Photo: Steve Whitfield
Oldfield Motorsport’s Lucas Romanek bounced back from a qualifying incident to win both United Formula Ford races at Silverstone, claiming the Jim Walsh Trophy in the second.
He triumphed over two-time Walter Hayes Trophy winner Michael Moyers and Formula 1 Esports champion Lucas Blakeley in race one, and won a slightly truncated second contest ahead of Moyers and Ammonite Motorsport’s Nolan Allaer.
Romanek suffered an early blow in qualifying when he collided at Woodcote with Jacob Tofts, who had slowed to avoid another car in front, with the resultant damage leaving both drivers down the order for race one.
Blakeley was denied pole on his FF1600 return with Kevin Mills Racing by Moyers as the chequered flag fell, but he took the lead into Brooklands on the opening lap of race one, and soon created a slender 0.7-second advantage.
Romanek climbed from 10th to fifth in the first few corners before passing Lewis Fox, and then took third away from Elliott Budzinski on lap three.
Moyers lost out to both Romanek and Budzinski and slipped to fourth, with Romanek setting the fastest lap to take 0.5s out of Blakeley’s lead.
Blakeley remained ahead after defending from Romanek into Brooklands and Luffield, while his pursuer dropped to third behind Budzinski at Becketts. But Romanek was soon back past before again forcing Blakeley to defend into Brooklands in the closing stages, and he snatched the lead into Copse after getting a good run through Woodcote.
Blakeley tried to keep with Romanek on the final lap but ran wide at Brooklands, allowing Moyers to snatch second before the finish in his Medina. Budzinski came home fourth ahead of team-mate Allaer, with the top five finishing 1.2s apart.
“I led all but two laps, and if you told me before coming here I would be fighting with some really top level FFord guys, I’d have taken that every day of the week,” Blakeley said to Formula Scout. “To lead a real car race, it’s something I never thought I’d get to do.”
Race two was consumed by two safety cars periods. The first came as a result of a stalled car and the second immediately followed when Blakeley was nudged from behind by Budzinski exiting Woodcote and spun backwards into the pitwall.
The race finally resumed with four minutes remaining, with Romanek crucially breaking the tow to Moyers immediately and controlling the final laps to win by 1.332s.
Budzinski passed Moyers at the restart and fended him off late on to finish second, but was disqualified post-race for his contact with Blakeley. That meant Moyers finished second again, with Allaer promoted to third.
Romanek had not expected to take two wins after his qualifying incident. “Definitely not,” he said. “But in the end it was a brilliant result. I could feel the pressure behind [in race two], I just had to keep it consistent.”
“Frustrating to get pole and not win either of them, but we’re in the mix,” said Moyers, who is planning more United FFord outings and a BRSCC National FF1600 return in preparation for November’s Walter Hayes Trophy.
Results round-up
Race 1 (15 laps)
1 Lucas Romanek Oldfield Motorsport 15m37.437s
2 Michael Moyers Simon Hadfield Motorsport +0.586s
3 Lucas Blakeley Kevin Mills Racing +0.633s
4 Elliott Budzinksi Ammonite Motorsport +1.014s
5 Nolan Allaer Ammonite Motorsport +1.236s
6 Lewis Fox Team Fox Racing +2.707s
7 Ben Cox Souley Motorsport +7.647s
8 Jacob Tofts Souley Motorsport +10.041s
9 Nigel Dolan privateer +23.092s
10 Charlie Mann Mann Motorsport +23.699s
Pole: Moyers, 1m02.263s
Fastest lap: Romanek, 1m01.641s
Jim Walsh Trophy (11 laps)
1 Romanek 15m15.899s
2 Moyers +1.491s
3 Allaer +3.151s
4 Fox +3.606s
5 Tofts +4.118s
6 Cox +4.989s
7 Mann +10.220s
8 Adam Fathers AF Racing +10.301s
9 Dolan +10.421s
10 Vincent Jay TM Racing +10.724s
FL: Romanek, 1m01.813s
Championship standings
1 Romanek 24 2 David Porter 16 3 Budzinski 10 4 Andy Clark 10 5 Simon Jackson 10 6 Moyers 8 7 Chris Middlehurst 7 8 Allaer 7 9 Innes Hickman 6 10 Brandon McCaughan 5