In what will be the first of six rounds, the NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship at the fast flowing 3.93km Eastern Creek circuit shapes up to kick off a hard fought battle as this year’s championship looks to be the most widely open and unpredictable in many years. 

Heading the list of contenders for this year’s NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship is Daniel Lewis. Lewis, in only his second year of Formula Ford, enjoyed a splendid debut last year by finishing fourth overall in the championship standings, the rookie of the year honours and was also awarded the Stewart McColl Memorial Trophy. Once again Lewis is to campaign his Van Diemen RF02 and is looking good to be one of the main contenders.   

Returning to the NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship on full-time basis this year is Leigh Burgess (Comtec Spirit K08) and he is no doubt aiming to challenge for the championship honours. Once again, Burgess is reuniting with the Anglo Australian Motorsport team. Burgess make a cameo appearance during last year’s NSW Championship and was right on the pace by running inside the top three. When Burgess last competed the entire NSW Championship was back in 2007 and he ended up finishing fifth overall in the point standings. 

The Anglo Australia Motorsport team is shooting for their third consecutive NSW Championship crown after capturing the championship last year with Ryan Simpson and the year before with Rob Storey. Joining Burgess in the Anglo Australia Motorsport team is Brendon Nelson (Comtec Spirit) and Adam Leung (Stealth Van Diemen). Both Nelson and Leung are unknown quantities and it will certainly be interesting to see how they perform in 2009. 

Purchasing the ex Bruce McCabe Van Diemen RF98 is David Chitty and this newcomer is very excited about making his Formula Ford debut within the NSW Championship.  
 
Making his return to the NSW Championship for his second year of Formula Ford is Russell Newell and he has a new car at his disposal, a RF 01 Van Diemen. The ex Formula Vee racer is hopeful of moving closer towards the front of the pack with his new machinery. 

Both Don (Reynard FF89) and David Holland (Reynard FF89), along with Jason Liddell (Swift SC93F) and John Pymble (Van Diemen) are hoping to start their 2009 NSW Championship on the right foot.  

Once again, joining the NSW Championship this year is the historic class and the contenders include Cas Galjaardt (Elwyn 004), Phillip Wheeler (Elfin 620), Stephen Weller (Elfin 600), and Bill (Merlyn MK24) and Norm (Zink Z-10) Vesty. Defending historic class champion Galjaardt is aiming to make it back-to-back titles. 

NSW Formula Ford 1600 Association representative Jeff Senior is very enthusiastic about the year ahead, especially celebrating the 40th anniversary year of Formula Ford within Australia. 

“2009 shapes to be a wonderful year and it’s great to be celebrating 40 years of Formula Ford in Australia,” said Senior. “Formula Ford has and still is the category that has been the stepping stone for many young racers wanting to build a full-time career in Motorsport and you only have to look at the past champions in this category to see what a great breeding ground Formula Ford is.” 

This weekend’s opening round of the NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship is to see qualifying and race one on Saturday, followed by race two and three being fought out on the Sunday.