DURHAM teenager Sean Gaffney's debut races in the UK Formula Ford Championship at the weekend at the Castle Combe circuit in Wiltshire proved a baptism of fire.

Testing at the circuit on Thursday had gone well with Gaffney lapping within two seconds of the championship leading contenders, but official qualifying on Saturday saw him struggling with what turned out to be a rear suspension linkage failure.

That pitched him down the field on the sixth row of the grid for both races on Sunday.

A solid start to the first 20-minute race on Sunday morning saw Gaffney settling into the race and immediately setting about moving into the top ten as the race unfolded.

This he did on the third lap, moving past the Mygale of Richard Mendoza.

He continued to make up two more places before the chequered flag fell and finished seventh in his first UK Championship outing.

Starting the second race of the day from the same qualifying spot as the first, the race got off to a bad start for the Myerscough Race Team driver.

He tangled with Richard Mendoza at the first corner with both cars becoming entangled and spinning onto the grass.

Gaffney was able to free his Van Diemen RF03 from the side of Mendoza's car and retake the track, albeit with a badly damaged nose box and trailing almost a lap behind the rest of the field.

With a clear track ahead, Gaffney set about catching the tail of the field which he did with a couple of laps remaining passing both Simon Kinsey and Mathew Dodson before the chequered flag fell.

With several retirements ahead Gaffney claimed another seventh place finish to end an eventful debut in the UK Championship.

"The first race was great" said the teenager afterwards.

"The car felt good.

"I got held up for a few laps in the middle of the race but once I got by I was pulling in the sixth place car but unfortunately ran out of laps.

"The second race started badly but I was able to lap consistently with an empty track ahead and was able to catch the tail of the field again which was pleasing after being so far behind after the spin."

The next two rounds of the championship will be at Brands Hatch over the weekend of the July 29-30.

Published: 01/07/2005