The winning ways of Icon Motorsport driver Ben Morley continued last weekend (April 29 & 30) during round two of the 2006 NSW Formula Ford Championship at Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney driving his # 72 Spectrum 09B.

Morley dominated proceedings around the 3.9km Eastern Creek circuit by taking out all three races defeating Nick Lowe and Kristian Lindbom in each case and in the process extended his advantage in the NSW Championship point standings.

Leading up to this weekend's racing, a number of drivers held extensive test sessions during the week leading up to this event in an effort to bridge the gap to Morley. Lindbom and Daniel Cotton both ventured down to compete in the Victorian Championships in the weekend prior, with Lindbom gaining a confidence boost after winning his first Formula Ford race at Sandown International Raceway.

Saturday morning's qualifying in damp conditions saw Glenn Welch put together an impressive lap to upstage Morley and co by topping the time sheets during the 15 minute session. The times were indicative of the conditions with Welch able to post his time on a drying track at the end of the session. Morley posted the second fastest time, followed by Lindbom, Kyle Wood, Matthew Howard, Stephen Payne, Andrew Taite, Nick Lowe, Cotton and Chris Goodman, who completed the Top 10.

Anglo Australian Motorsport drivers, San Pattis and Leigh Burgess, didn't have the best of starts to the weekend with Pattis excluded from qualifying due to his car being underweight, whilst a crash on the second lap of qualifying eliminated Burgess from the remainder of weekend.

Later on Saturday afternoon, it was Welch sitting on pole position alongside Morley, and at the drop of the green flag it was Welch who got the jump on Morley, but he was soon past firstly by Morley and then Lindbom entering turn two.

From there Morley built up a steady gap over the field and led the entire 5-lap journey to take victory ahead of a hard charging Nick Lowe in the ex-Paul Laskazeski Spectrum 010B (who started from the fourth row of the grid after qualifying eighth) and CAMS Rising Star Lindbom picking up third place. Outside the Top 3 came Welch, Kyle Wood, Payne, Cotton, Colin Sieders, Alan Price and Andrew Taite in 10th.

2002 NSW Champion, Matthew Howard suffered engine failure on the final lap of race one whilst placed inside the Top 5. Howard was sidelined for the rest of the meeting and is now considering his options for the rest of 2006.

Morley kept his winning form intact with a narrow victory in the second race after leading the entire 7-lap journey comfortably, Lowe finished strongly and only a car length behind Morley at the fall of the chequered flag. Further back in the order was Lindbom who finished in third, followed by a fast finishing Welch, Taite, Cotton, Payne, Sieders and Price.

A bad start by Payne saw him drop a number of positions back, and at the same time Derryn Harrison had an off-track excursion coming out of the opening turn trying to avoid an out-of-shape Payne. Harrison was able to continue on in the race without any damage but lost a lot of ground on the Top 10. Daran Martin and youngster Matt McGill failed to finish after an incident on the third lap.

In the third and final race of the weekend, over a 7-lap distance, Morley was able to complete his round two domination by holding down command for the whole race and defeating a close finishing Lowe, and in third was Lindbom and he finished ahead of a very consistent Kyle Wood, Payne, Cotton, Sieders, San Pattis, a recovering Welch, and Harrison who rounded out the Top 10 finishers.

An opening lap incident that involved Wood, Welch and Taite as they battled for track position heading into turn two saw Welch and Taite exit the track, while Welch was able to continue, Taite wasn't so fortunate and failed to re-join the field due to his car suffering rear end damage during the collision.

Second year Formula Ford racers Daniel Cotton and Andrew Taite performed strongly over the weekend. The Newcastle based Cotton finished inside the Top 10 during all three races in arguably his strongest run to date, whilst Taite finished 10th and 6th in race one and two, only to have his promising run end with a race three crash. Both drivers were very content with their respective performance over the weekend and look forward to similar results as the year progresses.

Newcomer Alan Price retired to the pits on the fourth lap of race three due to mechanical woes.

The next round of the NSW Formula Ford Championship is scheduled for June 17 - 18 at Oran Park Raceway, Narellan.

Latest NSW Formula Ford Championship Point Standings (after round two):
1 Ben Morley - 180
2 Kristian Lindbom - 117
3 Stephen Payne - 112
4 Nick Lowe - 96
5 Glenn Welch - 92
6 Kyle Wood - 92
7 Daniel Cotton - 91
8 Taz Douglas - 76
9 Matthew Howard - 74
10 Colin Sieders - 60

Simpson Race Products Rookie of the Year:
1 Kristian Lindbom - 117
2 Taz Douglas - 76
3 Alan Price - 59
4 Leigh Burgess - 54
5 San Pattis - 48