It was Anglo Australian Motorsport team-mates, Simpson and Tweedie, that once again showed their class throughout the weekend and they were 1 – 2 in qualifying and all three races, with Tweedie unable to deny Simpson his third clean sweep of the year.

Qualifying saw Simpson top the time sheets again with a best lap of 1:12.9746 around the 2.62km circuit and he ended up ahead of Tweedie (1:13.2404), teenager Nathan Morcom (1:13.7553), Lewis (1:14.4923), and with Adam Lucas (1:14.7386) completing the Top 5.

 A former Top 3 runner in the NSW Championship of years gone by, Garry Watson, made his first appearance in the NSW Championship since 2004 where he drove his father’s, Greg Watson, historic Mawer car and ended up qualifying strongly in seventh place with a 1:14.8941, which proved that he has lost none of his touch in his time on the sidelines and did so by showing up a number of the drivers in later model cars.

In the opening race, over five laps, on Saturday afternoon, it was all one way traffic for Simpson who not only scored a comprehensive win but also set the fastest lap of the race with 1:13.1925 on his way to defeating fellow Anglo Australian Motorsport team-mates Tweedie and Morcom in second and third place respectively. Lewis was able finish where he started, in fourth, followed by Bruce McCabe and Watson in fifth and sixth place. Lucas was in the wars during the opening race, after qualifying strongly in fifth, and finished well down the field in 11th spot after spinning on the last corner of the last lap. 

The opening lap of the second race on Sunday morning saw oil on the circuit from a prior race which nearly caught out pole sitter and early race leader Simpson; however, Tweedie hit the oil and spun off the circuit, dropping back to last place. With Simpson managing to dodge a bullet, he went on to take yet another comfortable win. 

Tweedie showed great determination by fighting his way back to finish in second ahead of Morcom, an impressive Watson, and McCabe in fifth. After finishing the opening race in fourth Lewis was unable to match that result and finished back in eighth place.

Heading into the third and final race, a thunderstorm hit the circuit and this forced officials to hold the third race on the short circuit and reduce the laps to five. For most of the field, this was to be their first experience on the short circuit, so all were heading into the race with caution and apprehension.  

Although the thunderstorm had passed, the third race was held in wet and rainy conditions, but it still wasn’t enough to prevent Simpson from continuing his dominance of the weekend over the field.

Simpson was able to get away to a good start off the race line and he paced the field for the entire distance and completed a perfect weekend when he raced away to down Tweedie and Lewis to the chequered flag. Morcom was locked in a tight battle with Lewis for the final spot on the podium early on in the race only to spin on the exit of the tight turn 1 hairpin. Despite recovering from his spin Morcom was unable to catch up to Lewis and finished in fourth spot. It was a weekend of fifth place finishers for McCabe who yet again placed fifth in the final race.

Due to the wet conditions a number of competitors opted not to take part in the third race

Aside from Watson (Mawer), the best of the historic car runners were Norm Vesty (Zink Z-10) and Doug Matley (Reynard). The support of the historic cars has been a great addition to this year’s NSW Championship and they have been well received by everyone, as NSW FF 1600 Championship organiser Jeff Senior commented.

“The number of historic competitors that are taking part in rounds of the NSW Championship is growing and it’s great to have them onboard,” Senior enthused.

Latest NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship Point Standings (after four completed rounds):

1 Ryan Simpson – 356 points
2 Tom Tweedie – 308
3 Bruce McCabe – 228
4 Daniel Lewis – 210
5 Nathan Morcom – 205
6 Adam Lucas - 182
7 James Stewart – 170
8 Derryn Harrison – 139
9 Matt Howard – 132
10 Russell Newell - 111