Cody Burcher is making a point of not getting too far ahead of himself, despite an incredible start to his Formula Ford career so far this year.
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In his rookie year the 15-year-old Orange phenom has exceeded all expectations – well, his expectations anyway – and rocketed to third on the NSW and Victorian State Series, through two and three rounds respectively.
“Not at all, definitely not,” Burcher said, when asked if he’d considered being in the frame for a series podium so early in his first foray into single-seat, open-wheeler formula racing.
“I actually thought I might struggle to get inside the top 10 or 15, so to be sitting this in both the NSW and Victoria series’ is pretty amazing.
“I guess a podium finish in any of the rounds is always in the back of your mind but not so much overall, I’m really pleased with how I’ve been going so far but I’m not going to get far ahead of myself, there’s still plenty to work on, I can always improve.”
Improve he has too, particularly in the Victorian Series, which he explained is his top priority.
Driving his Spectrum 012B, Burcher has continually challenged for, and at times earned top three finishes across both state series’ but took it to another level in the Victorian series’ third round at Winton Raceway last weekend.
In sopping conditions Burcher qualified fourth although he admitted he “messed up” his fast lap, before contending for the lead in all three races over the weekend despite his inexperience in the wet.
In the first of the weekend’s three races he shot to second from the line and went on to finish the race there with “a comfortable gap to third”, and in his second race he pushed to an early lead.
“I held the lead for five or so laps but I fell back to second. I finished there with the fastest lap of the race too,” Burcher said.
After an early safety car mixed things up in last weekend’s third and final race, Burcher pushed hard but admitted he didn’t have the speed once the track dried, finishing fifth, which was still enough for the young gun to finish second overall for the weekend.
“Knowing what we had to do in that third race to stay on the overall podium we took a bit of a chance and kept the wet set-up on, a lot of the other guys changed to a dry set-up,” Burcher explained.
“I was really happy with the way I drove over the weekend, in really wet conditions.”
Burcher is now looking ahead to the third round of the NSW State Series at Sydney Motorsport Park on June 30 and July 1, admitting he has begun thinking a bit more about podium finishes.
“I’d love to get a few more but as I said, I don’t want to get ahead of myself,” he explained.
“There’s plenty I can improve on and I’ll just look to get better where I need and see what happens.”
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
