AUSTRALIAN FORMULA FORD, 2005

PRESS RELEASE: AUG 21, 2005

SIEDERS CLAIMS THE WIN AND ELLIOTT CLAIMS THE CHAMPIONSHIP

David Sieders claimed the overall win at Round 7 of the 2005 Ford Racing Australian Formula Ford Championship at Mallala Raceway today. The New South Welshman, driving the Sonic Motor Racing Services/All-Trans Deals on Wheels Van Diemen RF04 took two third places and a win in race three to claim top points for the round.
Second overall was Victorian Shane Price driving the Caltex Havoline Spectrum 010b. The 18-year-old took the chequered flag in races one and two but failed to finish race three after tangling with Daniel Elliott. Price was declared Avon Tyres Rookie of the Year after building a massive 106-point lead over his nearest rival for the Rookie title.
Elliott, driving the Fastlane Racing/VIP Petfoods Van Diemen RF05 was crowned 2005 champion when he collected 40 points for third place overall. He goes into the final championship round at the Sandown 500 with an unassailable lead of 80 points over second-placed Sieders. Price is another ten points in arrears so the fight will be on for championship runner-up at Sandown.

RACE 1, Saturday, 3.40 pm, 12 Laps: THE FIELD CHASES PRICE

From pole position Shane Price continued to set the pace by leading the way off the line to the chequered flag while a red hot battle for second place points between Daniel Elliott and David Sieders was fought out behind him. Elliott held second from lap one and was able to hold off the determined Sieders to the finish. Sieders made a desperate slip-streaming move to the finish line but was unable to get the nose of his Van Diemen ahead of Elliott.
The field was tightly bunched as they came into turn eight, heading towards the start/finish line on lap one. As the leading bunch headed down the straight for the first time a number of cars mid-field touched in turn eight, resulting in Joel Spychala (Mid Coast Ford Van Diemen RF05) being stranded in the middle of the corner.
The safety car was called out and the field bunched again for the restart one lap later. Again, Price led away and continued to pull out ahead of the battling Elliott and Sieders. Shannon O’Brien (O’Brien Racing Van Diemen RF03) was on the tail of the leaders but was unable to make any impression on the top three. He was briefly pushed by Jason Liefting (K-One-W-1/Project Motorsports Spectrum 010b) but was in fourth place when they crossed the finish line. As a result of an incident during the race with Liefting, O’Brien was penalized 30 seconds, effectively relegating him to 12th place.

RACE 2, Sunday, 11.05am, 12 Laps: PRICES CONTINUES ON HIS WINNING WAY

Shane Price continued his domination of round seven by taking a ‘go-to-whoa’ win in race two. Once again he was pressured all the way by Daniel Elliott, who was never more than half a car length in arrears of the leading Spectrum.
Price eventually crossed the finish line less than half a second ahead of Elliott who continued to build his points tally, with the possibility that race three would see him take an unassailable lead into the final round of the championship at the Sandown 500 in three weeks time.
The remainder of the field had spread out around the circuit and there was a gap of nearly seven seconds back to the duo of David Sieders and Mark McNally (Nomad Racing/Fastlane Racing Van Diemen RF05), who again claimed third and fourth places.

RACE 3, Sunday, 2.10pm, 12 Laps: SIEDERS TAKES THE WIN

David Sieders took his second win for the day - in separate categories - when he claimed the honours in race three. Just minutes earlier he had taken overall honours in the Lotus series at the Mallala circuit.
Sieders had been in third place behind Daniel Elliott and Shane Price until the leading pair tangled at the hairpin on lap six. Price was unable to continue but Elliott regained the track in seventh place and was able to move up one spot to finish in sixth and claim the necessary points to secure his championship.
It was a Sonic Motor Racing Services one-two across the finish line as Dean Fiore took second place. Fiore had been dicing with Jason Liefting but managed to hold off the Kiwi who finished in third place. Liefting, in turn, had been pushed hard by Shannon O’Brien who finished in fourth.