A dominant victory for Niall Murray sets him up for a strong run in the final as his rivals found trouble. Elsewhere, a crash in the first corner for the first Semi-Final put a number of the runners out of contention in the Formula Ford Festival.
In true Formula Ford style, there was carnage into the first corner as Tom McArthur was hit and spun sideways. The field behind bunched up as a result, resulting in a number of other collisions. This left Miles Johnson with nowhere to go and three wheels on his wagon.
Johnson was an obstacle for the thirty racers with the poor-starting James Roe Jnr almost beaching himself on the grass as a result. Roe would get going, though Matthew Cowley, who also found himself in the dirt, was not so lucky.
Unsurprisingly, the safety car was called allowing the drivers to settle themselves as pole sitter Murray maintained his advantage.
The Irishman was still the man to beat from Stuart Gough as it had been at the start. Murray soon broke away though, as Gough held off Oliver Askew and Luke Cooper. Gough couldn’t maintain his pace though and Askew made it through with three laps to go.
Gough was not out of the woods and came under pressure from Cooper. Further back, Job van Uitert failed to maintain his ground and was edged onto the grass by Kyle Kirkwood, dropping him to ninth.
With Gough knowing the importance of the grid for the final, he created a queue, with Cooper, Noel Robinson and Jack Byrne all harrying the back of the #11.
Murray took the win by over four seconds, also setting the fastest lap of the race. Askew maintained second while Gough narrowly held onto third. Despite starting higher, Cooper fell back, and could only record fifth as he lost out on the line to Robinson.
Byrne will be pleased to have not lost ground in sixth while Oliver White gained a position to finish seventh. Kirkwood, Van Uitert and Jamie Thorburn rounded out the top ten, despite starting twenty-second.
