SILVERSTONE: AUGUST 19-20 WILLIAMS DOUBLES UP TITLE WITHIN WILLIAMS’S GRASP AFTER NORTHAMPTONSHIRE BRACE BRSCC NATIONAL FF1600/SILVERSTONE QUALIFYING RACHEL BOURNE RACHEL RACHEL BOURNE RACHEL Williams showed devastating pace in qualifying GIVEN THE SUMMER SILVERSTONE MEETING’S enough they finished the session equal on growing reputation as the prelude to Formula time. With the title fight nearing its conclusion, Ford 1600’s end-of-season spectaculars, Cooper joked that “if anyone else was on pole qualifying for the Britcover National then I’d be really happy”. Championship with Avon Tyres was always Double Castle Combe champion Orgee was expected to be ultra-close. But the session held top among the guest entrants in fourth, just two surprises: first that it was somehow ahead of Kevin Mills Racing team-mate another step even-closer-still than the paddock Eastwell. Though Eastwell was buoyed by his had expected, and then that the battle for pole best National qualifying performance yet, there turned out to not be close at all. was the bittersweet element of a five-place grid Mid-way through the session an astonishing penalty for his Combe race two crash with 18 cars were covered by little more than a James Scott-Murphy, who would drop from second up front - and given the three-race 14th to 19th for the same reason. format and the slipstreaming possibilities, that It hadn’t been a good few weeks for was 18 drivers who could legitimately say they Williams’s main title rival Neil Maclennan. An Williams and had podium hopes. appeal against his exclusion from the Knockhill Cooper fight for the lead in race two At first it was Josh Smith and Michael race he won on the road proved unsuccessful, Eastwell - in the strongest National and a lack of unanimity over the plan to move performance of his car-racing rookie season yet the postponed third Combe race to Silverstone festival of slipstreaming more racing room had been left, boding well for to overtake you this lap,’” said Williams. him into the thick of the supremely - tussling at the very front. Then James Roe Jr hit him hardest - not just one chance less to and a trio of wide-open the title decider and the end-of-season. It worked beautifully. Every time around, entertaining battle for third instead. got involved and the timing screens showed an keep the championship alive, but the loss of a races were anticipated Williams and Cooper’s high 1m02s laps had James Roe Jr and Roger Orgee spearheaded astonishing 0.074 seconds covering the top five. race Maclennan had reversed-grid pole for. when the Britcover Race one pulled them another half-second or so clear of this one at first, swapping places into pretty Luke Cooper and Jamie Thorburn were the Qualifying didn’t improve matters as he ended National FF1600 There was plenty of wisdom being dispensed the third-place group, until they had a cushion much every braking area on every lap. Then pacesetters going into the final minutes, 0.004s up only ninth behind Jordan Dempsey, Roe Championship with by team bosses and the experienced drivers of six seconds. Cooper was never more than into the second half of the race Orgee’s Kevin separating them. But the session had a final and Josh Smith. But Maclennan was bullish - Avon Tyres came to during the hours before race one. Yes, this had inches off Williams’s gearbox, but he Mills Racing team-mate Michael Eastwell and twist, one that fitted the theme of the season this was FF1600 on the National circuit, Silverstone for its the potential to be a wild slipstreamer, but the maintained discipline and held his fire. title contender Neil Maclennan became the - championship leader Luke Williams and his anything was still possible. penultimate round, and vital thing for the opener was not to let anyone Then with three laps left and clear air behind men to watch with their progress through the Firman having a slight edge over this Matt Round-Garrido completed the top 10 in there was unsurprisingly no shortage of action. make a break. Don’t go crazy in the opening them, it was time for things to get “tasty” in 11-car train towards the podium. ludicrously tight and deep field. the times, ahead of a very welcome returnee. From the ferociously tight racing, the man laps, was the advice, keep things disciplined, Williams’s words as Cooper launched his It went awry four laps from the finish, when He slipped in a 1m02.456s to go just over a With his Mini Challenge season curtailed, 2014 Awho’s had the edge in the points all season work together if you have to and save your attack with a dive under braking. He made it a devastated Eastwell made a mistake into tenth