FF Festival: Murray Shines in Washed Out Heats with Cowley and Browne

As the weather started to deteriate at Brands Hatch the BRSCC Formula Ford racers headed back out for their first race at Brands Hatch.

Matthew Cowley won the opening heat, mastering the damp conditions in a race that was accidently called a lap early. After surprising many with pole in Heat 2, Jonathan Browne was quick to prove it was not a one-off, holding back Chris Middlehurst for the victory.

The big name winner of the day came in the form of Niall Murray. The double champion returns to the series after a year in British GT, dominating his heat, as he won by 10 seconds in the Van Diemen BD20.

Heat 1

Winner: Matthew Cowley – Team Dolan – Van Diemen JL13

As the rain started to fall, the first heat got underway, with Joey Foster maintaining his pole position off the line. It was not going to be an easy run for the Firman racer, as Matthew Cowley leaped up the order on the opening lap. On the third lap, Cowley, who had started sixth, got the run onto the main straight, demoting Foster.

It would get worse for the Double champion as Team USA Scholarship driver Josh Green caught the pair of them, scything past Foster into Druids. The rain meant that lap times did not fall under a minute as Green held the fastest lap. In the end though, Cowley took victory ahead of Green and Foster. Behind them, Josh Smith was easily best of the rest, recovering from his dismal ninth place in qualifying to finish fourth.

Smith though was pressured in the closing laps as his tyres continued to go off. Callum Crawley finished under a second behind with the poor starting Ciaren Haggerty, Michael MacPherson and Adam Higgins rounded out the top eight after a spin for Team Canada’s Jonathan Woolridge cost him a seventh on the final lap, after attempting to overtake under yellow flags.

Heat 2

Winner: Jonathan Browne – Cliff Dempsey Racing – Ray GR19

A clean first lap allowed Michael Eastwell to jump to second behind polesitter Jonathan Browne. The pair started to break away with Chris Middlehurst joining them by mid-distance. On lap 7, Eastwell found the courage dive into Graham Hill bend, but a mistimed lunge saw him run wide, losing a place to Middlehurst. Browne held off the challenge to take the second heat win.

Incidents further back saw Jamie Sharp hit Ivor McCollough at Druids, dropping them both back, meanwhile Zachery Vanier’s promosing qualifying was all for nought as he stalled on the start. It wouldn’t just be the mid-pack running into trouble either, as Ross Martin, who had been setting fastest laps in fourth, ran wide at Paddock Hill, dropping him to fifth.

Martin’s excursion promoted Luke Cooper to fourth, but it was clear Cooper did not have the pace he’d shown in qualifying. Despite this, the Swift SC16 surprised many by holding off the 2019 FF1600 champion to take fourth. Despite his collision, Sharp would recover to sixth ahead of the top Historic runner; Alan Davidson in the Mondaile, as Paul Rivett took eighth.

Heat 3

Winner: Niall Murray – Team Dolan – Van Diemen BD20

With the rain now lashing down on the Kent countryside, experience proved the name of the game at the start, as Niall Murray weaved his way into the lead from fourth. Polesitter Jordan Dempsey had dropped backwards with Peter Dempsey maintaining his second place. Murray was quick to pull a gap and was already up to 3 secs at the end of the fourth lap.

The Team USA Scholarship driver of Scott Huffaker had made a solid start, but dropped two positions on the fifth lap as he ran through the gravel. In the battle for second, Terry Walkinshaw’s slowing Van Diemen caused mayhem for Dempsey and Oliver White, as they had to run either side of him. White would use the momentum to take the place a lap later, with Rory Smith following through.

Peter Dempsey’s woes continued in the later stages, running through the gravel and losing fourth to Jordan. Morgan Quinn would take a lonely sixth ahead of the recovering Huffaker and Tom McArthur.

Predictions

Predicting anything in the Formula Ford Festival is always a fools game, though it would be hard to stop the momentum of Jonathan Browne. He competed in the fastest heat and thus will start on pole for the first semi-final ahead of Niall Murray. Meanwhile, Matt Cowley gets to start on pole for the second semi, ahead of Chris Middlehurst for Team Dolan. In fact, with the exception of Browne, the top four are all Van Diemen’s. A symptom of the weather perhaps or an advantage for all runners?