Ian Schofield (Investchem Mygale) had his best race weekend of the season at the seventh round of the 2016 Investchem Formula Ford Kent Championship at Zwartkops on Saturday, 8 October. The former champion claimed two had fought wins while Dean Venter’s (Turnfab Engineering / Manitou Swift) winning streak came to an abrupt halt.
Venter looked like he was going to continue his run at the head of the field when he claimed pole position from Schofield with championship leader Andrew Horne (Xena Chemicals / Budd Power Royale RP31) having to settle for third. David Jermy (Matt Nash Motorsport Van Diemen) completed the second row of the grid with Joe Nash (Matt Nash Motorsport Swift) and Jeff Gable (Taylon Motorsport Van Diemen) in fifth and sixth respectively. Allen Meyer (Van Diemen) and Alex Vos (Ecurie Zoo Swift) rounded out the top eight.
Ian Schofield and Horne both got past Venter at the start of race one but, while Venter found a way past Horne on the next lap, he could not find a way past Schofield. The trio were never more than a couple of car lengths apart as they pulled away from the rest of the field. Venter did briefly take the lead shortly after the half-way mark but Schofield wasn’t going to let him get away and move back to the front on the next lap. Schofield took the win, his first since the opening race of the season at Red Star Raceway back in March, from Venter and Horne.
Jermy had a somewhat lonely race to fourth while Gable got the best of the four-way fight for fifth place finishing ahead of Nash, Matthys Strydom (Suzuki Bramley Talon) and Meyer.
Race two only lasted two corners before the red flags came out. Venter tried an ambitious move up the inside of Ian Schofield which resulted in contact. Jermy was unable to avoid the spinning cars and ended his race on the spot. Once the cars were pulled apart Schofield was able to get going and return to the grid but Venter’s race was over.
At the restart Schofield grabbed the lead with Horne following close behind. With his main championship rival on the side lines, Horne decided to concentrate on scoring the maximum points with the minimum risk and didn’t really challenge Schofield on his way to second.
Gable took third, equalling his best result of the season. Andy Schofield worked his way through the field to take a hard-earned fourth place ahead of a three-way fight for fifth between Meyer, Nash and Strydom. They finished in that order but Strydom was later penalised for a technical infringement. This promoted Steve Venter (Turnfab Engineering / Manitou Swift) to seventh and Sean Hepburn (Suburban Body Shop Ray) to eighth.
Ian Schofield’s pair of wins gave him overall victory on the day from Horne and Gable.
With Venter failing to score points in the second race, Horne now has a second consecutive title firmly in his grasp. He needs just one point from the final two races at Red Star Raceway on Saturday, 19 November to secure the championship. Schofield’s two wins have moved him up to third on the log, three points ahead of Jermy with Gable, Dalan Holton (Debella Finance Van Diemen), Andy Schofield and Meyer completing the top eight.