Harrison Scott beats Jayde Kruger to victory in Round 10 and they swap positions in shortened Round 11Falcon men Ricky Collard and Chris Mealin claim the Scholarship class victories in respective races

Heavy rain upset proceedings at Oulton Park yesterday, but through it all came chief championship title protagonists Harrison Scott and Jayde Kruger. Falcon Motorsport man Scott held JTR’s Kruger off to win race one, but Kruger came through to take the win in race two, which was shortened by a heavy shower and a spate of accidents.

In the Scholarship class it was Ricky Collard on top in Round 10 and his Falcon team-mate Chris Mealin, who also made the overall podium, the victor in Round 11.

Round 10 reportHarrison Scott claimed his second race victory of the season, the Essex 18-year-old seizing control of the race at the start and holding off a determined challenge from championship leader Jayde Kruger all the way to the chequered flag despite treacherously damp conditions.

Falcon Motorsport Mygale driver Scott had won a session-long qualifying battle with JTR’s Kruger to claim the pole: on a damp-but-drying track their times tumbled with every passing lap, and Harrison’s final tour was his quickest. Jayde encountered traffic on his last lap and had to settle for P2 on the grid.

But it was Kruger who made the better start in the altogether wetter conditions of the race. Scott’s wheels spun uselessly for a moment before they found grip, by which time Jayde was alongside the pole man and looking to seize the lead. Harrison was having none of this, however, and squeezed the South African to the outside of the track until he had to give way. Kruger said: “He was a bit naughty, wasn’t he? I was right up alongside him and he came across and ran me on to the grass…”

Scott responded: “I had a bit too much wheelspin on the line. I didn’t know exactly where he was, but I gave him room because I knew he was around somewhere. There was nothing malicious in it and I don’t know why if he’s unhappy.” Race officials reviewed video footage and deemed Scott’s manoeuvre firm but fair.

The startline fireworks set the scene for an enthralling battle to the chequered flag between the two. At its greatest, on the opening lap, Scott’s lead was all of 1.1 seconds, and Kruger quickly pegged it back to half a second as he set a succession of fastest laps. A penultimate-lap error cost Jayde his chance of snatching a last-gasp win, however: “Towards the end of the race I was trying a bit hard and I outbraked myself… It was very wet. We’ll take the result, the points are good and I’m happy.”

Scott, who endured a difficult day in the dry in testing on Friday, was delighted with his second win of 2014 and to have narrowed Kruger’s championship advantage to a single point: “I’m very happy with my race. Jayde was always right behind me and I had to defend hard, so to get to the finish without any mistakes is good news.”

Scott and Kruger were nearly 18 seconds ahead of their pursuers at the line. Third place went the way of Radical’s Juan Rosso, although the Argentinian did not cross the line in that position… He and Thruxton double winner Sam Brabham had duelled throughout the race, and Sam locked up at Knickerbrook on the final lap as he passed Juan for third, missing part of the corner. Brabham, who held his hands up to the error, was penalised one second, which handed the final podium place back to Rosso.

Championship returnee Andy Richardson lost ground on the opening lap but came back to pass James Abbott for fifth on lap four, and held on in that position to the end. Abbott’s hopes of securing sixth, and with it the pole for race two, came to an end at Lodge on the penultimate lap when he was tapped into a spin by the pursuing Max Marshall (JTR).

Falcon’s Ricky Collard held the Scholarship class lead throughout the race, despite pressure from Jamun’s Ashley Sutton, to win the £500. “I made a great start,” said Ricky, “which was vital given the conditions, and I drove carefully trying to stay out of everyone’s way. I’m really pleased because things did not go well in testing yesterday. Ashley nearly had me towards the end because I put a wheel in the gravel at Lodge, but I got away with it.”

Collard placed seventh overall ahead of Sutton, with Chris Mealin returning after his Thruxton crash to take ninth and the final Scholarship podium place, just ahead of Meridian’s Connor Mills. Abbott recovered from his spin to take 11th, with SWB Sinter driver Greg Holloway the final finisher. Rookie Connor Jupp (Meridian) spun out on lap three.

Round 11 reportJayde Kruger and Harrison Scott reversed their positions from the day’s earlier Oulton Park race, Kruger taking the victory in a rain- and accident-shortened 11th round of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain ahead of his chief title rival Scott.

The race started on a dry track in bright sunshine but the red flags flew on the sixth lap when the rain returned and caught out three of the slick-shod runners: Max Marshall, who had led the opening five laps after starting from pole position, his JTR team-mate Sam Brabham, and Radical Motorsport’s Juan Rosso, all of whom left the track in unrelated incidents as a result of the shower. None of the drivers was injured.

