Lucas Romanek (18 from Swindon) had a successful race weekend at a very warm Snetterton over the weekend, 23rd and 24th July in the Avon Tyres National Formula Ford series.
The Saturday qualifying session didn’t go as hoped, and he only managed to qualify in seventh place. Race one on Saturday was going to be a challenge, from starting in seventh on the grid, Lucas came through the pack to eventually finish in second place.
Race two on Sunday morning, Oldfield Motorsport’s Lucas Romanek passed B-M Racing’s Jamie Sharp to get into second place into Riches on the opening lap and then sat behind Dempsey the whole race but could not find a way past as Dempsey maintained strong speed mid-corner in all the places Romanek wanted to overtake at.
In the end they were split by just 0.225 seconds after eight laps, and their fastest laps were also identical.
Dempsey and Lucas Romanek had pulled away from the rest of the field, with Jamie Sharpe finishing in third, almost four seconds behind.
Third and final race of the weekend, was a partial reverse grid, Lucas started in sixth, with Dempsey in seventh on the grid.
Lafond started on pole but lost the lead to B-M Racing’s Jamie Sharp at Brundle, and Sharp was the driver being chased until lap four when Oldfield Motorsport’s Lucas Romanek took the lead at the same corner.
Lucas couldn’t escape, and soon there was a three-way fight with Sharp and the charging Dempsey. Dempsey overtook Sharp and drew alongside Romanek at the end of the lap. Dempsey taking the lead across the line only 0.172s ahead of Lucas.
Dempsey built a gap of four tenths going into the final lap, but Lucas Romanek wasn’t done yet, and continued to apply pressure, managing to force an error on the final corner, Dempsey ran wide, off the track and through the dirt before returning to track alongside Romanek. It was a drag race to the chequered flag after that, and Lucas Romanek triumphed by a near photo finish of 0.028 seconds to win the third BRSCC National Formula Ford 1600 race at Snetterton.
After the race, Lucas said, ‘When I got in front, I was just thinking, the tyres are going off and I just needed to hang on as best I could. I never gave up, with the tow around Snetterton, I knew I could catch up with him [Dempsey], until I managed to force the error on the last corner, and then it was just a race to the finish line’.
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