Cam Jackson has won the first Classic Formula Ford race of the weekend, holding off a charging Jordan Harrison after a four-car pack thinned to two.
Jackson, driving his familiar Class B Winkelmann, was pressured but never really in danger during the nine-lap race, although Harrison’s Lola T540E was gaining on him by the end.
Harrison, who had started second, did get close and was also embroiled in his own battle with returning driver Henry Chart, a racewinner in 2021. Chart, with his ex-Tim Harvey Van Diemen RF81 now painted battleship grey, did get the better of Harrison in the middle of the race when they had a lively tussle for second, but dropping behind Harrison and Tom McArthur’s Merlyn Mk20 cost him towards the end. He did well to overhaul McArthur on the final lap, grabbing the last podium spot by 0.013s.
After problems with a loose exhaust in qualifying, McArthur had a lot to do in the opening laps, but he worked his way from eleventh to fourth quickly. He set the fastest lap of the race and briefly took third from Chart, but he was unable to catch the leaders. For most of the race, he was followed by Ben Tinkler’s Van Diemen RF80, but spinning on a patch of oil dropped Tinkler down the order. He regained a few places to finish ninth.
Richard Tarling, in his improvised hybrid Crossle, was fifth, having had a good scrap with Rick Morris’s Royale early on. Morris was still snapping at his heels when the chequered flag came out. Joe Ahrens’s Van Diemen RF80 had been with them at the start, but he had to retire as his car’s engine cover had come loose.
A bit further back, the elder Jackson brother, Dominik, was seventh in a Crossle 20F, having won a minor skirmish with Peter Barrable’s Royale RP26. Barrable was eighth, ahead of Tinkler, who had Simon Toyne’s Lola behind him and the Royale RP26 of James Rigby only a few tenths further back.
Full results at TSL Timing
Vintage Formula Ford 