The Formula Ford Masters Race was won by Stephen Daly having scythed his way through from the back of the grid. The Irish racer had been knocked out of Sunday after a crash the day before, though the Masters race gave him an opportunity to claim trophies at Brands Hatch.
The race saw one of the most unusual grids of the weekend. With three of the front four drivers needing to fix their cars thus not taking the start. Elsewhere, the reserves took their places at the back, giving a chance to Rory Smith and Daly, who failed to make it through to today’s Festival.
With Andy Charsley and Edward Moore needing to fix their machines, it was Adam Quartermaine who lead the field away as the lights went out. The majority of the machines made it through the first lap, but a spin on the second soon brought out the safety car.
It was Kevin Bottomley who’d spun, unassisted, through Graham Hill as he collected Jonathan Lewis. Both cars were forced out with broken suspensions as the field bunched up.
Quartermaine lead away from Andy Middlehurst as the race went back to green. All eyes were on Daly though. He started last but had quickly made his way to third, taking the lead on the first lap of the restart.
From there he never looked back as Daly continued to break away from Quartermaine, who was given a warning for track limits in his defence of R. Smith.
It would get worse for Quartermaine who lost the position to Jay Bridger and the #145, before getting a penalty for his track limits. In the Pre ’82’s Stuart Kestenbaum started to pull away from Andrew Smith, both of them remained inside the top eight.
Daly was hardly challenged though as he crossed the line to win by seven seconds from Bridger and R. Smith. All three were hoping for stronger results in the main Festival though will be pleased to walk away with some silverware.
Quartermaine would come home in fourth despite his penalty with Andy Middlehurst settling for fifth from Kestenbaum and A. Smith. Eleven seconds back from Smith and leading the Pre ’90 class was Ivor Mairs who rounded out the top eight.