Marshall had just lost the lead to Kruger, who had made a strong start from fifth on the grid to slot into third behind his running mates Marshall and Brabham on the opening lap. Kruger displaced Brabham from second on lap three and set about whittling Marshall’s lead away to nothing over the course of the next three laps. Then he made a successful move for the lead: “I got past Max at Cascades,” said Jayde. “There was heavier rain out at that point of the circuit, and I think Max just ran wide and off, as did Sam. I am pleased to have taken the win of course but it’s not nice when your two team-mates have crashed out.”

“It wasn’t that wet but it came all of a sudden,” said Scott, “and caught out a few people. I saw Rosso go off and was able to back off in time…”

Falcon’s Chris Mealin took over the lead of the Scholarship class from Jamun man Ashley Sutton on lap two and made steady progress up the order to sixth overall. With three cars ahead of him crashing out, he found himself on the overall podium as well as the Scholarship division winner. “That was a weird race,” said Manxman Mealin. “It was very tricky on the new dry tyres and it was a case of keeping my head down. Then I saw the dark clouds coming and cars going off all over the place. I was caught out by the conditions, too, and missed the chicane but luckily I was able to recover.”

Sutton and Meridian’s Connor Mills finished in line astern to complete the top five and take second and third places in the Scholarship, with James Abbott sixth ahead of Andy Richardson, a down-on-power Ricky Collard and – scoring his first championship points – 16-year-old Connor Jupp. Greg Holloway placed 10th in the SWB Sinter.

Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship GBProvisional results Oulton Park 7 June 2014

Qualifying times 1 Harrison SCOTT/GBR (Althorne) Falcon Mygale 1m 47.973s 2 Jayde KRUGER/RSA JTR Mygale 1m 48.136s 3 Juan ROSSO/ARG Radical Mygale 1m 48.350s 4 Andy RICHARDSON/GBR (Grantham) Richardson Mygale 1m 48.781s 5 Sam BRABHAM/GBR (Banbury) JTR Mygale 1m 48.794s 6 James ABBOTT/GBR (Thurlby) Radical Mygale 1m 48.899s 7 *Ricky COLLARD/GBR (Eversley) Falcon Mygale 1m 49.365s 8 Max MARSHALL/GBR (North Kilworth) JTR Mygale 1m 49.398s 9 *Chris MEALIN/GBR (Braddan, IOM) Falcon Mygale 1m 50.270s10 *Ashley SUTTON/GBR (Bishops Stortford) Jamun Mygale 1m 50.635s11 *Connor MILLS/GBR (Upminster) Meridian Mygale 1m 50.971s12 *Connor JUPP/GBR (Ongar) Meridian Mygale 1m 52.570s13 Greg HOLLOWAY/AUS SWB Sinter 1m 55.715s*Scholarship Class runners

Round 10 provisional results11 laps / 29.61 miles 1 SCOTT 20m 09.180s / 88.16mph 2 KRUGER +0.900s 3 ROSSO +18.491s 4 BRABHAM Mygale +19.059s 5 RICHARDSON +20.042s 6 MARSHALL +21.302s 7 COLLARD +25.691s 8 SUTTON +26.886s 9 MEALIN +29.352s10 MILLS +32.651s11 ABBOTT +41.367s12 HOLLOWAY +1m 38.993sScholarship class 1 Collard, 2 Sutton, 3 Mealin, 4 Mills.Fastest lap Kruger 1m 48.662s / 89.18mph Est RecRetirement JUPP 2 laps

Round 115 laps / 13.46 miles1 KRUGER 8m 14.852s / 97.92mph2 SCOTT +7.652s3 MEALIN +9.762s4 SUTTON +10.783s5 MILLS +12.161s6 ABBOTT +12.748s7 RICHARDSON +15.758s8 COLLARD +16.105s9 JUPP +16.454s10 HOLLOWAY +37.174sScholarship class 1 Mealin, 2 Sutton, 3 Mills, 4 Collard, 5 Jupp.Fastest lap Kruger 1m 37.034s / 99.87mph Rec

RetirementsMARSHALL 5 lapsROSSO 5 lapsBRABHAM 4 laps

Full results

Provisional championship standings1 Kruger 262 points; 2 Scott 257; 3 Rosso 219; 4 Marshall 212; 5 Abbott 206; 6 Brabham 186 etc.Scholarship class 1 Collard 174; 2= Mills & Sutton 171; 4 Mealin 131 etc