Reports > Combe - CCRC VP Racing Finals Weekend 19/20 Sept 2020
Class wins for Bracegirdle (2) and Fisher
The final regular race week-end of the season at Castle Combe also included the traditional Formula Ford Carnival event which saw the WPR team debut the newly acquired, Richard Hudson-Evans, Classic Auction Review backed Merlyn MK20 intended for use in historic racing.
The team got off to a good start in the two Castle Combe Formula Ford Championship races. Steve Bracegirdle was back in his Van Diemen RF89 and joined the RF88 example of James Colborn. James still held a theoretical and very slim chance of overhauling the championship class leader but this would have needed a couple of DNFs which looked unlikely. In the event Steve and James qualified first and second in class for both races well ahead of their championship rival.
In Race 1 both Steve and James started well and ran together at a similar pace for the whole race, finishing three tenths apart to finish first and second in Class. James took the fastest lap in the Class. Race 2 followed an almost identical pattern with the difference between them at the end being 0.15s! James' results werre good engough to secure second place in the Championship with Steve third.
It was largely the same story for the Formula Ford Carnival with the exception that Josh Fisher qualified the Class D Merlyn one place ahead of Steve and James. Steve made the better start and got ahead of Josh and stayed there until Lap 6 when a master cylinder problem led to a clutch failure. This let both Josh and James through where they stayed until the end of the race. Not unexpectedly, Josh took the fastest lap in Class D.
Graham Cox was out for the two Hot Hatch races in his Clio, qualifying 22nd (in a 37 car field) for both races but was involved in a startline crash in Race 1 and was unable to take the re-start but managed to finish 18th in Race 2 in a patched up car.
