A hard fought maiden Yokohama Tyre AASA Australian Formula Ford Championship win for Jamie Rowe at The Bend

Although it was a victory from pole, it was a hard fought maiden victory for Jamie Rowe in the opening Yokohama Tyre AASA Australian Formula Ford Championship race at The Bend.

Rowe was challenged from the outset by Isaac Demellweek as the duo swapped positions alongside Seth Burchartz.

It was a thrilling affair until Rowe broke the race open during the final lap to secure a maiden victory at national level.

Rowe won the start as Oli Wickham dropped from second to fifth from the start and Demellweek took second to set-up a successful attack for the lead at Turn 3 a lap later. This lasted until Turn 11 when Rowe snatched back the lead.

The race was brought under control by the Pace Car on lap 2 when contact from behind sent Giuseppe Imbrogno into a spin, while Rio Campbell was sent into the air after taking avoiding action and hitting the wheels of teammate Brad James.

Both Kobi Williams Racing Spectrums of Campbell and James were forced to retire.

This didn’t defuse the fight at the front as the restart allowed Demellweek to close up on Rowe and slide down the inside at Turn 6, which pushed the pole sitter wide.

Burchartz came into play, bringing Sam March and Wickham with him to make its an intense five-way fight.

Rowe regained the lead from Demellweek briefly until Burchartz took both of them to  take the ascendency on lap five.

Not to be defeated, Rowe made the best of the slipstream down the front straight and took back the lead at Turn 1 as Burchartz dropped to fourth.

Slipstreaming again played a part when Demellweek took the lead at Turn 1 on lap 8 and Wickham followed five corners later to leave Rowe third as March led Burchartz to complete the top five.

Wickham had his first taste of the lead on lap 9 when taking the draft and passing Demellweek, with Rowe unable to take advantage to remain third.

Burchartz started to drop off and fall into the clutches of Hunter Salvatore, who was the fastest driver on the track.

It was Demellweek’s turn to take the lead on lap 10 when he slid down the inside of Wickham at Turn 6. Rowe made it three-wide down the straight and took both to snatch back the lead on the penultimate lap.

Rowe skipped away thanks to a tight battle between Demellweek, Wickham and a recovering Burchartz, who was bringing Salvatore into the fight.

It was Salvatore making moves during the closing stages to take fourth from Buchartz.

It was Rowe taking the win by 0.631s from Wickham, Demellweek, Salvatore and Burchartz.

Kaleb Belak set the fastest lap on the way to a best result of sixth ahead of Xavier Henderson, a charging Lachlan Mineeff, Jett Leicester and Tabitha Ambrose.

Imbrogno retired after a restart collision, which also took Will Hickey out of the action too.

Race 2 for the Yokohama Tyre AASA Australian Formula Ford Championship at The Bend is set to begin at 3:10pm ACDT.