IPSWICH, Qld., Australia - Toowoomba teenager Cameron Shields has scored his maiden Formula Ford race and round victories, taking overall honours in Round 4 of the series at Queensland Raceway this weekend after three thrilling races.
After qualifying second behind points leader Max Vidau, Shields won Race 1 after a close contest with Vidau and Hunter McElrea.
McElrea turned the tables to win Race 2 in an absolute scorcher that was decided on the final lap, before Shields asserted his authority to win Race 3.
“It’s an absolutely incredible feeling to come away from my home track with two race wins and the round win,” Shields said. “It was really close racing with Max and Hunter all weekend, we were passing into every corner in Race 2! We made some major changes before this weekend and we have a lot of car speed now, so I’m looking forward to the last two rounds.”
McElrea finished second overall ahead of Vidau, who has extended his series lead to 52 points with two rounds remaining.
“Leading into the round, we knew the racing was going to be close,” McElrea said. “It was hotly-contested all weekend but we came away with a good result.”
“It was a good weekend – the racing was awesome and good to learn another new track,” Vidau said. “It was always going to be tough battling Cameron and Hunter on a track where they’ve done a lot of laps, but the important thing was we extended our championship lead.”
Harrison Jones enjoyed his most competitive outing of the season, with a pair of fourth-place finishes, while Cooper Murray produced another consistent weekend with fifth in all three races.
Title contender Jayden Ojeda finished fourth in Race 1 and sixth in Race 2, but chalked up a DNF with mechanical problems in Race 3.
In the Formula Ford 1600 (Kent) Class, Tim Hamilton won the round with second in the first two races and first in the final. Mitch Maddren won the first two races but retired from Race 3 with an engine failure, handing the win to Hamilton; Karla Curtis finished third overall.
“I was sorry to see Mitch have the trouble in Race 3, because he was really fast this weekend, but it was tight racing in all three races,” Hamilton said. “Mitch and I are going to have a ding-dong battle for the title at Sydney Motorsport Park, which will be very exciting."
Australian Formula Ford Series
Top 10 Points (after Round 4 of 6):
1. Max Vidau – 177
2. Jayden Ojeda – 125
3. Hunter McElrea – 119
4. Cameron Shields – 111
5. Cooper Murray – 108
6. Liam McLellan – 83
7. Nathan Herne – 72.5
8. Harrison Jones – 61
9. Jordan Boys – 55.5
10. Zac Soutar – 55.5