Jamun
Racing Services team-mates Wayne Boyd and Tim Blanchard
have given Jamun the reigning British Formula Ford Champion
team an excellent start to the British Formula Ford Championship
season at Oulton Park in Rounds 1, 2 and 3.
Ulsterman Wayne Boyd won the first two rounds with Australian
team-mate Tim Blanchard taking his maiden British victory
in round 3 and following two second places he has established
a six point lead in the championship over Wayne.
Only
round 2 was completed with the other two shortened by
accidents and despite some unpleasant Easter weather there
was some thrilling action in the best Formula Ford tradition
for the Cheshire spectators.
Round
1 of the Oulton Park season opener provided an exciting
duel for victory between team-mates Wayne Boyd and Tim
Blanchard despite lasting just six laps following a three-car
crash.
Wayne, the 17-year-old reigning Ulster Formula Ford Champion,
and Tim the 20–year- old 2007 Australian Formula Ford
Champion made no errors despite the difficult damp conditions
which brought the red flags out.
Wayne's Jamun Mygale led away from the pole with Tim passing
him on the second lap but he regained the lead to take
the win at the red flag. Dane Marco Sorensen in the Fluid
Motorsport Van Diemen was third, with the top three covered
by just 1.6s at the end.
"Tim gave me a bit of a hard time, passing me on
the second lap but I managed to repass him and once I'd
made a bit of a break I knew I'd be OK" Wayne said
after the race.
Jamun team-mate James Cole was involved in the accident
which forced the red flags along with Rogier de Wit’s
Mygale and Chrissy Palmer's Ray which rolled suffering
major damage, with the shaken 17-year-old Sussex hospitalised
for checks.
Brazilian Victor Correa was a spinner and also didn’t
finish the race.
In
Round 2, Wayne showed his pace after starting from his
second pole of the day and by the end of the opening lap
had opened up a 1.5s advantage over Tim Blanchard, and
like his Jamun predecessor and reigning champion Callum
MacLeod, he hammered in fastest lap after fastest lap.
By the end of the seventh of the 11 laps Wayne was a full
5s clear of Tim with Brazilian Jamun team-mate Victor
Correa keeping well in touch with them but following an
error on the sixth-lap at Knickerbrook Sorensen took third
place after Barber’s race ended on lap four. Victor completed
the final laps without any errors to bring his Mygale
home in fourth place.
After the race Wayne said "It went really well, I
got my head down early and made the break, and then I
was able to slow the pace towards the end."
Tim added "Wayne drove very well, and I need to find
a little more pace in my car if I'm to stay with him."
In
round 3 Boyd made another outstanding start and gained
an early lead over Blanchard, but was disappointed when
all his hard work was cancelled out by the deployment
of the safety car following a multi-car crash due to the
slippery conditions. At the restart Wayne out-braked himself
going into Cascades giving the lead to Tim, who despite
being pressed towards the end by Sorensen took his first
British Formula Ford win by three-tenths of a second.
Victor Correa, despite a spin under the safety car finished
seventh ahead of Jamun team-mates James Cole in eighth
and Wayne in ninth.
Following the race Tim Blanchard said "He sort of
chucked it up the road a bit, but in fairness to him the
track conditions were awful and changing every lap. I've
never raced on snow before!"
