Mathew Hart walked away from the field to win his third race of the 2012 Australian Formula Ford Championship today, as last lap moves spread the field in the opening heat at Queensland Raceway.

Starting from second position, Hart battled with pole sitter Garry Jacobson through to the mid part of the race, before forging ahead to a final victory margin of 4.5 seconds.

Second position went to a hard charging Championship leader Jack Le Brocq, with local driver Shae Davies making a last corner move on Jacobson stick to gain third place.

"It's a good start to the weekend, I think the consistent pace we had in practice showed through in the race," Hart said. "Hopefully for the fans tomorrow it's a bit closer, but from my perspective, I'm happy to have another race like that.

"The key is to carry a lot of corner exit speed, and after Garry had a small off, I was able to keep my eyes forward. It's pleasing to bounce back after a tough weekend in Townsville."

Behind the leaders there was carnage at the final turn, with rookie contenders Sam Power, Macauley Jones and Simon Hodge battling hard for fifth place.

Power rode over the rear wheel of Jones, with the pair out on the spot, and fortunate to walk away unharmed from their machines. With Hodge running wide and dropping back to eventually finish in ninth, Anton De Pasquale snuck through to score a personal best result of fifth.

"I'm happy with that, to finish fifth in only my second national round is a great result," De Pasquale said. "I was catching the pack ahead of me, and decided to just hold back a bit on the last lap as they were battling hard. It paid dividends, and hopefully we can carry the form into the rest of the weekend.

"Having Garry (Jacobson) and Rhett (Noonan) as team mates has really helped speed up the learning process this weekend."

Matt Campbell in sixth also registered his best result to date, ahead of Jordan Lloyd, and Rhett Noonan, with David Sera rounding out the top ten. There was also drama on the initial race start, with Ash Quiddington, Luke Fraser and Dylan Richter tangling on the run to the first corner, with Quiddington and Fraser eliminated on the spot.

All cars should be repaired in time for tomorrow's second race, which is scheduled for 10:50am.

FORMULA FORD RACE 1 RESULTS

1.	Mathew Hart	ACT	17:28.6056
2.	Jack LeBrocq	VIC	17:33.1298
3.	Shae Davies	QLD	17:33.4367
4.	Garry Jacobson	VIC	17:33.6931
5.	Anton De Pasquale	VIC	1:14.7534
6.	Matt Campbell	QLD	17:41.1141
7.	Jordan Lloyd	QLD	17:41.7798
8.	Rhett Noonan	WA	17:42.5500
9.	Simon Hodge	SA	17:44.8719
10.	David Sera	VIC	17:52.0666