Andrew Horne (Xena Chemicals / Budd Power van Diemen) had a perfect weekend at Dezzi Raceway at the fourth round of the 2018 Investchem Formula Ford Kent championship on Saturday, 11 August. The former champion claimed pole position, took both race wins and to cap it all set the fastest race lap time to bag a full house of points and extend his lead at the top of the championship table.
In the morning qualifying session, Horne topped the timesheets all the way through the session, eventually claiming pole position by just over three tenths from Alex Vos (Ecurie Zoo Swift) with the Beauty Factory van Diemen duo of David Jermy and Jeff Gable filling the second row of the grid. Defending champion Dean Venter (TEU Southern Africa Swift) had to settle for fifth alongside James Reeves (Ray) with Dalan Holton (Debella Finance van Diemen) and Jonathan Nash (Turnfab Engineering Swift) rounding out the top eight.
Horne used his pole position to good advantage at the start of the first race, opening an immediate gap and going on to win by almost eight seconds. Behind him, Vos and Jermy were involved in a battle for the final podium positions with Venter joining them in the latter stages of the race. Jermy led the trio over the line closely followed by Vos with Venter in fourth. Gable managed to keep Nash behind him to take fifth with Holton and Graham Vos (Ecurie Zoo van Diemen) seventh and eighth respectively.
In the second race, Horne didn’t have things quite as easy as the first with Jermy all over the back of his van Diemen in the early stages. Around half distance, Horne put in a series of laps in the 1:18s to break away from Jermy and from there on could control things from the front to take his second win of the day. Jermy followed Horne home with Vos next in a somewhat lonely third. Venter again took fourth, this time ahead of Holton who got the better of Gable. Reeves just managed to stay ahead of Nash to take seventh after the latter worked his way back through the field after an early off-circuit excursion.
In the day’s overall standings, Horne claimed the win from Jermy and Vos.
In the championship standings, Horne has extended his advantage to 13 points over Jermy who is, in turn, 11 points ahead of Venter. Vos’ two podium finishes see him move up to fourth ahead of Nash with Gable rounding out the top six.
The next outing for the Investchem Formula Ford Kent competitors is on 29 September at Zwartkops Raceway, where the fifth round of the 2018 championship will take place.