TONY Worswick tightened his grip on the BOSS Formula championship after an dazzling performance at Brands Hatch.

The Blackburn engineer looked set to dominate the 25-lap race after putting his Jordan 194 on the front row of the grid.

But disaster struck when the lights turned to green - and ex-Rubens Barrichello machine stalled.

"I was trying to get a really good start. Sometimes it can backfire, and this time it did," he explained.

"I lost around 20 seconds before the car could be push-started by the marshals, and with a lap of the Indy circuit only taking 40 seconds, the others were halfway round when I got going!"

The championship leader then set about catching the rest of the field, and in a remarkable display of car control, carved his way through the field to take a brilliant third place.

"I'm sure some of the manoeuvres aren't in the book, but I was determined to catch them," he said.

"We were overtaking everywhere there was a gap, inside Paddock bend and round the outside at Druids. In the end I ran out of laps, I'm sure if the race had lasted a bit longer I could have won.

"It was brilliant fun though, much better than just leading from the front, and easily my most enjoyable race of the year."

Worswick's charge through the field demoted his main rival for the championship, European Aviation driver Rob Gray, driving a Tyrell, down into fifth place.

With just two more rounds in the championship left and 30 points between the two, the 1999 BOSS title could be heading to East Lancashire as early as next week.

Said Worswick: "We're at Donington Park on September 4, and Rob will need to win there and me retire to have any chance of closing the gap. Mathematically, we're nearly there."

Result - 1: Earl Goddard (Reynard 95D) 17m 19.64s; 2: Dave Hutchinson (Benetton 194); 3: Tony Worswick (Jordan 194) 4: Paul Stoddart (Tyrrell 024); 5: Rob Gray (Tyrrell 024).

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