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Historic Formula 3 Championship 2023 Provisional Points [pdf]
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8th-9th August 2015 - Croft
Mike Scott Takes his first HF3 Win
David Methley and Mike Scott made the trip north very worthwhile when they shared the Historic Formula 3 Championship wins at the annual Croft Nostalgia Festival (8/9 August).
Close finishes abounded in the single-seater races and Saturday's closest finish came in Historic F3 as Sussex-based Methley (Merlyn MK14) best Peter Thompson (Brabham BT21) by just a third of a second. Devonian Scott scooped the Sunday spoils in his Brabham BT28 after completing the podium party on Saturday.
Once again the Croft weekend was a real success with a bigger than ever crowed and a host of off-track attractions topped by a flying demonstration from the sensational Vulcan.
On the track, the double-header for the Historic Formula 3 Championship added to the spectacle of the 20-race weekend. Although a clashing fixture at the Nurburgring Oldtimer Grand Prix took away a couple of cars, it was still a fair entry for the annual trip to the North Yorkshire track.
Formula Junior racer Jonathan Hughes was scheduled to race Methley’s Merlyn, but the owner and preparer took the car over for qualifying and set the pole time by a third of a second from Thompson. The rest of the pack was more than a second away with a tight pack of six cars split by only four-tenths of a second.
Paul Waine (De Sanctis), Simon Armer (March 703), welcome series newcomer Andy Jarvis (March 703), Scott, Jim Blockley (Brabham BT21B) and series leader Leif Bosson (Brabham BT28) were all very evenly-matched.
In Saturday’s opening race, Methley forged ahead and even had time for a late race spin before taking the flag. However, that moment cost Methley most of his four-second margin over Thompson and only three-tenths of a second split them at the flag.
Up well from sixth on the grid came Scott to take the final podium position and his pace got stronger and stronger as the race developed. He bagged the fastest race lap on 11 of 13 and was well in touch with Methley and Thompson at the flag. Waine did well to bring the De Sanctis home fourth as Bosson and Blockley rounded out the top six.
With Methley, Jarvis and race one retiree Armer absent the grid for race two on Sunday was slightly smaller, but the race was a corker as Thompson and Scott battled hard for the lead. Once he’d found a way ahead of Waine, Scott chipped away at Thompson’s lead and nipped ahead with three laps to run. Thompson tried to respond, but a quick spin on the penultimate lap cost him any chance of coming between Scott and his first 1-litre F3 win.
Waine was not far away from the recovering Thompson at the flag to take third place and a deserved podium visit, while fourth place was the subject of a very close finish as John Waggitt (BT18) headed Mark Linstone (BT21) and Bosson as the three Brabhams flashed across the line covered by less than a second.
Paul Lawrence
View Results and Timings (as a PDF document) [PDF]
