LOIACONO MASTERS MORGAN PARK

There was no catching Liam Loiacono as he dominated the fourth round of the Australian Formula Ford Series at Morgan Park on June 14-16.

Loiacono took a hat-trick of race wins, leaving the rest of the field to fight for second best.

He entered the round fifth in the championship, but rocketed into contention by backing up his maiden pole with three wins on the bounce.

Loiacono started on top by being fastest in a thrilling qualifying session where less than two tenths covered the top five.

In the end the #43 edged ahead with a 1:17.2350, which was just 0.0900s faster than Jack Bussey, while Zak Lobko, Edison Beswick and Cody Maynes-Rutty were not far away.

Boosted by the pole, Loiacono had a flying start in the opening race and built more than second on the field.

This gap would build to more than 2s before the sole Safety Car arrived on lap 5 to recover Joe Fawcett at turn 12.

Beswick and Bussey settled for second and third respectively with the latter setting a new track record of 1:17.4440.

Lobko did not record a single lap, while Maynes-Rutty was another high profile retirement.

Loiacono produced another commanding drive in race 2.

The 12-lap affair was interrupted by an early Safety Car for a racing incident between Lachlan Strickland and Logan Eveleigh that saw the former stuck in the grass and both retire.

Harrison Sellars was also caught in some early drama.

Although the gap was only nine tenths at the end Loiacono led all 12 laps with Beswick and Bussey again completing the podium.

Loiacono looked to be cruising to a hat-trick in race 3 before a grass fire for the unfortunate Lobko turned the race on its head.

The brought out the Safety Car and set-up a two-lap dash to the flag, but like he had all weekend, Loiacono remained cool and won by 1.2s.

Maynes-Rutty won a tight battle for second against Williams and Daniel Frougas.

It was a sweet result for Maynes-Rutty, who suffered and up and down weekend.

After a punctured tyre put him on the back foot on Saturday, his push to second in Race 3 saw him secure the Hard Charger award.

Behind runaway winner Loiacono, Beswick emerged second in the round points, while Williams eclipsed Bussey by a single point to be third for the round.

With the first half of the season completed, the Australian Formula Ford Championship returns under the Supercars spotlight at Symmons Plains Raceway on August 16-18.

Australian Formula Ford Championship Morgan Park results

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