4, James Nash, UK/Newport Pagnell, Mills, Van Diemen, +2.405s
5, Adrian Campfield, UK/Godalming, Celre, Mygale, +3.618s
6, Sarah Playfair, UK/East Lothian, Jamun, Mygale, +3.684s
Scholarship class: Matt Dobson UK/Colchester/Van Diemen 22nd
overall +19.465s
Fastest lap: MacLeod 1m31.375s / 90.65mph |
