For the second year running Alex is pleased to be amongst those nominated for the award that honours the achievements of young Welsh drivers. The winner will be presented with the award at the Welsh Championship Awards Night on Saturday 21st February at the Copthorne Hotel Cardiff.

Alex becomes Silverstone approved ARDS Instructor for 2009 having successfully passed the Drive Silverstone Assessment Day on the 29th October.

Both Kevin and Alex are very pleased to be continuing their relationship and looking forward with anticipation to contending the 2009 Championship. KMR adopted the Australian chassis at the beginning of the '08 season, and its Spectrum was the first alternative chassis to break the Mygale victory-lane stranglehold when Adrian Campfield's machine won at Brands Hatch in July.

The final rounds of his rookie season counted down for Alex with 3 pole positions, 2 fastest laps, and 1 race win during his first race meeting at this challenging circuit.  More significantly this final round demonstrated his development and increasing pace as the season has gone on.  Good qualifying on Saturday morning, well ahead of the next Scholarship runner, put him on Rows 6 and 11 on the grid for Races 1 and 2 respectively. Race 1 Saturday pm: Rain clouds playing tricks by moving in just before the start of the race, but then looked as if they might move off.  Not so - not long into the race a lilght drizzle started, disadvantaging Alex, who had gambled with a dry set up, and he had to settle for second place in this first race.   Race 2 Sunday morning sawAlex back on full form - the Team had the car set up to perfection and able to cope with a track that varied from wet to dry, and Alex took an impressive win in the Scholarship class, 19 seconds aehead of his nearest rival, and 8th overall.  Race 3 Sunday pm: The third and final race of the weekend and Alex looked set for an even better finish - a storming start from 9th on the grid saw him again on the heels of the main Championship runners with a substantial lead over the next Scholarship runners.  Nail bitingly for his watching supporters, the exhaust went not long into the race and everyone kept their fingers crossed that it would hold out.  Cruelly, just two laps before the finish it gave out and Alex had to retire, giving away what would have been another distinctive win, but still managed to record the fastest lap in his class!

Alex winds up the season pleased with his progress and developing performance since joining Kevin Mills and his Team and is very much looking forward to 2009.

2008 season in summary:     
22 races     6 wins     13pole positions     9 fastest laps

S4C spent the day with Alex and Kevin Mills Racing on Thursday, 2nd October when he tested at Donington for the last race meeting of the season.  Alex will feature in the Welsh TV Channel's programme, outlining his progress and achievements as a promising young Welsh driver.  The programme will be broadcast during April/May 2009 - watch this space for date and times.

Amidst all the buzz of the Olympics, Formula Ford got on with business as usual for their penultimate round of the season.   For Alex this was his first race at Silverstone and first time on the International circuit, having had only one previous test day earlier in the year on the Grand Prix circuit.  Despite only minimal testing Alex was disappointed with his qualifying position of 15th overall and 3rd in the Scholarship class "Although I was at a disadvantage being completely new to this track, I still hoped to get into the top 10 and was determined to move up in the race" said Alex, which indeed he did.  A flying start saw him take two places before the first corner and some real spectator racing ensued with him fending off his rivals to finish in 13th position overall, 2nd in the Scholarship class.  Race 2 was a virtual mirror of the first race with Alex again starting from 15th on the grid, battling through and finishing in 13th with some good dicing for position inbetween and, despite being hot on the heels of Scholarship winner, Gary Findlay, he ran out of laps and had to settle for another 2nd - a result some drivers would be happy with but not the exacting, self-driven Alex!  So on to the last round of this year's Championship at Donington on the 11/12th October.

Kevin Mills Racing secured a double victory in Round 19 at Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit at the weekend.  While team mate Adrian Campfield qualified in 3rd place before driving to a superb race win on Sunday morning,  Alex qualified in pole position for the Scholarship Class and went on to claim a commanding victory, 10 secs ahead of runner-up Chrissy Palmer, making it a double podium celebration for Kevin and the Team.   Alex was delighted to be back on the podium especially at Brands “I love the Grand Prix circuit – this is the 1st time I’ve raced here in the Spectrum and it feels really good, we’ve got real pace and the car handles well.  Looking forward to the next race”.

Adrian was ecstatic to break through for his maiden victory in the championship. ‘It's unbelievable,’ said a delighted Campfield. ‘We have had such a bad run of luck all year that finally to win is just amazing.’ To add to the team's joy for their trio of drivers, Glen Wood finished seventh from 12th on the grid to end his run of no-score results.

Round 20  - Despite again earning pole in the Scholarship class, and clearly having the pace to win, the honours on this occasion eluded Alex after contact on Druid’s on the 4th lap left his Spectrum with a bent rear wishbone.  Although robbed of his former pace he still put in a competitive performance finishing 2nd in the Scholarship, 17th overall, while Adrian again made the podium in 3rd place.
 
