Liam Sceats has won the first of three North Island Formula Ford races this weekend in a drag to the line at Pukekohe, coming home a mere .03 of a second over current national champion Alex Crosbie. The battle for third was also hotly contested, with Leo Scott holding over Simon Hunter by .15 of a second.
Sixteen-year-old Sceats started on pole in the event following an earlier qualifying session, with Crosbie starting second ahead of Blake Dowdall and Scott on the second row.
A stalled Martin Lucas when the lights went green saw an immediate safety car intervention and a Lap 3 restart which saw Sceats pull away up front with Crosbie in hot pursuit.
Crosbie went about immediately putting pressure on the current series leader which allowed the rest of the pack to catch up.
A lap 5 overtake saw Crosbie take the lead, whilst Dowdall was made to work by Scott for the final podium place. That battle saw Dowdall forced wide in a tight battle with the field close behind, giving Scott the position and Dowdall dropping down the order.
The battle for the lead remained tight, with Sceats retaking the lead on Lap 8 when lapped traffic came into the equation.
From here the battle for the win seesawed between the two, with multiple lead changes over the final laps ending with a drag to the line to take the chequered flag. It was Sceats who emerged victorious, the half a car length gap showing how tightly contested this years category is after just four races.
The battle for third was similar, a drag seeing Scott hold off a late charge from Hunter to finish on the podium.
Veteran Formula Ford ambassador Ken Smith also took to the track in a historic 1986 Van Deiman driven by none of than Craig Baird in his early career, completing six laps before returning to the lane with mechanical troubles.
Sceats has started the season strongly after emerging victorious in all four races thus far, including the triple at Manfeild just last weekend before winning today. He has been, however, made to work for his victories yet shown an ability to perform under pressure.
The rest of the field have two more races on Sunday to try and limit the damages on the championship leaderboard, the first at 10.15am followed by the Race 3 at 2.50pm
Banner Image: North Island Formula Ford (Facebook) Geoff Ridder
