Professional race preparation and management

Reports > Combe May Bank Holiday race day 6th May 2019

Fisher & Bracegirdle take wins with a podium for Colborn



Josh Fisher has made a strong start to the 2019 season, driving the Richard Hudson-Evans Van Diemen JL14, by winning two out of the first three Castle Combe Formula Ford championship races to date. At Combe on Bank Holiday Monday, 6th May, Josh qualified second, made a good start and led to the finish. Not that it was easy though because he was initially under pressure from brother, Felix, who made a mistake on Lap 2 letting Luke Cooper through to keep the pressure on for the full distance. The gap at the finish was only 0.18s.

In Class C, new team member, James Colborn, was showing that he is getting to grips with Formual Ford, following his previous race experience in saloons, by qualifying on Class C pole ahead of team mate, Steve Bracegirdle - both in Van Diemen RF89s. However, Steve made the better start and went on to win Class C, taking fastest lap which was also a PB while James took second in Class.

The team's three Mini Coopers were out in various combinations for the support races. In the Hot Hatch challenge Guy Parr and Graham Cox qualified 11th and 15th respectively. In the race Guy made a good start to end Lap 1 in ninth but quite quickly got shuffled back to his starting position where he finished. Graham only lasted a couple of laps before succumbing to a mechanical problem that left the team mystified as it couldn't be reproduced back in the paddock.

In the CCRC Saloon Car championship race Guy qualified 26th and went on to finish 17th. In the 38 lap Dave Allen Trophy race with a mandatory pit stop the Guy Parr car was being shared with Wayne Poole while Graham Cox and Steve Bracegirdle were running solo in their Minis.

Graham qualified well, fastest of the three WPR Minis, but was unable to take the start with the mysterious problem recurring again on the grid. The Parr/Poole car was running well until a power steering failure occurred before Wayne was able to take over. This left Steve to take the finish (the first time in 4 Dave Allen starts) and a pleasing second in Class.

Many thanks to Mike Stokes of Trackside Images for the excellent photos.