IT was disappointment for Chippenham’s Adam Higgins today, as the reigning Castle Combe Formula Ford champion was unable to retain his title after retiring in the final round of the season.

Higgins trailed championship leader Roger Orgee by 19 points heading into the final round but found himself only sixth on the grid, one spot behind his title rival.

But any hope of retaining his title vanished after only a handful of laps, as the reigning champion was forced to bring his Van Diemen into the pits with a mechanical problem.

“A bolt thread came out and it wasn’t safe to carry on”, said Higgins.

“I noticed it on the warm-up lap and I thought about carrying on but it was just getting worse and worse.

“I needed a miracle anyway [to win the title] so it was pointless carrying on.

“I’ve been plagued with problems all year and you can’t win anything without a bit of luck.”

With Higgins out of the race, Orgee maintained a comfortable third-place to the finish while Josh Fisher and Michael Moyers were locked in an intense battle for the lead, with Fisher coming out on top as both cars crossed the finish line on the grass.

“It’s amazing, it’s such a good feeling to get the championship,” said Orgee, whose father, Roger, also won the Castle Combe Formula Ford title in 1974.

“There was naturally a few nerves before the race about things going wrong but I was being calm and positive and I knew what I needed to do.

“I didn’t know Adam had retired but I just wanted to makes sure I finished in third.”

Elsewhere in the field, Chippenham’s Luke Cooper claimed his seventh Class B win of the season with a fourth-place finish while Melksham’s Ed Moore was forced to retire from the race with mechanical problems.

In the Formula Ford Carnival race, Cooper had the chance to end the season with a win after starting from pole but found himself down to third by the end of lap two.

In a repeat of the first race, both Fisher and Moyers battled each other hard to the finish with Moyers coming out on top, followed by Fisher with Nathan Ward finishing in third-place.

Orgee finished fourth, while Cooper, Higgins and Moore crossed the line in fifth, sixth and seventh places respectively.

In the Saloon Car Championship, Seend’s Adrian Slade claimed his first title in seven years of trying after taking victory in Class C and claiming the championship.

Slade said: “It’s fantastic, I only needed three points [to beat James Keepin].

“The track has been greasy all day and I got in front of James but I decided to let him by as I knew I just needed to finish behind him.

“But someone spun in front of us and took him out but that could easily have been me."

There was also drama at the front of the saloon field, as Gary Prebble claimed the Class A championship by a single point from Tony Hutchings, after the Calne racer lost second-place with only a few laps to go after spinning off and finishing fourth.

And in a popular Historic Formula 3 race, Sweden’s Leif Bosson claimed the title in his Brabham BT28 after finishing sixth.