Harrison does the double

The second Formula Ford 2000 race of the weekend went to Samuel Harrison, as defending champion Graham Fennymore was left to play catch-up.

Harrison, driving Adrian Reynard’s own SF79, started from pole and never relinquished the lead once, despite having to negotiate several backmarkers late on. Fennymore, in his later SF81, kept him in sight and did look to be gaining on him mid-race, but Harrison was able to expand his lead and stay clear. Had Fennymore managed another scorching sub-1m28s lap as he did in Race 1, he may have had a chance, but it was Harrison who was quickest throughout.

After yesterday’s disappointment, Ben Glasswell was third, having repaired his SF77’s right-hand side overnight. The suspension damage from Race 1 was obviously sorted and he was safe on the last step of the podium, despite an early challenge from Andrew Storer’s Pukka Pies SF79. Late on, fourth-placed Storer faced some pressure from Ollie Roberts in his grey SF79, but Roberts had to be content with fifth, having passed Murray Shepherd’s Delta in the opening laps. Shepherd himself had been hoping to repeat his Race 1 podium, but he lost third gear, dropped back and then had to retire to the pits.

The first non-Reynard home was Jordan Harrison’s Lola T580 in sixth place. Harrison had been struggling with the car all weekend and lost several places at the start, although he did manage to claw some of them back. Seventh-placed Greg Robertson (SF79) was some way behind, although he had been embroiled in quite an involved tussle with the sister car of Stephen Glasswell and Anthony Denham’s Delta T78/79 for a good chunk of the race, with Benn Tilley in another Delta joining in. It was a bad day for Delta competitors; all three had to retire, with Tilley and Denham both disappearing at the same time at about half distance. Glasswell was eighth, followed by two more SF79s driven by Colin Wright and John Wilkinson.

The leaderboard was dominated by Reynard cars, but there was a Class D Pilbeam MP52 driven by Alan Lancaster and Neil Bowman Van Diemen RF82 at the back. They enjoyed some close racing at the beginning with Jonathan Lucas in an SF79.

Richard Coleman’s SF79 was a non-starter after an oil-related issue yesterday.

Full results at TSL Timing