4 July, 2008: Wayne Boyd has the opportunity to underline his name in the British Formula Ford Championship record books next weekend (12/13 July) when he tackles the latest rounds of the Ford-backed series at Brands Hatch.

For the Kent circuit provides the 17-year-old Ulsterman with the opportunity to equal and surpass the record number of race wins scored by reigning champion Callum MacLeod. Boyd has 13 wins to his name already this season; MacLeod scored 14 on his way to the title in 2007.

Boyd's main focus at Brands Hatch, however, will be on maintaining his championship lead over his Jamun Racing team-mate, Tim Blanchard, which currently stands at 58 points with seven races remaining.

Reigning Australian Formula Ford Champion Blanchard is one of only two other drivers, both of them Mygale men, to have won races this season. The other is Dutch Getem Racing driver Chris Maliepaard. Maliepaard was mighty at Snetterton last month, beating Boyd fairly and squarely into second spot on a day when Wayne's star was shining a little less brightly than usual.

Both Blanchard and Maliepaard should be in with a shout at Brands, along with several others including the quick and forceful Brazilian Victor Correa and the ever-improving James Cole, who pilot the third and fourth Jamun Mygales.

If Brands is to provide the first non-Mygale win of the year it will likely come from either the Fluid Motorsport Van Diemens or the Kevin Mills Racing Spectrums. Van Diemen has introduced a raft of improvements to its new car in recent races and David Brown and Marco Sorensen have both been edging back towards the front of the field. Meanwhile the Spectrum chassis of Adrian Campfield was on the podium at Brands in May, a race which also provided his team-mate, Glen Wood, with his last scoring finish.

The Joe Tandy Racing team has shown revitalised form in recent races thanks to its regular Mygale drivers Matt Hamilton, Philippe Layac and Rogier de Wit, and all three will be on the grid at Brands and seeking the team's first win of the year. Backing up Maliepaard's challenge for the Getem team will be Linton Stuteley, with the Comtec of Jamie Jardine and Van Diemen of Matt Dobson completing the championship-class field.

The Scholarship Class for year-old cars and less experienced drivers is developing into a real needle match with just eight points separating leader Garry Findlay (Mygale) from Chrissy Palmer (Ray). Garry has won the class nine times but has been forced to miss several races through car trouble, while rain-master Palmer is a four-time victor and has proved a consistently reliable race finisher. The Scholarship will be a seven-cornered fight at Brands with Findlay and Palmer joined by the Mygale of Dan Walker, Felix Scott's Spirit, Ray man Peter Daglish, plus Alex Jones (Spectrum) and Callum Holland (Van Diemen).

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