Still the King
17.10.2004 by AltoSport
Following his triumph in the Zetec engined category in 2003, Joey returned to the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch this weekend, this time to contest the 1600cc competition, the "king of Kents".
The outing was almost one disaster after another. On a shake down test at Mallory park on the Wednesday of festival week, the engine in his borrowed Reynard 89 decided to detonate after just a handful of laps, necessitating the borrowing of another engine from Neil Bold. With the day's testing written off, the car was being transported to Brands on Thursday when the trailer jack-knifed, damaging the trailer and tow car but fortunately not the race car!
Friday morning saw a spinning Zetec cause substantial damage to the Reynard at Paddock Hill bend, resulting in even more lost track time. At this stage qualifying third for his heat seemed like a bonus! By Friday evening it was going really pear shaped as it became clear that Joey was really suffering with a high temperature and swollen glands. On Saturday morning, with the first heat less than two hours away, Joey decided that he was too ill to race, and made his way from the hotel to the track to let the team know.
Don Hardman's less than gentle persuasion convinced Joey to try to compete. "It's only fifteen minutes, then you can go back to the hotel and stay in bed until the semi tomorrow". The race was a frantic affair, and Joey did well to maintain his third position after a physical tussle with the Irish Dempsey cousins. Off he went back to bed, but after a long day at the race track team owner Hardman managed to crash his car on the way back to the Hotel. The omens weren't good!
By Sunday morning he still wasn't any better, and had now gone three days without eating, and when he came together with Mike Edgar at the start of lap two, the Festival looked to be over. He limped back to the pits with bent suspension and steering, which was partially straightened by Hardman and Joey rejoined the track just in front of the safety car, at the very back of the 28 car grid.
What happened next was pure theatre, and was probably Joey's best ever race performance. From a hopelessly trailing last place he clawed his way through the field. Both the timekeepers and commentators thought he was a complete lap down, having missed him clearing the pit before the safety car. Joey set eight consecutive fastest laps, even though he was clearing traffic constantly (never easy at Brands), and at the start of the last lap flew past Morgan Dempsey into the lead.
Because of the confusion, he didn't take the chequer, having to complete an extra lap before doing so in front of a madly cheering crowd. It was some minutes before the mistake was realised and he was declared a happy but exhausted winner.
By now the adrenaline had kicked in, and from the front row of the final he led for all 25 laps, just as he had a year earlier as he completed a unique double, despite massive pressure, this time from Peter Dempsey. "I can't believe that I've done it, especially in a borrowed fifteen year old car and borrowed engine" beamed Joey. The next day back in Cornwall he was diagnosed with mumps and spent the next two weeks house-bound and suffering!