A brace of wins for Scott Pye at Knockhill (Sunday) more than made up for the Australian's disappointment at failing to finish Saturday's fourth round. It also meant a clean sweep of Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain race victories in Scotland for the Jamun Racing team.
Despite some problems, Cliff Dempsey Racing driver Scott Malvern maintained his 100 per cent scoring rate and claimed a podium finish also today to maintain his championship lead.
Round 5After the disappointment of failing to complete a single lap in round four, Aussie battler Pye needed a good result in this morning's fifth round of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain to keep alive his title hopes. And that's exactly what Scott got - a victory by a huge margin with his chief rivals Josh Hill and Scott Malvern suffering all sorts of problems.
But Jamun driver Pye's route to his third win of the season was very far from straightforward: he was the third leader of the race and was embroiled for much of it in a major dice with Malvern and Hill. There was a big shunt, too, involving Antti Buri's Enigma Mygale and Dan Cammish in the KMR Spectrum, and plenty more excitement besides.
Pole-sitter and championship leader Malvern led the way initially in his Cliff Dempsey Racing Ray, chased by Pye, Hill, Buri, Cammish and Tio Ellinas in the JTR Mygale. Hill was out to prove his Saturday race victory was no fluke, and popped past his team-mate Pye for second at the chicane on lap five. Two laps later, Josh seized the lead from Malvern at Leslie's, with Pye following him through a couple of corners later to bump Malvern back to third.
Hill's tenure in the lead lasted six laps, Pye lining things up perfectly into the hairpin to enable him to get best traction out of the slow final corner. Scott outdragged Josh up the hill across the start/finish line and quickly pulled a useful lead to settle the victory battle.
Hill's second was soon under pressure from Buri, until the Finn and Cammish's car came into contact at Carlube on the 15th lap and both flew off the track and into the tyre wall. Malvern, who had slipped to fifth, found himself back in third before a mystery drop-off in power saw him fall back down the order once again. Three laps from the end Josh ran wide at Scotsman and picked up a puncture which led a lap later to him joining Cammish and Buri in the weeds at Carlube.
Ellinas thus inherited second spot, the Cypriot delighted with his best finish of the season, with Dan de Zille equally happy with third and his maiden podium for the Minister International team.
"It was one of the hardest races I've ever done," said victor Pye. "It was so close from the start until I managed to get the lead and pull a bit of a gap. From then on I was able to get my head down and conserve the car. Race one here was a bit of a disappointment but so far this year every race I've finished I have won."
Jesse Anttila collected fourth for Fluid ahead of the super-consistent Jake Cook's Getem Mygale, with James Tucker sixth from Philippe Layac and Emil Bernstorff; Emil was on for fifth but collected a late-race drive-through penalty for not observing the track limits. Tristan Mingay was 11th overall, just ahead of Malvern, and was the sole Scholarship class finisher; his class rivals all fell by the wayside within three laps of the start.
Round 6From pole position to chequered flag, Scott Pye owned the sixth round of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain. Though the Jamun Racing man's victory margin was slender - just two-tenths over his team-mate Josh Hill - it was more than enough to make up for his Saturday disappointments.
It was another Formula Ford classic, with Pye, Hill and Scott Malvern's Ray separated by hundredths of a second lap after lap. Malvern was Pye's closest pursuer initially, until Hill liberated second place from him on the fifth lap. Pye survived a three-lap safety car period to make the perfect restart and hold off a determined Hill to the chequered flag. Malvern broke his own two-day-old lap record during his pursuit but had to settle for third.
"I think Jamun has really improved this weekend," said Pye. "We've won all three races and then to top it off with a 1-2 at the end was great."
Newcomer Dennis Lind was an excellent fourth in his Fluid Van Diemen, the Dane getting the better of Finn Antti Buri, with Dan Cammish a disappointed sixth. The Spectrum racer had been caught out by both Buri and Lind while challenging Malvern for third after the restart.
Luke Williams put his round five disappointments behind him to take an untroubled Scholarship class win in his Juno and reassert himself on top of the points table.
Jamun's 1-2 delight was tempered slightly by the first-lap retirements of their other cars, driven by Emil Bernstorff and Jeroen Slaghekke - they came together at the hairpin. There were offs also for Garry Findlay and Jake Cook.
Provisional resultsDunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great BritainRound 5 (of 25) Knockhill 9/5/201021 laps / 26.70 milesPos Driver Nat/Home Team/Chassis Time1 Scott Pye AUS/Mount Gambier Jamun/Mygale 18m 18.398s / 87.50mph2 Tio Ellinas CYP/Larnaca JTR/Mygale +9.127s3 Dan de Zille JEY/St John Minister/Mygale +11.942s4 Jesse Anttila FIN/Kempele Fluid/Van Diemen +13.261s5 Jake Cook GBR/Rotherham Getem/Mygale +20.217s6 James Tucker GBR/Burntwood Fluid/Van Diemen 24.669sScholarship class: Tristan Mingay GBR/Hailsham Raysport/Ray +40.879sFastest lap: Pye 51.171s / 89.44mph
Round 6 Knockhill 9/5/201019 laps / 24.15 milesPos Driver Nat/Home Team/Chassis Time1 Scott Pye AUS/Mount Gambier Jamun/Mygale 18m 11.465s / 79.67mph2 Josh Hill GBR/Farnham Jamun/Mygale +0.216s3 Scott Malvern GBR/Ilford Dempsey/Ray +0.617s4 Dennis Lind DEN/Roskilde Fluid/Van Diemen +5.952s5 Antti Buri FIN/Masku Enigma/Mygale +6.053s6 Dan Cammish GBR/Leeds KMR/Spectrum +6.848sScholarship class: Luke Williams GBR/Thirsk Williams/Juno +16.263sFastest lap: Malvern 50.643s / 90.37mph Record
Provisional championship placings1 Malvern 146 points; 2 Pye 123; 3 Buri 103; 4 Cammish 100; 5 Hill 93; 6 Cook 90 etcScholarship class 1 Williams 124; 2 Mingay 82; 3 David Ellesley 81 etc.
Rounds 7 & 8: Zandvoort NL, 5-6/6/2010
