Hot Young Prospects Chasing Victory

With only two rounds remaining, the 2009 MTA New Zealand Formula Ford Championship is still wide open as 300 points are still up for grabs from the six races remaining. While the early South Island rounds indicated Richie Stanaway was shaping up to be a runaway winner, the most recent outing at Teretonga Park saw the points gap close considerably. Round 6 of the Championship is scheduled to take place at Manfeild Park this coming weekend and is once again promising to be a thriller.

While Stanaway and second points position holder Stefan Webling endured a weekend of difficulties at Teretonga, 14 year old Aucklander Mitchell Evans and Wellingtonian Jamie McNee closed well within striking range of the top duo. It would be fair to say that the battle for the Championship will be fought out by these four drivers although five other drivers still have a mathematical chance but only if major misfortunes strike the top three on the points ladder.

Last year saw two Championship rounds fought out at Manfeild Park which featured some of the best racing of the season and much of the same can be expected at this year’s round. The fast sweeping nature of the circuit lends itself to the brave and willing of which there is no shortage in this year’s field judging by the racing witnessed to date. Drivers the calibre of Martin Short, Damon Leitch, Simon Evans and Matthew Penrose have all featured at the sharp end of the field and are more than capable of pulling off an upset. Such an upset was clearly demonstrated at the most recent round at Teretonga Park where Leitch took the overall round honours including his maiden Championship race victory.

Mind you, it has been noted that Leitch enjoyed his best success to date at his “home” track which raises another factor in the equation regarding Manfeild. Jamie McNee hails from Wellington so will be determined to emulate the Southlander by making his mark in front of his home crowd at manfeild Park. The 15 year old has been more than impressive to date and has graced the podium of two occasions so far this season so just might be the outsider to spoil the party for the leading trio.

What ever the circumstances, no driver can afford any errors from this point on as mistakes will almost certainly determine the outcome of the Championship. However, drivers cannot remain too much on the side of caution as competition will be fierce with a hungry pack seeing themselves with nothing to loose by pouncing on those they see as the slightest bit vulnerable.

This weekend will see the usual programme format with Qualifying on Saturday morning and Race 1 later in the afternoon while races 2 and 3 will take place on Sunday morning and afternoon respectively.

Check out the Championship Table after Round 5