Rochester based Jamun racing and driver Ashley Sutton had their best weekend of the Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain season so far.

Sutton had looked like he was on the pace from the very off during practice on Friday and he took that into the race weekend.

Although he qualified in 6th place and not quite where he could have been given the pace of the Mygale on Friday, it gave him the perfect platform for a podium charge on Saturday and Sunday.

It was a platform that the team and Sutton would make the most of taking home two second places and one victory.

In race one he pushed Harrison Scott for the win, and what made it all the more amazing was that he had never driven the track before.

He climbed from sixth on the grid to second place within six laps, and was on to Scott’s tail, and shaping up to pass, by lap nine, just before the caution period started. Sutton thus had to settle for second place and a handsome Scholarship class victory.

Speaking after the first race of the weekend, he said: “That was really, really good. I was trying hard to force Harrison into a mistake in the early part of the lap to allow me to get close enough to attack in the second part. It nearly worked, but the safety car stopped it.”

The day was to get even better for Sutton in race two when he would storm through to take his maiden victory in the championship.

The Jamun racer stormed from third on the grid in Round 14 to pass both new championship frontrunner Harrison Scott and the leader for the first half of the race, James Abbott, to claim the victory.

It was a mightily impressive drive from the Hertfordshire 20-year-old as he pursued Abbott and Scott. James took the lead comfortably in the Radical Mygale from pole position and quickly established a useful advantage over Scott. Meanwhile, any hopes Harrison had of battling for his second win of the day were dashed by the red Mygale looming large in his mirrors.

It took Sutton six laps to nail Scott – he did so with a deft down-the-inside manoeuvre into the Hairpin and quickly pulled clear and set about clawing into Abbott’s one-second lead. Ashley halved that advantage within a lap and, next time around through Tower, launched his attack.

He positioned the Jamun car for the outside line and drew level with the Radical machine into the bend, the two holding station all the way around the right-hander. By the time they reached the Jim Clark Esses, Sutton was a nose ahead and pulling away.

Speaking after his first win, he added: “The car was absolutely fantastic – the guys at Jamun put such a great car underneath me. Without that edge I couldn’t have done it.”

Sunday’s racing would see Sutton pushing all the way for his second victory of the weekend but he would have to settle for second place overall. He did take three Scholarship class wins and has a commanding lead in the Scholarship class going into the next round of the season at Snetterton.

Pictures supplied by Jakob Ebery.