The Spectrum chassis is manufactured by Borland Racing Developments Pty Ltd in Melbourne, Australia. BRD sales manager Paul Zsidy was equally enthusiastic about the weekend’s news. ‘That is brilliant,’ he said. ‘This is a well deserved result for Kev and his team, the drivers and our agent Mark Bailey for the work they have put in. It seems fitting that the win comes at Brands Hatch, where John Martin won the first UK race for Spectrum on its debut appearance in 2006,’ said Zsidy.

17th round of the Championship saw the Formula Ford team racing at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, the same venue as the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix. Formula Ford were joined by the Benelux championship for this meeting, giving a grid of 29 cars for the races on Friday and Saturday morning.

For Alex the excitement of racing at this fantastic venue was coupled with real disappointment on Friday afternoon when a drive shaft on his car broke on the warm up lap, further reducing his hopes in the Scholarship class.

Determined to make the best of Race 2 on Saturday morning Alex took to the grid for the 10 lap race.   Starting from the back he made a flying start, working his way up to mid field.  Any further progress was hampered by a second deployment of the safety car reducing the number of racing laps, and he had to settle for 16th overall, 13th in the British class.  His spirited drive was rewarded with an extra point for the fastest lap in the Scholarship class, 9/10ths of a second clear of the next driver, and 11th fastest overall. 

After a promising test at the Norfolk circuit the previous week, and then qualifying 9th on a wet track, disappointment swiftly followed with collisions in both races.  In Race 1 Alex managed to get back on track, albeit a long way back, and finished the race in 18th place, but the collision from behind early in Race 2 forced a retirement.  Despite having the pace to again qualify in the top ten, the points needed to win the Scholarship did not materialise for Alex.  Still, his motto is “Never give up”!

Three firsts before the racing even started! – first race at the circuit; first race with Kevin Mills’ Team; and first time out in the wet in the Spectrum! The switch to Kevin Mills, after just a couple of test days, has seen Alex transform into a front running driver.  This was born out on Sunday morning, when still in his first season of car racing, he put in a fantastic qualifying session placing him 9th and 5th respectively on the grid for the first two races. 

Race 1: Torrential rain threatened to wreck the first of the three races with conditions through the last corner in particular (coincidentally named Brook) more suitable for jet skis than Formula Fords. Along with several others, Alex fell victim to the atrocious conditions and came out on the first lap. 

Race 2: Monday's weather was not so harsh and the opening race was dry.   Alex’s finished in 8th position, having run as high as 5th for several laps, claiming his maiden top ten finish and a convincing Scholarship Class win.

Race 3: Wet again. Starting from 12th on the grid, Alex surged through to 6th place before the end of the first lap. A few laps in the safety car had to be deployed, halting any further progress.  When the race resumed Alex was hit from behind just after the safety car pulled in, damaging his gearbox and forcing him to retire in lap 5. 
Despite the disappointment of two DNFs, Alex was pleased overall with the weekend as he can now see clear progress.  “The car handles well, the team are fantastic, and I’m really finding some pace.”  Next meeting ……. .Snetterton 7th& 8th June

Alex joins Kevin Mills Racing, one of Formula Ford’s top teams, a move which will also see him switch to a Spectrum chassis. Kevin welcomes Alex aboard what will now be a three car team developing the new Spectrum.  The car has never been raced in the UK before this season, although enjoying considerable success in its home country of Australia. "I am quite excited about the move", says Alex "I have been watching the progress of the Spectrums since the start of the season and they look as if they have a lot of potential”.   
 
“Shaking the car down at Rockingham on Friday went well” says Alex, “I put in some decent lap times towards the end of the day, on a standard spec car”.  A full testing and development programme will continue with the next test at Snetterton on Tuesday, 13th May.  Alex is excited and thrilled about the move, and believes that joining Kevin Mills’ team gives him the opportunity to reach his full potential in Formula Ford.

putting him back into contention for the Scholarship Championship. This follows the extremely disappointing round at Croft which was beset with mechanical problems.  Two retirements from mechanical failures and unable to start the third race saw his 41 point Championship lead in the Scholarship class disappear overnight as he slipped back to third place.  However, a good qualifying at Brands followed by two 3rd place finishes in the Scholarship class has put him back up to 2nd place and once again in contention for the lead, although this time with a 41 point deficit! 

Hard work follows then in the next rounds ...........Rockingham on the 26th May

2nd round of the Championship was an eventful and nail-biting affair.  Qualifying on Saturday went well with Alex gaining pole in the Scholarship class and a reasonable 15th overall.

