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.

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

Higgins’ lack of budget and lack of testing usually means his qualifying form leaves him with much to do in the race but this time he even outperformed Wellingborough’s Michael Moyers, the man many rate as the fastest in the field.

Former double champion, Melksham’s Ed Moore, stormed up from the fourth row of the grid to challenge for the lead on the first lap, Higgins dropping to fourth as Moyers held the lead and Bridgwater’s Felix Fisher also in contention.

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, Langford’s Roger Orgee and Yatton Keynell’s Cooper, ins his 1992 Swift, who took the podium places, with the 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.

Gary Prebble, complete with a 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, holding the lead from Charles Hyde-Andrews-Bird, from Ditcheat.

However, Prebble was soon into the lead and on lap 12, it was Hutchings who succumbed, the engine of his Audi expiring, leaving him to watch from the infield.

Hyde-Andrews-Bird had a lonely drive to second with Bristol’s Mark Wyatt 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, drove his Peugeot 106 to a superb sixth overall and class C win and gained the Driver of the Day award.

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 6.2 litre Riley TDC ‘Daytona Prototype’ of Salisbury’s Nigel Mustill.

Former champion, Simon Tilling, from Andover, gave Dolby a hard time, claiming the quickest time and new class record despite being pipped by the Riley.

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