The hotly contested NSW Formula Ford Championship field put on a weekend of close competition and multiple race winners for round one of the 2007 state championships at Goulburn's Wakefield Park Raceway last weekend (April 14-15).

Competing under fine and sunny conditions, reigning champion Ben Morley was the hot shot of the weekend claiming pole position, and despite fighting his way from a rear of the field finish in race one, took outright honours in the third and final (Trophy race) in front of Glenn Welch in second and race-one winner Rob Storey in third.

The weekend started strongly in qualifying with the top four contenders within only 0.2sec off pole-sitter Morley and also included a stellar performance from CAMS Rising Stars steerers Scott Pye and Daniel Erickson in the mix. The top 10 also saw two other regaining state champions in Jake Chapman (South Australia) and Martin Swindells (Queensland) compete strong having claimed two top-10 victories.

Despite race one beginning strongly for Morley off the line, a 2nd lap turn-two driver error landed him in the sand trap. After being removed from the sand trap, Morley rejoined at the rear of the field, he made up solid ground and recorded the race's fastest lap time however not good enough to catch the frontrunners. Storey claimed a close-fought first victory of the weekend in his #16 Spirit WL07 which coincidently was also the first win for that particular model in the world. Pye and Erickson filled the remaining top three spots respectively for a strong CAMS Rising Star season debut.

Race two initially was a two-way battle between Storey and Pye but their gap on the rest of the field was shortened after a safety car intervention on lap three was called to retrieve Andrew Hagen's Van Diemen which had beached in the sand trap in turn two. The following lap saw Chapman pull to the infield with mechanical dramas, but on-track it was Morley who was on a charge, working his way from the rear of grid into third before taking advantage of Storey's spin at turn eight (the fishhook). Regaining ground from ninth, Storey held on for a seventh place finish behind Morley in second and Pye the eventual race winner, whilst an impressive Swindells finished in third.

Off the line in the third and final 12-lap race (trophy event) was Morley in front of Pye, but a yellow flag intervention was called on lap three to aid Swindells who had beached himself at turn eight. Putting the pressure on the restart was Welch in third place, who performed confidently in his first run of the Team Sydney owned Listec Wil 05. While Morley gained momentum out in front and remained that way until the finish line, it was multiple position changes for the rest of the leading contenders including Storey who clocked the fastest lap time of the weekend with a 1:04.08.

At the end of the third race it was Welch who greeted the chequered flag in second and Storey in third with the CAMS Rising Stars standouts Erickson and Pye in fourth and fifth respectively.

After the first round Scott Pye has a slender lead over pre-season favourite Storey. Pye also currently leads the Simpson rookie of the year award.

The second round of the NSW Championship will be held at Sydney's Eastern Creek on May 19-20.

Current point score for the NSW Championship are:
1 Scott Pye 76 points
2 Rob Storey 70
3 Glenn Welch 66
4 Daniel Erickson 64
5 Ben Morley 61

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NSW Formula Ford Championship media enquiries Daniel Powell - Redline Media
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