Andrew Horne leads race two
Pole position and two race wins at Zwartkops Raceway on Saturday, 19 September have given Andrew Horne (Xena Chemicals / Budd Power Royale) an almost unassailable lead in the 2015 Investchem Formula Ford Championship.
In the morning qualifying session the top four drivers were within a second of each other, Horne leading the way from Ian Schofield (Investchem Mygale), Matthys Strydom (Sage / Suzuki Bramley Talon) and Dalan Holton (Copper Lake Breweries Van Diemen). Dean Venter (Turnfab Engineering Mygale) and Jonathan Nash (Swift) filled the third row of the grid. David Jermy (Matt Nash Motorsport van Diemen) and Paul Schultz (Ray) rounded out the top eight.
Horne used his pole position to good advantage, opening up a one second lead at the end of the first lap and then controlling things from the front to win by two seconds. Behind Horne the battle for the other two podium positions went the way of Strydom, who set the fastest lap time of the race, with Schofield having to settle for third.
Nash had a great start and moved up to fifth place behind Holton at the end of the opening lap. Nash and Schultz were battling for position until just after half distance when an error saw Nash drop down to eighth, a position he held until the end of the race. Shultz had a couple of slow laps after the incident before he was forced into retirement. With Nash and Schultz out of the way Venter set about closing the gap to Holton. While he did manage to get onto the tail of the Copper Lake Breweries car he could not find a way past and had to settle for fifth. Jermy and Jeff Gable (Talon Motorsport van Diemen) crossed the line in fifth and sixth respectively, just ahead of the recovering Nash.
In race two it was more of the same from Horne as he again controlled things from the front, this time winning by almost three seconds. Schofield got the better of Strydom this time round to take second place although Strydom did manage to set the fastest lap of the day and claim the bonus point on offer for that. Holton had a somewhat lonely drive to fourth place ahead of Jermy. Schultz, Venter and Nash completed the top eight.
In the day’s overall result Horne was the comfortable winner. Strydom did just enough to take second place from Schofield.
The next round of the championship, which takes place at Phakisa Freeway on Saturday, 10 October, sees Horne in with a realistic chance of wrapping up the title with a round to go. He now has 91 points on the championship log, 34 points ahead of Schofield who is 5 points ahead of defending champion Graham Hepburn. Strydom (46 points) and Gable (30 points) are in fourth and fifth on the log with Jermy and Holton tied on 21 points in sixth.