CHIPPENHAM’S Adam Higgins missed out on claiming his first Formula Ford 1600 win of the season by just two-tenths of a second at Castle Combe's Whitsun Race Day on Monday.

The reigning champion initially took the lead of the race at the green light, storming through from third place in his Van Diemen before relinquishing his lead to pole-sitter Michael Moyers on lap two.

From there the duo were never more than inches apart, with Moyers withstanding immense pressure from Higgins as they pulled away from the rest of the field.

The result is the closest Higgins has come to winning so far this year, after finishing fifth in both the previous rounds at the 1.85mile track.

Higgins, who has won the Castle Combe Formula Ford Championship twice, said: “Watching in my mirrors I could see the group of cars directly behind and I could see that Michael was so much quicker on the first couple of laps.

“So I decided to let him by rather than keep him behind so we could pull away from the rest of the field but then I had to try and get back past.

“I tried one banzai move right around the outside on the last lap and we both ran a little wide but just stayed on the track.

“I would have loved to have beaten Michael but I’m just glad to be back fighting at the front.”

Further down the field Melksham’s Ed Moore finished fifth after moving up three places at the start and spending the early part of the race in third, before being passed by Roger Orgee and Felix Fisher who finished third and fourth respectively.

Elsewhere, Chippenham’s Luke Cooper managed to get his B class car to the finish in ninth and first-place in class, despite nursing a mechanical problem for much of the race.

Cooper said: “I had quite a drastic misfire pretty much from the second lap which just got worse and worse but got to its limit about half way through so I just had to hope no one caught me and collect some points.

“I’m not too worried about the class championship though, I’m hoping to challenge the overall standings as I’m looking to upgrade to an A class car at some point during the season.

“Hopefully it means I’ll be able to win a few races, especially if it rains.”

Having notched up two wins in the circuit’s Saloon Car Championship from the first pair of races this year, Calne's Tony Hutchings defied the odds to make it three in a row.

With arch-rival, Gary Prebble reputedly having increased the power of his SEAT Leon Cupra to around 600 bhp, the task for Hutchings seemed insurmountable.

Prebble's pole time of 1:13.958 was not only below the lap record, but almost half a second faster than the Audi. Moreover, the ever-improving VW Scirocco of Bath's Dave Scaramanga had slotted into second, leaving Hutchings on the next row of the grid.

It was in that order which the trio circulated for the first 10 laps until the Audi jinked past the VW, which nevertheless stayed in close touch. As Prebble's initial lead began to diminish, Scaramanga misjudged at Quarry, running into the back of Hutchings, damaging the car and retiring very shortly thereafter.

This gave Hutchings a free rein to set about Prebble, whose SEAT was hampered due to grease leaking out of a CV joint onto the brakes.

In an audacious move at Old Paddock the Audi was through, going on to win by less than 100 hundredth of a second.

“That was epic to be in. I couldn’t stay with them initially but I got help from the backmarkers to get past Dave. Then I got a tap from behind, which probably broke his radiator,” said Hutchings whose award for Driver of the Da was richly deserved.

Keynsham’s John Barnard had his best result to date with his Astra Turbo, finishing in third place.

The battle for class B was almost as intense as that at the very front, Bristol’s Mark Wyatt suffering after ignition problems in qualifying with his Astra and just trailing home Bridgwater’s Tony Dolley in the Peugeot 206 in fifth and fourth places respectively.

Adrian Slade, from Melksham, lived up to his reputation as the unluckiest man in the championship, losing a significant class C lead when the side window of his Peugeot 106 popped out, handing the points to Bristol’s James Keepin in his MG ZR.

Russell Poynter-Brown, from Compton Martin, took the outright points lead as class D winner in his Vauxhall Corsa.

The circuit’s Sports & GT championship race was a lively affair, with Torquay’s Barry Squibb taking the win from Brighton’s Ilsa Cox, with Cricklade’s Nick Holden a distant third in his tricky Aeriel Atom.

Holden also contested that car in the 45-minute ‘Dave Allen Trophy Race’ featuring pit stops and a handicap system.

It was the third staging of the race, established in memory of Swindon's Allan, a former British Touring Car series driver, who died aged 47 in July 2012 Although Holden came home as the ‘on the road’ winner, some 19 seconds ahead of Swindon’s Dan Ludlow in his Honda Civic Type R, after the handicaps were applied, he was relegated to 11th. Ludlow retained second place after a great drive in his self-prepared car.

Additional reporting by John Moon