All eyes will be on current NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship leader Leigh Burges after the Anglo Australian Motorsport driver dominated the opening round by taking out qualifying and all three races in a comfortable fashion.

"The pressure to back up my opening round performance is certainly going to be there,” Burges said. “Wakefield Park will be a whole new ball game compared to Eastern Creek, as the tight confines of the Wakefield Park circuit are very challenging and that is going to keep me on my toes. The ideal situation would be to duplicate my results from the opening round and I know that is not going to be easy, especially around Wakefield Park

One driver that is determined on getting into the winner’s circle at this round is last year’s NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship ‘Rookie of the Year’ Daniel Lewis. The South Coast driver didn’t have the most ideal start to the year during round one after he was forced to lease a car from the Anglo Australian Motorsport team after his # 52 Van Diemen RF01 suffered rear end failure earlier in the weekend during practice.

Although he ended up finishing the opening round of the NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship in second place and currently sits in equal second with Russell Newell in the point standings battle behind Burges, Lewis is focused on bouncing back when he takes to the 2.2km Wakefield Park circuit.

“It was disappointing to have what happened to us during the opening round and with that now behind us I am now just focused on the remainder of the NSW Championship,” stated a determined Lewis. “The goal this year is to challenge for NSW Championship and thankfully I am still in contention despite the mishap from the opening round. With Wakefield Park always being one of the toughest circuits within the NSW Championship, I am very much looking forward to the challenge. Now that I am back in my regular car I aim to turn to tables on Leigh [Burges] so it should turn out to be a very interesting weekend.”

Both Russell Newell and newcomer Adam Leung certainly shouldn’t be left out of the NSW Championship contenders after they impressed everyone with their performances during the opening round. Newell was unlucky not to finish each of the three races in second place after he ran off the circuit during the third and final race and finished back in fourth. Leung showed plenty of promise during his Formula Ford debut and managed to bring home a third place finish on the podium. There is no question about it; Newell and Leung are two drivers to keep an eye on.

The likes of Jason Liddell, David Holland, Don Holland and rookie David Chitty may not being running at the pointy end of the field, just yet, but they are all looking forward to progressing their speed during the second round.

After missing the opening round of the NSW Championship, the likes of Queenslander Kyle Wood, Derryn Harrison, James Stewart and Matt McGill are set to return and their goals are to make up for lost time.

John Pymble emerged from the opening round last month victorious in the Historic class driving his Van Diemen RF82 and he has his sights set on making it back-to-back round wins, but keeping him honest will be drivers such as defending NSW Champion Cas Galjaardt (Elwyn 004), Tony Cavanagh, Norm Vesty (Zinc Z-10), Billy Vesty (Merlyn MK24) and Stephen Weller (Elfin 600).

This weekend’s second round of the 2009 NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship will see both qualifying and race one fought out on Saturday, followed by race two and three on the Sunday.