Dempsey adds another National win, Romanek’s title hopes crumble

Photo: BRSCC

Jordan Dempsey has moved one step closer to the BRSCC National Formula Ford 1600 title with victory in the second race at Brands Hatch.

The Kevin Mills Racing driver had a trio of Ammonite Motorsport’s car chasing him through the first few laps, but the pressure only came from Colin Queen as Shawn Rashid and Andre Lafond quickly lost time to the leader and then dropped from third and fourth to sixth and eighth.

B-M Racing’s Rory Smith and Jamie Sharp and Oldfield Motorsport’s Brandon McCaughan were the beneficiaries of the Ammonite drivers’ loss, and they spent the rest of the race in a tight group fueding over third place but just about keeping it clean.

In the end there was no change of position between them, meaning Smith completed the podium over seven seconds behind runner-up Queen.

Rashid finished sixth while Team Dolan’s Morgan Quinn only just held off Lafond for seventh.

There was a close battle at the bottom of the top 10 between privateer Tom Nippers and the ultra-experienced Cameron Jackson in his old Van Diemen RF90 car, with the pair trading places twice before Jackson ultimately ended his race in the pits.

Earlier in the race Oldfield’s Lucas Romanek took to the pits too and he did not return to track, having appeared to have had a misfire prior to his entry into the pits. He is now 122 points behind championship leader Dempsey with four races to go of the season, and his retirement will be one of his four dropped scores for the year.

Race result (18 laps)