Hamilton racing driver Martin Short has extended his lead in the ZOAGN New Zealand Formula Ford Championship after Round 3 at Teretonga Park near Invercargill this weekend. Short was involved in three furious battles with Christchurch’s Matt Williams who finished 2nd for the round ahead of Rangiora driver Matthew Penrose. The winner collected two wins and a runner up spot while Williams won a race and finished 2nd twice. Penrose’s result came from 3rd, 4th and 7th placings.

From the outset of qualifying it was clear Short was going to attempt a repeat of his Ruapuna domination by battling Williams for the fastest lap time. The two swapped lap times throughout the 20 minute session until Short prevailed to capture pole position ahead of the determined Williams by a mere 0.112 secs. Penrose was 0.563 secs further back just 0.128 secs ahead of Cassidy. They were closely followed by Heimgartner, a concerned Leitch, Richard Vickers, Tim Vickers, Sullivan and Manson a bit further back.

Race 1 over 10 laps proved to be a superb exercise in slipstreaming as Short and Williams traded places with some spectacular outside overtaking going into the Turn 1 sweeper. As the cars crossed the line together, it was Short who won by a nose from Williams with a gap back to Cassidy, Heimgartner, Tim Vickers, Richard Vickers, Penrose and Manson. Unfortunately for the local boy Leitch the race was a disaster on the first corner of the opening lap when contact with Cassidy saw him launch off the circuit and heavily into a tyre wall necessitating a red flag race stoppage. On the restart, Richard Vickers also suffered a spin but recovered to finish after being narrowly missed by following cars.

Matt Williams got the better of Martin Short on the opening lap of Race 2 (10 laps) and fended off several attacking maneuvers to keep Short at bay although the finishing margin was a mere 0.019 secs. Behind the leading duo a furious fight developed between Penrose, Heimgartner, Cassidy and Leitch. As the quartet headed into the elbow on the penultimate lap, Heimgartner spun under braking for the Elbow to avoid touching Cassidy but collected the unfortunate Leitch in the process. Cassidy fought off a strong finishing challenge from Penrose to hold onto 3rd with Heimgartner, Richard Vickers, Scott Manson and Tin Vickers following in that order.

The final race of the round was held over 15 laps and was a joy to behold as two tremendous tussles were fought out. The previous two race winners swapped the lead several times in some high speed dicing which was finally decided in Short’s favour after passing Williams on the final lap.

Behind the front two, Penrose drove a lonesome race for 3rd while a good battle raged between Heimgartner, Sullivan, Leitch and Cassidy. Heimgartner drove a good race for 4th ahead of the improving Sullivan, Tim Vickers, Richard Vickers and Manson. Cassidy was forced to change engines ahead of the final race and the gremlins seemed to return dropping him to 10th while Leitch’s wretched weekend came to a premature end with a drive through penalty dropping him to 9th.

The next round of the Championship will take place this coming weekend at the Timaru International Motor Raceway.    

Championship Points after Round 3:

1.   Martin Short (Hamilton) = 596
3.   Matthew Penrose (Rangiora) = 473
3.   Matt Williams (Christchurch) = 472
4.   Nick Cassidy (Hamilton) = 468
5.   Andre Heimgartner (Auckland) = 438
6.   Damon Leitch (Invercargill) = 417
7.   Tim Vickers (Auckland) = 328
8.   Richard Vickers (Auckland) = 327
9.   Scott Manson (Christchurch) = 318
10. Brett Sullivan (Nelson) = 236
11. Henry Thomas-Kircher (Christchurch)= 219
12. Jamie McNee (Wellington) = 130

Media: Kevin Lancaster  Photo: SportProMedia