|
1998 Ford Motorsport/Slick 50 Australian Formula Ford Championship Round 7, Calder Park (Victoria) Sunday, 21 June 1998
FORMULA FORD TITLE Queensland young gun Christian Jones and New South Wales rising star Tim Leahey have split the 1998 Australian Formula Ford Championship open after each claimed their maiden victory at today's penultimate round, at Calder Park (Melbourne). Christian Jones, son of 1980 Formula One World Champion Alan Jones, survived a dramatic four way battle for the lead in the second race, beating Victoria's Greg Ritter home by less than a quarter of a second. Jones now trails series leader Adam Macrow, also in a Spectrum, by only 30 points. Earlier, Tim Leahey hunted down Victorian rookie Alex Davison and Jones in the shortened first race to record an equally impressive victory by just over three tenths of a second. An ecstatic Jones was rapt with his first win in the national Formula Ford series. "I've had to wait a fair while for this, but I always knew it was only a matter of time before I had my first win. "Ever since we put a Larner-built engine into my OAMPS Spectrum I knew I had what it takes to make it, and today it all came together for me ... I'm really happy, not just for myself, but for my team and everyone who has helped me," Jones says. Although just as pleased to record his first victory, Tim Leahey has bitter-sweet feelings about today's races after being knocked out of the lead in race two by Steve Owen. "Race one was a real high because I proved something to myself, but to be knocked back to third while leading on the last lap ... it was pretty disappointing but I suppose that's motorsport," a philosophical Leahey says. Adam Macrow's attempts to close out the championship were dealt a blow in race one when his engine began to lose horsepower. Macrow finished 10th in the first race and recovered to seventh in race two after changing his engine between the two races. Steve Owen (Vic) has closed to 22 points behind Christian Murchison (WA) in the battle for rookie honours after finishing eighth in race one and sixth in race two. Despite a disappointing day scorewise, Murchison did, however, set a new lap record for Formula Fords at Calder of 1 minute 01.5684 seconds. Ford Motorsport/Slick 50 Australian Formula Ford Championship: Round 7, Calder Park (Melbourne). Race 1: 1. T. Leahey (NSW) Van Diemen RF98, 10 min 33.0976 secs; 2. A. Davison (Vic) Van Diemen RF95; 3. C. Jones (Qld) Spectrum 06B; 4. G. Ritter (Vic) Van Diemen RF98; 5. T. Mecklem (NSW) Van Diemen RF92; 6. S. Owen (Vic) Spectrum 06; 7. J. Cotter (NSW) Van Diemen RF95; 8. I. Harrington (Vic) Mygale SJ98; 9. A. Seward (Vic) Spectrum 06B; 10. A. Macrow (Vic) Spectrum 06. Race 2: 1. C. Jones (Qld) Spectrum 06B, 13 min 43.9230 secs; 2. G. Ritter (Vic) Van Diemen RF98; 3. T. Leahey (NSW) Van Diemen RF98; 4. A. Davison (Vic) Van Diemen RF95; 5. O. Kelly (Tas) Spectrum 06B; 6. T. Hanger (Qld) Swift SC93; 7. A. Macrow (Vic) Spectrum 06; 8. S. Owen (Vic) Spectrum 06; 9. J. Cotter (NSW) Van Diemen RF95; 10. B. Savage (Vic) Spectrum 06. Points: 1. A. Macrow 193; 2. C. Jones 163;
3. T. Leahey 154; 4. G. Ritter 96; 5. D. McDougall
93; 6. C. Murchison 84; 7. C. Zerner 62; 8. A. Davison
59; 9. S. Owen 58; 10. A. Seward 46.
For Further Information:
|
