THERE was plenty to keep the crowd on its toes and a day full of surprises at the Castle Combe circuit’s Summer Raceday on Saturday, but no one could have forecast how the Formula Ford 1600 championship race would develop, or indeed end, writes JOHN MOON.

The first surprise was seeing Chippenham’s Adam Higgins take pole position in the family-run Van Diemen JL12.

Whilst the reigning champion must never be discounted, the local man’s lack of budget and therefore lack of testing, usually means his qualifying form leaves him with much to do in the race.

But this time, it was Higgins on top, even out-performing Wellingborough’s Michael Moyers, the man many rate as the fastest in the field.

In third was Moyers’ teammate, Coventry’s Nathan Ward, with Bridgwater’s Felix Fisher starting fourth but failing to get his RF02 Van Diemen off the line.

Filling the third row were two drivers outperforming their somewhat elderly machinery. Yatton Keynell’s Luke Cooper was the master of class B in his 1992 Swift whilst Josh Fisher, the brother of Felix, worked wonders in his 1989 class C Reynard.

The fourth row was significant, occupied by former double champion, Melksham’s Ed Moore and championship leader, Langford’s Roger Orgee.

A frenzied first lap saw the grid order totally reorganised, with Moore making huge progress to challenge for the lead, Higgins making his ‘worst-ever start’, dropping to fourth and Fisher showing his usual skill to take third.

All this left Moyers with the slimmest of leads, with Moore and Fisher taking it in turns to challenge, the pace and commitment of all three, something to behold.

With Higgins and Orgee squabbling behind and Cooper hot on their tails, there was plenty to keep the crowd entertained, but at two-thirds distance, the whole complexion of the race was changed, with controversial track limit penalties applied to the three leading drivers.

So, whilst Moyers, Moore and Fisher passed the flag in that order, it was Higgins, Orgee and Cooper who actually took the podium places, the erstwhile leaders relegated to fifth, sixth and seventh, allowing Richard Higgins, brother of Adam, to take fourth.

The result allowed Higgins to close the points gap to Orgee, but leaves Moyers with an almost impossible task, as the championship moves into its final stage. Higgins summed it up by saying: “It was an epic race”.

In comparison, the circuit’s ‘Saloon Car Championship’ race was relatively straightforward, though no less exciting.

Gary Prebble, complete with a demon set of new tyres for his SEAT Leon Cupra, was expected to romp off into the distance from pole position, but Calne’s Tony Hutchings had other ideas.

Making one of his renowned fast starts, Hutchings held the lead from Charles Hyde-Andrews-Bird, from Ditcheat, Prebble feeling he had been put onto the grass at Quarry.

But, with the advantage of new tyres, Prebble was soon into the lead, with Hutchings biding his time and hoping Prebble’s brakes might give out towards the end of the race.

On lap 12 however it was Hutchings who succumbed, the engine of his Audi expiring, leaving him to watch from the infield.

Hyde-Andrews-Bird then had a lonely drive to second with Bristol’s Mark Wyatt showing his second fastest time in qualifying was no fluke, by bringing his class B Astra home third, so putting him into a one-point lead in the championship.

Hyde-Andrews-Bird's father, Kevin Bird, had his best result for some time, taking his BMW 130i to fourth, with Bridgwater’s Tony Dolley fifth and second in class B.

Adrian Slade, from Melksham, not only drove his Peugeot 106 to a superb sixth overall and class C win, but also gained the Driver of the Day award for a fine performance.

Everyone expected the lap record for the circuit’s Sports Racing series to be broken, given the appearance of professional driver Craig Dolby, in the awesome 6.2 litre Riley TDC ‘Daytona Prototype’ of Salisbury’s Nigel Mustill.

Pole position was a given, but the man alongside him, former champion, Simon Tilling, from Andover, led away and gave Dolby a hard time for the whole race.

The Riley’s superior power eventually gave Dolby the lead over Tilling’s Ligier, but the quickest time and new class record went to the latter, who was overjoyed. Dolby blamed the heat for being unable to extract the most from the car.

The other talking point of the race was its timing. The Castle Combe Racing Club agreed to run it before lunch, to enable race preparation expert, Brinkworth’s Phil Williams, to run three cars in the race, prior to leaving for his daughter Kelly’s wedding.

Kelly is also a sometime racer at Combe and married fellow racer Mark Janes at Brinkworth. Williams’ team’s efforts were rewarded with fourth overall and a class win for his driver Norman Lackford.

The circuit’s Sports & GT championship race went to Bristol’s Olly Bull, despite ‘bogging down a bit’ at the start with his Tigra Silhouette, making him fight hard for the win from Gillingham’s Steve Hall.

Tetbury’s Ben Scrivens moved his Ginetta G50 up to third, whilst Cricklade’s Nick Holden manhandled his Aeriel Atom to fourth and a class win.

The remaining races, mainly for various MGs, saw many close battles at the front, giving the crowd an excellent day’s entertainment in the August sunshine.