Wise tops standings at midway point (From Enfield Independent)

Wise tops standings at midway point

7:14pm Tuesday 15th July 2008 in Sport

AT THE halfway point of the season Enfield's Malcolm Wise is leading his class, and is second in the overall standings, in the prestigious Ford Saloon Car Championship.

The Winchmore Hill race ace, who is chairman of the locally-based Green Belt Motor Club, notched up his sixth and seventh wins in the class over 2000c four-wheel drive cars at Lincolnshire's Cadwell Park circuit recently.

That left him riding high in the standings midway through the 15-race series.

During the pre-race practice session Wise had a problem with the turbocharger that boosts the power output of his Ford Escort Cosworth's new two-litre engine to an astonishing 570 bhp.

Consequently he had to start the race in an unaccustomed 22nd place on the staring grid.

Despite this handicap he gradually worked his way up the field until lap five when red flags stopped the race because of an accident.

By that time Wise had improved his placing to 11th - which was the position from which he got away in the re-started race a few minutes later.

He decided to take a bit of a chance - when starting from the sixth row of the grid - by making some use of the trackside grass.

This risky move actually paid off, as Wise passed five cars to exit the first corner in sixth place.

After a few more dramas, including twice narrowly avoiding other cars that spun right in front of him, Wise worked his way up to fourth place.

However, as soon as he reached that position, the red flags came out again to stop the race following another accident.

Wise's fourth-place finish in the first race entitled him to a position on the second row of the 19-car starting grid for the second event.

When that race got underway he found himself at the back of the leading quartet of cars which was rocketing along the undulating 2.1-mile long circuit's Park Straight.

As this squabbling group of four cars hurtled into the Gooseneck, which is a very fast right/ left pair of corners, at over 100mph there was a huge locking of wheels and clouds of tyre smoke.

This was a result of the first and second placed competitors thumping into each other. And with both being forced out of the race, Wise was elevated into second position.

Half a lap later the Green Belter used the absolutely awesome power of his Escort's new Cosworth engine to zap past the new leader, Ashley Bird's Ford Sierra Cosworth, on the start/finish straight.

From then on he had an unchallenged drive for the rest of the 20-minute race to take the chequered flag and record his third overall win this season.