{"id":3621,"date":"2016-10-21T22:13:31","date_gmt":"2016-10-21T22:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/?p=3621"},"modified":"2016-10-21T22:38:19","modified_gmt":"2016-10-21T22:38:19","slug":"kirkwood-askew-set-for-the-formula-ford-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/?p=3621","title":{"rendered":"Kirkwood, Askew Set for the Formula Ford Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kirkwood (left) and Askew are as prepared as they can be.<\/p><\/div>\n

BRANDS HATCH, England<\/strong> \u2013 Kyle Kirkwood\u00a0and Oliver Askew have turned competitive lap times in pre-event testing and feel well-prepared to make their European car racing debuts in this weekend\u2019s 45th annual Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. The childhood friends and long-time karting rivals from Jupiter, Fla., will carry the patriotic red, white and blue Team USA Scholarship colors on their pair of Ray Formula Ford cars prepared by Cliff Dempsey Racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they first arrived I realized we had two really nice guys, so I\u2019m happy with them from that point of view,\u201d said Dempsey. \u201cObviously it\u2019s a completely new situation for them and they\u2019re new for me but everything seems to be coming together really well. Kyle wanted a slightly different setup to the other guys but when we figured that out and put it on his car he was right on the pace. Overall I\u2019m really pleased with them but I don\u2019t want to say too much because as soon as I do that it will all go pear-shaped, so I\u2019d rather see what we can do and then speak about it on Sunday evening if we do something good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kirkwood and Askew will follow in the footsteps of former IndyCar champion Jimmy Vasser, who competed in the same event as the first-ever Team USA Scholarship winner in 1990, and fellow IndyCar race winner and Indianapolis 500-winning team owner Bryan Herta (1991), as well as recently announced Team Penske Verizon IndyCar Series driver Josef Newgarden, who continued their legacy in 2008 by becoming the first-ever American winner of the Festival.<\/p>\n

After initial shakedown tests at Silverstone and Rockingham Motor Speedway, Kirkwood and Askew have spent the past three days learning the nuances of the short but challenging 1.2-mile Brands Hatch Indy circuit.<\/p>\n

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Jeff Tan images.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe track is amazing,\u201d said Kirkwood, \u201cespecially the elevation change through Paddock Hill Bend. It\u2019s very technical to drive and I think after three days of practice we\u2019re as ready as we\u2019ll ever be. We\u2019ve been at or near the top of the time charts for a majority of the practices and I\u2019m really looking forward to starting the event off with qualifying tomorrow morning!\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Festival has drawn over 60 entries and a long list of potential winners, including BRSCC Avon Tires Formula Ford 1600 Champion Niall Murray, Beaton\u2019s Scottish FF1600 Champion Neil Maclennan and perennial Formula Ford front-runners and champions Graham Carroll and Joey Foster, plus former British Formula Ford champion Scott Malvern, who is returning to the fray after a lengthy absence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Formula Ford Festival is the most prestigious and most historic FF1600 meeting in the world,\u201d added Askew. \u201cBrands Hatch is a legendary track and I think of it as a bullring because there is barely any time to rest. Everyone will be watching and I believe with the team I have behind me, we can put forth a great effort. I hope to use this opportunity as a stepping stone for my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Please check out the live timing over the weekend at http:\/\/tsl-timing.com\/event\/164231<\/a>.<\/p>\n

About Team USA Scholarship<\/strong>:
\nThe program has been providing opportunities for talented American race car drivers at an early stage in their careers since 1990. Supporters include Doug Mockett & Company, the Road Racing Drivers Club and SAFEisFAST.com<\/a>, Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda Performance Development, Basecamp, Robertson Racing, CXC Simulations, Lucas Oil School of Racing, PitFit Training, RaceCraft1, Sparco USA, Bell Racing, RACER Magazine, Speedstar Management, Styled Aesthetic and Manifest Group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BRANDS HATCH, England \u2013 Kyle Kirkwood\u00a0and Oliver Askew have turned competitive lap times in pre-event testing and feel well-prepared to make their European car racing debuts in this weekend\u2019s 45th annual Formula Ford Festival at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3621"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3626,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621\/revisions\/3626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}