SILVERSTONE, England – Luke Williams departed Silverstone at the end of the weekend of August 19/20 with the BRSCC Formula Ford 1600 Championship Triple Crown (which also comprised previous events at Brands Hatch and Donington Park) secured and, with one meeting remaining, a firm grasp on the Britcover National title which offers a place in the Mazda Road to Indy USF2000 $200k Scholarship Shootout.
A brace of wins and a second place extended his lead at the top while nearest rival Neil Maclennan recorded a best result of fourth.
With the last race at Castle Combe, where Maclennan was due to start his Ray GR09 on pole, abandoned due to timetable constraints, Williams entered the weekend in Northamptonshire as the emerging favorite to win the championship.
Qualifying could have gone the way of five different drivers who were separated by just 0.074s until Williams, running in clear air despite the advantages of slipstreaming to overcome the strong headwinds, found a remarkable 0.264s margin to the rest courtesy of a lap in 1:02.302.
From pole, Williams and Luke Cooper (pictured above) broke free from the five-strong battle for third in Race One. With three laps to go Cooper made his move under braking and snuck past, but it was shortlived as a lap later Williams copied his rival’s move to take victory in a strong lights-to-flag defensive display.
A scary collision that sent Michael Eastwell’s Spectrum clattering over the engine cover of James Roe Jr.’s Van Diemen reshuffled the podium hunt, with Roger Orgee’s Ray eventually completing the top three on his very first outing at the circuit. Maclennan gave chase but ended up just 0.019s shy at the checkered flag.
Heading out of the final corner and onto the last lap of Race Two Cooper and his Swift got the better of Williams thanks to a slipstream into Brooklands. The drag race from Luffield to the checkered flag was decided by a mere 0.1s in Cooper’s favor. Meanwhile Van Diemen man Jordan Dempsey finished top of a “very robust battle for third” having held-off a five-car snake.
In the reversed grid Race Three Cooper retired after being launched over the back of Josh Smith’s momentarily slow Firman on the Wellington Straight. The incident ensured Williams would win the Triple Crown and a deserved points haul as he overcame a lowly starting position – seventh determined by the reversed grid draw – to progress to second come one-quarter race distance.
Up ahead lay Cliff Dempsey Racing’s Jamie Thorburn until contact on the pits straight as Thorburn defended the lead sent the Scot down the order and left Williams free to control the rest of the race.
Eastwell redeemed his eventful weekend with a fine second place – his first overall podium in the series.
Five different drivers battling for the final podium position swapped the two points for the fastest lap during the final five laps. Although fourth-classified Dempsey added it to his tally, it was Orgee who capped off a triumphant string of races with another third place.
From Silverstone, the championship travels to Anglesey in Wales for its finale on September 23-24, with Williams carrying a 57-point lead over Maclennan and 104 up for grabs.
Words courtesy of Matt Kew, photo by Bourne Photographic