Reports > CCRC May Bank Holiday - 02/05/22
Fisher's Combe double
The WPR team were out with their usual complement of Formula Fords for the early May bank holiday double header of races at Castle Combe.
Qualifying took place very early in the morning with a few damp (and not so damp according to some drivers) patches around. Josh Fisher in the Richard Hudson-Evans owned and Classic Auction Review backed Van Diemen Jl14 was suffering a slight misfire and was half a second adrift of pole and started race one from third. James Colborn in his AIM supported Van Diemen RF07 continued his upward trajectory in the Class A car by posting his best competitive lap to date around Combe. Just behind was Ben Mitchell in Richard Hudson-Evans' historic, Class D, Merlyn MK20. Steve Bracegirdle (Van Diemen RF89) was fifteenth and second in Class C.
Josh made a good start and slotted in to second place at Quarry on Lap 1 and in what is becoming the pattern for 2022, he and his brother Felix along with Luke Cooper broke away from the rest of the field and formed a very close train at the front of the race. For the first few laps Josh and Felix exchanged the lead, sometimes more than once on a lap, before Josh finally took a lead he was able to hold until the finish, taking fastest lap in the process. Not by much though as car owner Hudson-Evans nervously observed.
Ben had a race long scrap with Nathan Ward's Class B car finishing a nosecone behind in eighth place to win Class D with fastest lap. James was running well until he clipped the tyre barrier at the chicane leading to retirement on Lap 9 with a damaged lower front wishbone. Steve had a bit of a lonely race to come home 13th and second in Class C.
The second race followed a similar pattern with Josh taking his second victory of the day inches ahead of Felix and Luke but only after swapping the lead a few times. Ben finished tenth with the class win and fastest lap while James, with his car repaired, took twelth. Steve again came second in Class C in fifteenth place.
Many thanks to Phil Johnson. EDP Photo News for the excellent set of images.
