CHIPPENHAM’S Adam Higgins further reinforced his family’s prowess in the Castle Combe Formula Ford 1600 Championship by taking his second consecutive overall title at the circuit’s ‘Grand Finals’ race day on Saturday, writes JOHN MOON.

Higgins went into the event neck and neck with main rival, Langford’s Roger Orgee, the latter needing to beat Higgins to claim his first title.

After a wet qualifying session, Higgins started two places behind Orgee, who was on the front row of the grid alongside Nathan Ward, from Coventry, in a class of his own, some 1.5 seconds faster than Orgee.

Ward continued to show his skill in the early part of the race, with the track still adamp and opened an unusually huge lead from the rest of the pack, which was headed by Higgins after a super start and opening lap.

Orgee was tucked in behind, with theoretical title challenger Ashley Crossey, from Flax Bourton, next.

Whilst Ward waltzed off into the distance, Orgee destroyed his chance of emulating his own father’s title win of 1974 by dropping down to seventh on lap 12, having already been demoted to fourth by Crossey three laps earlier.

With the track drying quickly, Higgins began an impressive charge which saw him close on Ward.

“We decided with dad (Bob) to go for a full dry set up and it turned out to be the right choice.” explained Higgins.

Ward, whose Kevin Mills Racing Team had opted for a half dry/half wet set-up for his Spectrum 011C, was soon reeled in, Higgins taking the lead at the Esses on the final lap to seal the 2014 title in the best possible manner.

“I didn’t expect it after the first couple of laps,’’ he added.

“When I got close to Nathan I didn’t look in my mirrors, I just focused on him in front.

“To win back to back championships, well I don’t know how I’m going to get over that.

“It’s going to take a few days.

His father, Bob, who engineers the family’s cars, including another Van Diemen JL12 for son Richard, took three consecutive titles from 1981 onwards, notching up another surprise title in 1992.

Higgins senior still has the occasional racing outing and took seventh at the circuit’s FF1600 ‘Carnival’ later that day.

Crossey, another Kevin Mills Racing team member, who threw away a strong championship lead established earlier in the year, said: “I don’t know how Higgins did that, pulling all those seconds back on Nathan, it was ridiculous.”

Orgee, who drove his Ridgemill Van Diemen to seventh, took the runner up position in the championship title, with guest driver, Michael Moyers, in fourth, David Cobbold, the clear class C winner fifth and Richard Higgins sixth.

It was a Mitsubishi Evo which took victory in the circuit’s GT championship race, though not the regular one of Southampton’s Gary Prebble, which retired whilst leading.

Calne’s Simon Norris inherited the victory with his mightily powerful Evo 9, but was lucky to make the finish after a somewhat controversial coming-together with the chasing Perry Waddams in his Chevrolet engine TVR Tuscan.

Norris had been slowing, allowing Waddams to close, but on lap nine, the pair got too close, Waddams exiting at Camp after a coming together at Westway.

Norris said: “I had fuel surge problems from lap one or two. I had to keep changing gear from third to fourth and back.

“The TVR guy (Waddams) pulled some dives into various corners which weren’t on in terms of car position.

There’s some damage to my car, his wheelmarks high up on the back of my car.”.

The circuit’s ‘Sports Racing Car’ series race saw Wrington’s Darcy Smith take a close second in his Radical Prosport, after leader and eventual winner, Simon Tilling, developed a mystery mechanical problem with his Ligier JS49T.

Taking third was Chepstow’s Nick Jones in the Radical SR3 RS, which he normally campaigns in the national Radical championship.

Bradford on Avon’s Guy Woodward, having his first outing of the season in a Radical SR3 which he had never driven in the wet, was seventh.

Calne’s Tony Hutchings took a subdued win in the Saloon Car championship race after a serious accident befell Bristol’s Mark Wyatt and Arthur Marks from Kingsbridge, who hit head on at the exit of the Esses after Wyatt had spun his Astra.

The latter was taken to hospital for precautionary X-rays.

The Audi TT of Hutchings seemed to be in its own class, winning by a comfortable margin of almost five seconds from Melksham’s Rob Ballard, returning to the fray in his powerful SEAT Leon Cupra.

Chard’s Carl Loader clinched the class C championship title with a strong fifth overall, while Bridgwater’s Tony Dolley fought through from 20th on the grid to sixth and first in class B, in his final race in his Peugeot 206 Gti.

Bristol’s David Rose, the overall 2014 champion, took another class D win in his VW Lupo, some way ahead of the class rival MG ZR of Adrian Slade, from Seend.

Warminster’s Geoff Fern fought from eighth on the grid to take an excellent third overall in a truncated Monoposto race in his JKS TFR11.

Westbury on Trym veterinary surgeon, Nelson Rowe, was his usual spectacular self in the pair of HSCC Formula Ford 2000 races.

Finishing a close second in race one, Rowe made a mistake at Bobbies on lap one and had to fight back from seventh place, picking off his equally matched rivals, one by one.

With two laps to go, Rowe put his Reynard SF79 into the lead and went on to take an impressive victory, his hand raised in joy as he crossed the line.

The annual Formula Ford 1600 ‘Carnival’ saw many of the runners from the championship taking part, plus a significant incomer, in the shape of Yatton Keynell’s Luke Cooper.

He showed his wet weather skill by qualifying his B class Swift SC92 alongside pole man Ward and did brilliantly well to take fourth overall.

At the front, Orgee made up for his championship failure by taking the fight to pole man Ward and leading him home by the slim margin of .245”.

Higgins had to settle for third while Melksham’s Ed Moore took fifth in his Van Diemen.

The final race of the day was an ‘open sports vs saloons’ encounter, won by Frenchman Gaetan Paletou, one of the visiting Nissan GT Acadamy 370Zs. Hutchings was second and Ballard fourth.

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