Race 1: Starting from 15th on the grid, Alex was leading his class comfortably until the safety car came out following a collision between Matt Hamilton and Glen Wood which left Wood beached. As the safety car pulled in it started to snow.  Alex again opened up a lead but a few laps later had a minor spin and lost a couple of places, one of them being to the next contender in the Scholarship class.  However, a brilliant and brave pass just beyond the start regained him his position.  Shortly after that, because of the deteriorating weather and track conditions the red flag came out.  After some initial confusion about who was where when the flag was shown, Alex was rightly awarded the Scholarship win, fastest lap and 12th overall. 

Race 2: Sunday saw a troubled start to the day with unforeseen electrical problems developing during the warm up.  Some frantic work ensued by the team and with 2 minutes to spare they made it to the grid, hearts racing and not sure whether the car would actually go the distance.  Again Alex pulled out a good lead and everything seemed well until three minutes before the end, the car cut out on track and Alex had to steer it safely off the racing line, so a DNF!   He did manage the fastest lap in class but missed the win by four laps!!  Alex said “I was really enjoying the race and had pulled out a good lead and on the back of the guys in front – absolutely gutted when the car cut but that’s racing..”.  Fastest lap though put him in pole position for the Scholarship and 14th overall in the final race.

Race 3: Between races the Team had been working relentlessly to resolve the problems and with fingers crossed Alex drove up to the grid.  A flying start moved him up two places before the first corner and within a few laps he was up to 9th overall and ahead of some of the championship runners for some laps. Deteriorating weather conditions saw cars slithering all over the track and after running comfortably in the top 10, not wanting to jeopardise his place in the Scholarship, Alex decided to bring the car home safely in 11th.   This ended a dominant weekend and placed him at the head of the Scholarship with two race wins, 3 Scholarship poles and fastest laps in all three races.    Next outing.... Croft 26th/27th April.

The 2008 Formula Ford season kicked off at Oulton Park over the Easter weekend, running alongside the Formula 3 meeting.  Alex racing in his "rookie" year in the Scholarship class had to start from the pit-lane in the first of the weekends races after his car developed a minor fault. He was making his way up the order, when the race was red-flagged following an accident. Nevertheless, he finished 15th overall, and 3rd in his class.  In the second race he started well and after establishing himself in the lead of his class, he began to draw away to finish 1st in class, 13th overall, and set the fastest lap in the closing stages to grab the extra point!  Afterwards he said "It was good, once I made a break I was able build up a nice cushion and then control the gap."  The 3rd and final race saw a brilliant start from Alex - from 13th on the grid he took two over the start line with another on the straight going up to Island bend.  Up to 10th he was close on the heels of the next runners as he approached Druid's ....alas, he caught the tail end of a collision that caused the car in front to spin, hitting Alex.  Although he was still running he could feel damage to the back end and brought the car into pit lane, so a retirement for that one.  Despite the setbacks, a good weekend overall and counting the days to the next round at Knockhill in two weeks' time.  Alex sends his thanks to the Myerscough Team who worked very hard over the weekend, undeterred by the difficult and draughty conditions, to help him on.   Finally, a big "Thank You" to all Alex's friends and supporters who turned out in force on a very cold and windy March weekend.

Anglesey Race Circuit contacted me on the 1st March to tell me they had a letter for me from a Formula Ford supporter in Germany.  They forwarded it to my home address but it has not arrived and they do not have any copy, so I am unable to respond.  If you were that person, please contact me again at the e-mail address on my "Contacts" page and I will make sure you get a reply.  Contact Me

Second test saw a damp start to the morning, and although it did dry out the track was not in a good condition all day. Nevertheless, still managed to better our times from the first test, and although some minor mechanical issues hampered progress, we got some good track time with approx 100 laps during the course of the day.

This was his first full run on the International Circuit and just the second time out in the Duratec car, and it proved to be an excellent day’s testing.  Alex was finding the acclimatisation to Duratec power a steep learning curve but quickly got down to some impressive lap times at Championship pace, and on old rubber.  Thanks to all the Myerscough Team for their hard work in preparing and setting up the car which enabled Alex to put in over 100 laps during the day. Together they gained a clear direction on how to go for the next tests. 

Stars from British Formula Ford gave an impressive account of themselves in the Autosport Show's Live Action arena, staging a total of 13 showcase races during the four-day exhibition. Alex Jones, Jamie Jardine, James Nash, David Brown, Marco Sorensen, Callum Holland and Jay Bridger were the men in action. "They were the stars of the show," said proud co-ordinator Penny Mattocks, "and there were plenty of thrills and spills to keep the audience on the edges of their seats."    Pictured left: the 2007 van Diemen chassis Alex will race with Myerscough Motorsport for the 2008 season.