Sonic Motor Racing Services driver Hunter McElrea has dominated both race two and three today to clean sweep round five of the 2018 Australian Formula Ford Championship at The Bend Motorsport Park.
McElrea fell behind Spectrum driver Cody Donald off the start in race two, before he passed Donald back at turn six on the opening lap, leading then the field to the chequered flag.
Behind him, a train of seven cars swapped positions multiple times during the seven-lap encounter, with Hamish Ribarits and CHE Racing Team rookie Thomas Sargent who took the flag line-a-stern over three seconds behind the race winner.
Ribarits was later handed a five-second penalty as a result of contact with BF Racing driver Cameron Shields earlier in the race, relegating the Sonic driver to fifth and elevating Cody Donald to third.
Spectrum driver Liam McLellan charged from fourth to lead through turn one as race three commenced, before McElrea resumed the race lead. McLellan dropped back to find himself in an intense five-car stoush for second, as Sargent emerged in second ahead of Donald. McLellan fell back to fourth as Ribarits, Nathan Herne, Zac Soutar, Lachlan Mineeff and the Fastlane Racing Stealths of Bart Horsten and Sam Dicker completed the top ten.
McElrea was particularly grateful with the handling of his Sonic Mygale to enable him to clean sweep the weekend.
“Sonic gave me a mega car all weekend which made my job easy, and I’ve had a massive amount of fun around this awesome track, and the facility is just incredible” said McElrea.
“The first few laps in each race were tough, but I always managed to get a little break on the field and continue to build on that, for me that was the key this weekend”
“I knew we had amazing car speed so it was just about racing smart and making sure I could break that tow early on”
Sargent, meanwhile, claimed his maiden national Formula Ford podium with second.
“I’m pretty ecstatic to be honest. It’s still very surreal at the moment but I’m sure it will sink in a bit later on” said the New South Welshman at the end of race three.
“It was a level playing field this weekend so it was great to race at the front and show how well we can go”
After an impressive weekend in front of the Supercars crowd at the OTR Supersprint, Hunter McElrea extended his championship lead to 53 points over Sonic team-mate Hamish Ribarits.
The Australian Formula Ford Championship now heads to Phillip Island for the penultimate round of the season on September 29-30.
2018 AFFC Standings (top 10)
Hunter McElrea – 267pts
Hamish Ribarits – 214pts
Zac Soutar – 165pts
Nathan Herne – 140pts
Liam McLellan – 135pts
Angelo Mouzouris – 124pts
Lachlan Mineeff – 116pts
Bart Horsten – 111pts
Cameron Shields – 108pts
Cody Donald – 87pts
