Jamie Rowe’s remarkable comeback

It’s fair to say Jamie Rowe’s been absent of luck in the last month after rolling over twice in as many meetings, but he will be back at Queensland Raceway for the third round of the Formula Ford Stars Series.

Rowe flipped at Phillip Island before arriving at Round 2 at Sydney Motorsport Park and did the same in Race 1 on Saturday.

Not caught by the broadcast, Rowe got a good draft down the main straight and pulled alongside a fellow competitor at Turn 1, but ran wide and in his attempt to gather it up he hit the kerb. This sent him wide into the gravel and the grass, which tipped him over.

A marathon effort beginning on Saturday night and lasting until Sunday was required to get Rowe’s Spectrum ready for an event in Queensland the next weekend.

“The pressure was definitely on to get it repaired,” said Rowe.

“We’ve got an amazing team from Borland Racing Developments and everyone on my side jumped in to get the job done.

“My mechanic Bryce and I were there all of Sunday fixing it, which we did get done before it was sent to Queensland where the job was completed.

Vast repairs needed to be made, with a trip to everyone’s favourite hardware store made to complete the fix.

“Every corner needed to be rebuilt and the plastics were tough as we didn’t have any spares, so we went down to Bunnings to buy fibreglass kits, gloves and did the body repairs ourselves,” he recalled.

Unlike many of his rivals, Rowe has driven Queensland Raceway, but maybe not in the usual fashion.

“I’m definitely looking forward to it,” said Rowe.

“I’ve only been on the track once and never raced there, but I did an Adrenaline day there where you can drive a V8 ride car with an instructor alongside. So, I did five laps around there.

“It’ll be a big learning curve, but I’m excited for it.”

Outside of his rollover at Sydney, Rowe has emerged as a consistent top five runner and aims to build on this heading to Queensland Raceway.

“I started the season strong on the podium at Winton, which was my first podium at a national level and I was hoping to back it up in Sydney, but it was a tough round,” Rowe summarised.

“I’m hoping to have my bad luck out of the way for the rest of the season!”

Round 3 of the Formula Ford Stars & Renegades Series will compete at the 2 Days of Thunder event at Queensland Raceway as part of the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series on June 27-29.