Reports > August Bank Holiday 2017 Raceday - Castle Combe
A difficult day but a wins for Higginbottom & Bracegirdle
The August 28th double header raceday at Castle Combe was always going to be a key date in the calendar for the Formula Ford championship contenders. With a modest lead in the Championship Josh Fisher was favourite but he was facing plenty of serious competition for the overall and Class A titles. In Class C the championship was a two horse race between WPR's pair of drivers - Andrew Higginbottom and Steve Bracegirdle (both in Van Diemen RF89s).
Practice saw Josh qualify fourth and third for the two races in Richard Hudson-Evans Van Diemen JL14 but was having to run a spare engine as the best engine had been sealed subject to a protest from another team. Andrew Higginbottom was the fastest Class C runner for both races in the ex Diccox Van Diemen RF89 with Steve Bracegirdle just behind in his similar car.
Josh made a good start, taking second place behind Michael Moyers, and followed the leader closely in a tight group of four cars until Lap 9 when he dropped to third where he stayed until the end. Andrew made an even better start running as high as seventh in the opening laps before dropping back to tenth to win (and take fastest lap) Class C with Steve finishing second in Class.
In Race 2 Josh made a superb start to take the lead ahead of Moyers and the two ran in close company until Lap 13. Moyers tried an inside move at Quarry, the two cars touched and were out of the race on the spot. Following these races Josh still holds a lead in the championship which will be decided at the final event in October.
Andrew's race ended on Lap 1 when he arrived at Quarry backwards having been hit from behind and hitting the barriers hard, leading to a extended safety car period. This left Steve to take the Class win, fastest lap and move ahead of Andrew in the Class C championship.