clear up front, by far the furthest ahead National FF1600 champion Stuart Gough was wrapped up the first major title of the year by firepower for the denouement. through, but Williams retaliated in the same Becketts and rode over Roe’s third-placed car. anyone had been. There was more to come: back in the familiar surroundings of Oldfield winning the Triple Crown and moved a massive Up front, Lukes Williams and Cooper put on fashion next time around. No matter, there was They were unhurt but their races were over. 1m02.302s put Williams on pole by 0.264s, a Motorsport and his old Van Diemen RF92. He step closer to becoming National champion a masterclass in that theory. Cooper had made still at least one chance left. Williams and After the incidents at Donington Park and margin that would’ve seemed crazy just was rapid too, 13 places and 1.3s ahead of the too. Luke Williams won one race from the front the better start but Williams sliced down the Cooper started their last lap just 0.073s apart. Castle Combe, the championship had drawn up minutes earlier. Achieved without a tow, and next-fastest early-1990s car. and another by coming through the field, having inside into Brooklands on the second lap. And But Williams managed to hold his line and new driving standards guidelines and discussed into a headwind, the extremely satisfied The Clubman Post89 pacesetters were just taken a commanding pole beforehand too. then the Future Inns Swift Cooper and the brake late enough to resist Cooper’s final efforts, them in a pre-race meeting. Roe and Eastwell Williams added. He was carrying a bit of an behind Gough, with Henry Chart taking a The best news, though, was that after Firman became one eight-wheeled FF1600 as and when traffic split them at an inopportune agreed that their clash was a pure racing injury too, his right hand bandaged after he narrow class pole by 0.068s over Felix Fisher. bruising meetings at Donington Park and Cooper tucked in behind Williams and they moment the points leader was free to clinch a incident, an opinion the officials backed, and bashed it on the gear lever when he made a Pre90 was a Souley Motorsport 1-2-3, headed Castle Combe, concerted efforts by the capitalised on the 11-car podium battle very well-earned victory by 0.360s. the majority view from those involved in the mistake in testing and ran into Roger Orgee by Jack Clayton - who had Paul Mason’s Post89 organisers to agree a new driving standards erupting in their wake to sneak away as their Jamie Thorburn felt he had the pace and the ultra-tight podium dice was that the meeting under braking for Brooklands. Swift as a buffer between his and David code of conduct paid off. The races were far equally rapid rivals delayed each other. tactics to have made it a 12-wheeled car up had made a positive difference. “Driving Cooper and Thorburn’s erstwhile pole fight Cobbold’s Van Diemen RF89s in 23rd and 25th from incident-free - this is FF1600 after all “Every time we pulled onto the back straight, front, but was left kicking himself for an early standards have definitely changed,” said ended up being for second, and appropriately overall after a puncture hampered Cobbold. - but many in the packs praised how much Luke pulled to the right to signal ‘I’m not going slide on cement dust at Copse that dropped Maclennan. “What was said this morning 2 3 BRSCC NATIONAL FF1600/SILVERSTONE shadowed by Jack Kemp and Henry Chart, It was another drag race down Wellington on who had dropped back in a first-lap incident, that final tour, the pair running side-by-side regained ground then spun while trying to into Brooklands and Luffield, but with Cooper pass Svensson. on the inside and a slower car on the outside, Things were even more fraught for Jack Williams simply ran out of options and the RESULTS Wolfenden. A misfire in practice and qualifying Swift crossed the line just 0.127s ahead. left him starting only 32nd, and then he spun “It was a case of biding my time,” Cooper into James Harvey on the third lap. While said. “As soon as we saw we had a little bit of a Harvey was out, Wolfenden got going again and gap from the rest, the same as yesterday, we got managed to hack through to 18th - a place he away to build up as big a gap as possible on the RACE 1 (15 LAPS) grabbed from Vincent Jay on the final lap. last few laps.” 1 Luke Williams (Firman RFR16) Stuart Gough’s FF1600 comeback race went That gap was over six seconds at the flag - an 2 Luke Cooper (Swift SC16) +0.360s downhill immediately when his car became impressive margin in any Formula Ford race, let 3 Roger Orgee (Ray GR17) stuck in fourth gear on the opening lap.