The Castle Combe Formula Ford Championship has been hotly contested all season, with the three consistently stand out drivers of 2014 all in contention for the title going into last weekend’s final race. After the dropped scores had been applied it was reigning champion Adam Higgins who went into the race with a 1 point lead over Roger Orgee, with young star Ash Crossey an outside contender 14 points behind.

Lining up on pole was the perennially unlucky Nathan Ward, who has been in a position to win a lot of races this year but for a multitude of reasons has been prevented from doing so. Roger Orgee was the first of the title contenders in 2nd, with Ash Crossey lining up 3rd from title rival Adam Higgins in 4th. From the start it was pole man Nathan Ward and Adam Higgins who made the best starts off the line, with the top 3 of Ward, Higgins and Orgee making an early break on lap 1 from the pursuing train of Crossey, Michael Moyers and Richard Higgins.

By the next lap Ward had opened his advantage to roughly 2-3 seconds whilst it appeared Adam Higgins was now holding up those behind him including Roger Orgee directly behind him. From here Higgins and Orgee eased away slightly from those behind him, being led by Crossey, over the next few laps to solidify themselves in their own private battle for the title.

By lap 6 Ward has built his lead to a massive 4.4 seconds over Higgins behind, who was still only just holding off Orgee behind him. A few laps later and the pressure finally told on Orgee in 3rd as he suffered a small off and was passed by Ash Crossey, which also let Higgins off the hook now in 2nd. After this an almighty battle developed for 3rd between Crossey, Orgee, Moyers and R Higgins by lap 11. A lap later and Orgee’s title hopes were finally dealt a hammer blow as he went off for the second time, this time dropping to 7th as Crossey was now well ahead of the rest in 3rd.

Back at the front and now Adam Higgins was well clear in 2nd and Orgee was struggling he seemed to set loose in the final 5 laps as he set a string of fastest laps to reel in Ward in the lead. Going into the final lap of the season Higgins was right with Ward for the lead, and his finally completed his fairy tale afternoon as he slid inside Ward at the Esses to take the lead at the death as he motored home to his third victory of the year and his second consecutive title, which leaves him only one short of distinguished father Bob Higgins accolade of three consecutive titles between 1981 and 1983.

Higgins was clearly overjoyed with his second title as he jumped up and down in the car throughout the slowing down lap, with Ward gracious in defeat with 2nd whilst rising star Ash Crossey completed the podium. Combe debutante Michael Moyers was an impressive 4th with the hugely impressive dominator of Class C David Cobbold came home 5th with Adam Higgins brother Richard completing the top 6. Orgee came home a very frustrated 7th but was magnanimous in defeat.

Adam Higgins proved in this race alone why he deserves to be the 2014 champion, and as it seems the Higgins family will be back in 2015, you would have to be a brave man to bet against Adam Higgins claiming a third consecutive title, although he will face stiff competition from the likes of Roger Orgee and Nathan Ward especially.

For anyone interested in supporting or even competing in the series next year please visit the link to the series
http://www.ccracingclub.co.uk/championships/formula-ford-1600/