27 April, 2008: Hat-trick hunter Wayne Boyd added another three British Formula Ford Championship race victories to his collection at Croft this weekend, dominating the proceedings and, thanks to some bad luck afflicting his Jamun Racing team-mate and chief title rival Tim Blanchard, the Ulsterman left Yorkshire with a usefully increased overall points lead.

Boyd, 17 and from Templepatrick, started each of the three races from pole position in his Mygale, led them all for most of their distance, and set fastest lap in each. With the Ford-backed series now just past one-third distance, Wayne enjoys a 58-point championship advantage. “It's been a good weekend's work,” was Boyd's post-meeting understatement.

His domination began on Saturday when he led all but the opening half lap of the first of the weekend's three Croft races. Boyd had claimed his customary pole position by a three-tenth margin in qualifying, with Linton Stuteley's Getem Mygale claiming second spot on the grid. The French chassis dominated qualifying, with seven of the top 10 grid slots filled by Mygales.

Boyd's only error came at the start of the race when he allowed Stuteley to get away ahead of him. Linton held on to the lead until the Barcroft/Sunny series of right handers, where Wayne reasserted himself in front and his Jamun team-mate Tim Blanchard followed him through for second.

By the first lap's end Boyd was eight-tenths in front and, try as he might, that was as close as Blanchard would get to his rival. By the end Wayne had stroked his advantage out to more than four seconds, and he collected a new lap record along the way. “I pushed as hard as I could at the start,” said Boyd, “and kept on banging in the quick laps until I had built an advantage.”

Blanchard was well aware that he'd been shown the way around on his maiden visit to Croft: “We all need to raise our game if we are to catch Wayne,” he said.

After a disappointing weekend at Knockhill a fortnight ago, Matt Hamilton enjoyed a much more competitive time in his JTR Mygale. He overhauled Stuteley for third place on the sixth lap and pulled well clear of him to claim his first podium finish of the season.

Stuteley came under severe pressure towards the end from his Dutch team-mate Chris Maliepaard, who drove well to make up for a 12th place grid slot, but Linton managed to stay ahead of him to collect fourth. Brazilian Victor Correa recovered from an eighth-lap spin to fight back ahead of his Jamun colleague James Cole and take sixth.

Westley Barber was another spinner: he rotated his Comtec back to 12th place on the opening lap but clawed his way up to eighth (and top non-Mygale runner) by the end, just ahead of Glen Wood's Spectrum.

Garry Findlay drove his Mygale excellently to claim 10th place overall and an untroubled Scholarship class victory, some 20 seconds ahead of his closest class rival, Chrissy Palmer (Ray). Felix Scott (Spirit) and Adam Batch (Ray) were the other Scholarship finishers; the cars of Peter Daglish and Daniel Walker tangled towards the end and those of Callum Holland and Alex Jones suffered mechanical problems even before the start light flashed green.

Another driver in the wars was Adrian Campfield, who had hauled his Spectrum up to a respectable fifth in the opening laps before a tap from behind at the hairpin from David Brown's Van Diemen spun him down the order; he fought back to 12th behind Marco Sorensen's Van Diemen.

Heavy overnight rain made the Croft track surface treacherously slippery, and the first-lap charge down to Clervaux corner a hazardous low-visibility adventure for the whole grid. But while the conditions caught out some, there were no errors of note in Sunday morning's race from Jamun team-mates Boyd and Blanchard, who romped to their second one-two of the weekend.

Once again it was Stuteley who made the better getaway to lead for the first two-thirds of the opening lap, and once again Linton was pushed back down the order as Boyd and Blanchard moved ahead to take up the running.

There was drama at the start as the Fluid Van Diemens of David Brown and Marco Sorensen went grass-cutting; both managed to regain the circuit, albeit having lost many places.

Stuteley and Hamilton provided an entertaining duel for third in the early laps, the Mygale men swapping position time and again until Matt managed to make it stick at the hairpin on lap five. Alas for Linton, he was pushed wide during the manoeuvre and slipped to sixth as Barber and Campfield followed Hamilton through.

The real star of the show, other than Boyd, of course, was Scholarship runner Chrissy Palmer, who revelled in the wet conditions in his two-year-old Sterling Motorsport-run Ray. The 17-year-old was in spectacular form, particularly so given his heavy accident in the Oulton Park opening round in March, and he picked off car after car as he battled through from 17th on the grid. He made the top 10 on the opening lap and charged up to fourth by the end to record what was the highest-ever finish for a Scholarship class driver in the Duratec era.

Ahead of Palmer at the chequered flag were only Boyd, who set fastest lap of the race on his final tour to secure pole for the third Croft event, Blanchard and Hamilton, who was less than a second ahead of Chrissy and nervously eyeing his mirrors. Palmer was almost apologetic after the race: “I tried my hardest,” he said, “but starting where I did on the grid fourth was about the best I could have achieved.”

There were no excursions for Barber on this occasion and he rewarded the Comtec team with fifth, ahead of Campfield's Spectrum and the massing Mygales of Stuteley, Correa, Rogier de Wit and Maliepaard. Findlay was 11th and was Palmer's closest Scholarship class rival.

There was no tardy getaway in race three from Wayne Boyd: he rocketed off pole this time and into an early lead over Blanchard, with Tim's fellow Aussie Glen Wood third in his Spectrum thanks to a front-row grid slot.
Blanchard was fired up to give Boyd the hardest possible time and Wayne was unable to pull away significantly. Alas it all went wrong for Tim on the eighth lap after a two-lap safety car interruption while a stricken car was removed to a place of safety. After the restart and as he battled to reel Boyd back, Blanchard misjudged the chicane and clipped a tyre wall; his race was run.

Correa, who had been pursuing his team-mates, was slowed by the incident and this allowed Maliepaard to steal through into second. Chris was just 2.1s behind Boyd at the line to record his best result of the season. Correa recovered to claim third and the final podium slot, with Wood fourth to record his best finish also. Barber finished fifth again, ahead of Stuteley, who lost time with an off, and Layac, who survived a brush with Brown which left a front wheel hanging from David's car.

De Wit placed eighth, just ahead of Palmer, who put in another strong drive to take ninth and the Scholarship class win. Findlay was much closer behind this time and took 10th.

Campfield was the unluckiest man in the race: he had been shadowing Wood, in sixth spot, before an over-optimistic passing manoeuvre by Hamilton at the Complex caused both drivers to spin. Hamilton recovered to 11th and Campfield claimed 15th.

The Formula Fordsters have no time to rest on their laurels: they are back in action again next weekend at Brands Hatch, in support of A1 Grand Prix.

*Following the third Croft race the cars of Wayne Boyd and Westley Barber were found to contravene technical regulations; both were excluded from the results of round nine of the championship.

Links  |    Teams area   |    Archive  |    Site map  |