Matt Cowley dominates wet first Formula Ford Festival heat

Team Dolan?s Matt Cowley dominated a wet first Formula Ford Festival heat at Brands Hatch, which was ended one lap early.

Cowley started sixth on the grid, but had made it up to second place by Graham Hill Bend on the opening lap.

It took a few laps for the Mancunian to pass Foster, doing so on the entry to Paddock Hill Bend, but once ahead he flew away from the rest of the field.

Cowley had just completed the 14th lap of the scheduled 15 when the chequered flag was erroneously waved, moments after his team pitboard had showed him there was one lap to go, and he was classified as victor by 5.284 seconds.

Foster ended up losing second place to Cliff Dempsey Racing?s Team USA scholar Josh Green, who tracked down the fast starting Ciaran Haggerty for third then passed Foster at Druid on lap six.

Green was even faster than Cowley, but his inexperience in the wet conditions and lapping traffic meant he failed to close in on Cowley.

Defending Festival winner Joshua Smith, who had engine troubles in qualifying, came from ninth on the grid to beat New Zealand FFord graduate Callum Crawley to fourth.

Smith made contact with front row starter Max Mazorati on his rise up the order, resulting in Mazorati going off at Graham Hill Bend and finishing ninth.

Haggerty fell to sixth, ahead of Michael Macpherson and Adam Higgins, who battled hard with Team Canada scholar Jonathan Woolridge. After losing some bodywork and places, Woolridge then failed to finish the race due to a last lap off.

Race results (14 laps)