Home Formula FordNational FF1600 Romanek follows up GB4 win with National FF1600 pole at Croft

Romanek follows up GB4 win with National FF1600 pole at Croft

by Ida Wood

Photo: Ida Wood

Oldfield Motorsport’s Lucas Romanek continued his strong recent racing form by taking pole for the third BRSCC National Formula Ford 1600 round at Croft.

Romanek was on top throughout the early morning qualifying session on Saturday, setting a 1m26.382s to go top early on and then improving to a 1m26.258s in traffic.

He wasn’t able to improve on that once 31 cars were on track, but nobody else could match it and he ended up with pole position.

B-M Racing’s Jamie Sharp and Ammonite Motorsport’s Colin Queen fought over the the side of the front row, with Queen initially second fastest and Sharp in third. With four minutes remaining, Sharp got ahead with a 1m26.430s lap and Queen couldn’t respond as there was red flags brought out after BRSCC chairman and BRSCC Northern FF1600 runner Peter Daly got stuck in the turn one gravel.

Race control decided to restart the session with just under three minutes left on the clock, and several drivers were able to sneak in a final lap. However with such a busy track there were no improvements near the top and Sharp qualified second ahead of Queen.

Morgan Quinn was the top Team Dolan driver in fourth, with the team going out late after the restart and missing the chance to set a final flying lap, while Romanek’s team-mate Brandon McCaughan was an impressive fifth place ahead of Kevin Mills Racing’s championship leader Jordan Dempsey.

GB4 race-winner Megan Gilkes and Ammonite’s Andre Lafond were the last two drivers within a second of the pace.

Graham Brunton Racing’s Michael Gray was the top driver entered for the Scottish FFord championship this weekend down in 12th place, two seconds off pole after his fastest lap was deleted, and the top Northern FF1600 runner was Nick Barnes who was 3.208s back in 15th in a 1989 Swift car.

Qualifying results (Northern drivers in italics)
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Lucas Romanek Oldfield Motorsport 1m26.258s 8
2 Jamie Sharp B-M Racing 1m26.430s +0.172s 9
3 Colin Queen Ammonite Motorsport 1m26.569s +0.311s 9
4 Morgan Quinn Team Dolan 1m26.606s +0.348s 8
5 Brandon McCaughan Oldfield Motorsport 1m26.672s +0.414s 9
6 Jordan Dempsey Kevin Mills Racing 1m26.674s +0.416s 9
7 Megan Gilkes B-M Racing 1m27.101s +0.843s 9
8 Andre Lafond Ammonite Motorsport 1m27.218s +0.960s 9
9 Davide Meloni B-M Racing 1m27.339s +1.081s 9
10 Ben Cochran Team Dolan 1m27.445s +1.187s 8
11 Shawn Rashid Ammonite Motorsport 1m27.545s +1.287s 9
12 Michael Gray Graham Brunton Racing 1m28.272s +2.014s 9
13 Lucas Blakeley Graham Brunton Racing 1m28.284s +2.026s 9
14 Gabe Tesch Team Dolan 1m29.343s +3.085s 7
15 Nick Barnes 1m29.466s +3.208s 8
16 John Murphy 1m29.600s +3.342s 8
17 Brindley Kinch Ammonite Motorsport 1m29.714s +3.456s 9
18 Matthew Chisholm 1m29.754s +3.496s 8
19 Neil Broome StrongBroo Racing 1m29.904s +3.646s 6
20 Richard Freye 1m30.595s +4.337s 8
21 Peter Daly Shaws Motorsport 1m30.755s +4.497s 6
22 Tom Nippers 1m30.765s +4.507s 7
23 Alaric Gordon 1m30.802s +4.544s 8
24 Paul Crosbie 1m33.899s +7.641s 5
25 Neil Hunt 1m33.973s +7.715s 8
26 Roger Arnold 1m34.768s +8.510s 8
27 Phil Nelson Murphy Motorsport 1m35.787s +9.529s 7
28 Stuart Dix 1m35.881s +9.623s 4
29 John Roberts 1m35.990s +9.732s 8
30 Lorna Vickers Shaws Motorsport 1m36.760s +10.502s 7
31 Michael Wales 1m37.229s +10.971s 7