Christchurch racing driver Matt Williams has won Round 5 of the ZOAGN New Zealand Formula Ford Championship at Manfeild Park in Fielding today after a weekend of close and tight racing. Williams took out two wins and a 4th placing to top the podium ahead of Auckland’s Nick Cassidy who notched up 1st, 2nd and 3rd placings with championship points leader Martin Short (Hamilton) 3rd overall with a 2nd and two 3rd places.

Desperation was evident for the Championship contenders in Saturday morning qualifying as shown by Short claiming the pole position by just 0.068 secs ahead of Williams with Cassidy 0.003 further back – that is just three thousandths of a second! Leitch qualified 4th only 0.286 behind Cassidy and was closely followed by Andre Heimgartner and veteran Formula Ford racer Kim Crocker who was making a one off reappearance. Brett Sullivan, Henry Thomas-Kircher, Richard and Tim Vickers followed with a devastated Matthew Penrose suffering from recurring oil feed system problems.

The opening 10 lap race of the weekend was a Formula Ford cracker as Short, Williams, Cassidy and Heimgartner diced throughout with three different race leaders swapping the lead five times. As Williams set the initial pace, he soon found himself swamped by Cassidy while Short was content to remain behind the dicing duo until he was overtaken by Heimgartner.

Williams eventually ran wide on the final turn allowing Cassidy to dominate the final lap while Heimgartner drove his best race to claim a superb 2nd place ahead of Short. Williams then followed ahead of Leitch, Crocker, Richard Vickers, Sullivan, Tim Vickers and Penrose who had his oil feed problems return necessitating an overnight engine change.

Race 2, also over 10 laps, was a more sedate affair although some place changes between Cassidy and Heimgartner livened up proceedings over the closing laps while Williams dominated from start to finish. The only incident came when Crocker was spun by Thomas-Kircher on Lap 2 which resulted in the latter receiving a drive through penalty. So the final order was Williams, Cassidy, Heimgartner, Leitch, Sullivan, Richard Vickers, Penrose, Crocker, Thomas-Kircher and Tim Vickers.

With the Morrie Smith Memorial Trophy on offer to the winner of the 10 lap Race 3, desperation was again the order of the day as Williams, Cassidy, Short and Heimgartner locked horns in another mad dash. As the leading four changed positions and each challenged for the lead, something had to give but to the amazement of the large crowd, all four completed the race without incident although Heimgartner dropped back a few seconds over the closing laps.

Williams then resisted all pressure to complete his second win of the day ahead of Cassidy, Short, Heimgartner, Leitch, Crocker, Sullivan, Penrose and Tim Vickers who earlier clashed with his brother and eliminated Tim from the race.

The exciting final round of the Championship is scheduled to take place on the weekend of 20-21 March at the Taupo Motorsport Park.    

Championship Points after Round 5:

1.   Martin Short (Hamilton) = 993
2.   Nick Cassidy (Auckland) = 865
3.   Matt Williams (Christchurch) = 855
4.   Andre Heimgartner (Auckland) = 752
5.   Damon Leitch (Invercargill) = 730
6.   Matthew Penrose (Rangiora) = 675  
7.   Tim Vickers (Auckland) = 565
8.   Richard Vickers Auckland) = 486
9.   Scott Manson (Christchurch) = 435
10.  Brett Sullivan (Nelson) = 411
11.  Henry Thomas-Kircher (Christchurch) = 330
12.  Jamie McNee (Wellington) = 130
13.  Kim Crocker (Tauranga) = 126

Media: New Zealand Fomula Ford Photo: SportProMedia