It was Simpson that qualified on pole position, and it was a spin during the opening race that cost him yet another win and he eventually finished back in third, but he managed to bounce back to winning form by taking out both race two and three and extend his lead in the championship point standings in process. Simpson’s pace around the 2.2km Wakefield Park circuit was clearly evident over the course of the weekend as he came very close to eclipsing the existing Formula Ford 1600 lap record that was set by now V8 Supercar star Jamie Whincup back in 2002

Heading into the final round of the championship, Simpson now only has to place inside the Top 5 of the opening race in order to clinch the 2008 overall championship point standings.

Anglo Australian Motorsport team-mate and arch rival Tweedie was the one to benefit from Simpson’s spin in the opening race and took victory, which was his second win of the year and he remains the only driver other than Simpson to win a race in this year’s NSW Championship. However, for Tweedie the remainder of his weekend turned sour, as he was spun out by the returning Leigh Burgess in the opening lap of race two and finished back in ninth due to suspension and brake dramas.

 Tweedie didn’t fare much better in the final race as he once again finished in ninth place due to gearbox woes. Driving a Van Diemen out of the Anglo Australian Motorsport stable, Leigh Burgess was impressive from the get go qualifying third behind Tweedie and pole sitter Simpson, despite not having competed since October last year in a Formula Ford.

In the opening race he finished in second place behind Tweedie, and in the third and final race of the weekend he came home in second place in what completed a great return. (The race two incident with Tweedie resulted in a trip to the stewards for Burgess and a penalty of points and monetary fine.)

After recording podium results in the last two rounds of the NSW Championship, newcomer Daniel Lewis was unable to continue his run of podium results and finished the final race in fourth, after race one and two resulted in him finishing fourth and third.

 Making his first appearance on the podium in the trophy race was youngster Nathan Morcom after he finished in third place, and it was a great fight back after struggling with a broken gear lever in the opening race where he placed back in 11th, and in the second race he recorded a seventh place result. Throughout this year Morcom has shown plenty of promise and this result is no doubt going to boost his confidence as it was his very first trophy for a podium finish in Formula Ford.

Once again, Bruce McCabe had a consistent weekend and he was rewarded by being able to maintain his third place in the NSW Championship point standings, after finishing all three races inside the Top 5. Victorian visitors and G-Force Motorsport team members, William Vass and rookie Craig Brogan, were amongst the Top 10 runners all weekend. Vass, who was a regular competitor in the 2004 NSW Championship, finished the three races with a 10th and a pair of eighth places.

 While Brogan in his very first Formula Ford drive was extremely impressive after he placed sixth and fifth in race one and two, but unfortunately couldn’t back up that result in the final race when he finished back in 10th place.

Team Sydney driver Alan Price made a welcome return to the NSW Championship for the first time this year and was struck down by electrical gremlins all weekend after he had qualified sixth, but he managed to get it together in the final race by finishing seventh.

Historic runner, Cas Galjaardt, performed consistently over the weekend and as a result now holds down the lead in the historic class championship point standings driving his Elwyn 004 car.

The sixth and final round of the NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship is set to be played out on September 27 – 28 at Eastern Creek Raceway.

Current NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship Point Standings (after five completed rounds):

1 Ryan Simpson – 440 points

 2 Tom Tweedie – 362

4 Daniel Lewis – 278

5 Nathan Morcom – 255

6 Adam Lucas - 234

8 Derryn Harrison – 175

9 Matthew Howard – 132