SPEEDWAY RACING

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28554, 7 April 1958, Page 8

SPEEDWAY RACING

Midget Championship To B. Harris Canterbury gained its second national title in two weeks when the New Zealand miaget car championships were held on the final night of the season at the Aranui Speedway on Saturday. B. Harris won the championship with a total of 11 points, gained from three wins and a second. Harris won his first three races in good style but had to accept second place behind J. Alexander in his final start. Local championships on their home tracks limited the number of competitors from other centres, and visiting drivers were not successful in winning any of the major handicaps. J.' Shaw, who had won the New Zealand T.Q. championship at Auckland the previous week, climaxed a highly successful season by winning the first two races in which he started. Shaw was less fortunate in his next two races. In the T.Q. scratch event he finished first, but was disqualified for an infringement of the rules. In his final start Shaw was leading when his steering failed, and he crashed into the fence on- the southern bend. There were two other spectacular crashes. L. Ray’s car was extensively damaged when he failed to take the northern bend, and in the last race N. Floyd struck and shattered the fence when he was forced to shift to the outside of the track. Neither of the drivers was hurt. M. Houston’s forceful tactics carried him quickly past the other riders in the Aranui solo handicap. Houston was starting 100 yards behind the limit riders. Results were:— New Zealand Midget Car Championship.—Race 1: B. Harris I, J. Alexander 2, E. Wilde 3. Time, 2min Bsec. Race 2: E. Wilde 1, D. Rutherford 2, J. Alexander 3. Time, 2mln 9sec. Race 3: B. Harris 1, B. Bone 2, M. Malcolm 3. Time, 2mln 12sec. Race 4: E. Wilde 1, R. Payne 2, N. Floyd 3. Time, 2min 10.4 sec. Race 5: B. Harris 1. B. Bone 2, J. Alexander 3. Time, 2min 6.6 sec. Race 6: J. Alexander 1, B. Harris 2, D. Rutherford 3. Time, 2min B.6sec. Grand I Slam Midget Race.—M. Sloan 1, J. Alexander 2, E. Wilde 3. Time, 3min 38sec. T.Q. Midget Races.—Race 1: J. Shaw 1, R. Lang and S. Grafton (equal) 2. Time, 88sec. Race 2: J. Shaw 1, S. Grafton 2, S. Wilkinson 3. Time, 2min 12sec. Race 3: J. Lowe 1, S. Grafton 2, J. Shaw 3. Race 4: S. Grafton 1, S. Wilkinson 2, J. Lowe 3. Time, 2min 17sec. Motor-cycle Races.—Race 1: M . Collinson 1, S. Harrison 2. E. Bryan 3. Time, 90sec. Race 2: M. Houston 1, A. Thomas 2. M. Daniels 3. Time. 86.6 sec. Race 3: J. Lee 1, D. Brown 2, B. Savage 3. Time, 86sec. Race 4: J. Lee 1. B. McKeown 2. B. Savage 3. Time, 85.8 sec. Race 5: S. Harrison 1, D. Brown 2, M. Houston 3, Time, 85.2 sec.