Half Entry Retires In Main Ruapuna Event

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31090, 20 June 1966, Page 9

Half Entry Retires In Main Ruapuna Event

Peter Yock, of Christchurch, driving his newly-acquired Morris-Ford saloon for the first time in competition, won the Ruapuna feature race for the 20 fastest saloons yesterday. Watched by an estimated 8000, the race was marred by the retirement of half the entry, including two of the leading contenders.

The 20 cars made one slow tour of the circuit before being flagged away to a rolling start, the Cortina Corvette of J. Miller out-accelerating Yock and J. Mullins (Austin A4O) to enter the first corner at the head of the pack.

Mullins moved to challenge Yock for second place, but his engine started misfiring and he dropped back, completing another lap before retiring with a holed piston. By the second lap the order had settled to Miller, already opening a good lead, Vock, A. Batchelor (Anglia), J. Milligan (Fiat Ford), W. Bryce (Austin Cooper), Barry Brown (Austin Mini), C. Neate (Prince GT), Brian Brown (Morris Cooper S), A. Dickie (Ford), N. Steenhart (Mini), R. Butters (Anglia), W. Saville (Mini), B. McLaren (Anglia), R. Elshaw (Angjia), R. Findlater (Cortina), Mullins, M. Stanley (Cfhev. coupe), B. Lucas (Mini), and A. Murray (Sabre). Butters and Dickie retired within a lap, and on lap five Bryce was black-flagged because of a boot that would not stay closed. On the same lap the flying Miller, who now had a commanding lead, lapped the last man, Lucas. Then Yock started closing on Miller, and by the seventh lap was only two seconds behind him. The next time around he took the lead he was to hold to the flag when Miller retired the Cortina at the hairpin with apparent steering troubles. Yock was now well out in front of Batchelor, who drove his Anglia fast and steadily in second place. Behind him came Milligan’s Flat-Ford, and behind him Neate, in the Prince GT, and Brown, in the Morris Cooper S. were having a dose battle. Barry Brown and Steenhart were next, with the rest of the field well back.

By the eleventh the Prinec GT-Cooper S battle had caught up on Milligan, who, in turn, was moving up on Batchelor. Batchelor “ was making a great effort to catch Yock, and was starting to close the 16-second gap. Interest centred on the battle among the third, fourth and fifth cars, while Yock steadily and smoothly went on his winning way. Then Batchelor’s Anglia started to slow, and before long had pulled out, letting the Fiat-Ford into second place, with the Prince- GT and Brown’s Mini S in hot pursuit. About the fifteenth lap the Sabre slowed and just puttered to the finish. Neate’s Prince was unable to catch the Fiat by the flag, so came in third, with Brian Brown in the Cooper S fourth. The last of the 10 finishers was about three laps back on Yock, who had not put a wheel wrong throughout Steenhart’s Mini won the up to 1300 c.c. class, Yock the up to 2000 c.c. class, and Murray was the only finisher in the over 2001 c.c. class and thus took first place. The group two (less modified) saloon class was won by Neate in the fast Prince GT. Other Races During the supporting events D. Hayward rolled hie Cortina GT at Rothmans corner after striking a patch of oil during a saloon car. handicap race. The car was badly dwnaged but the drtver, who was wearing a seat belt, suffered only a grazed att>ow. The sports cars and singleseaters generally provided the best of the racing in the shorter events, the massive Stanton Corvette, driven by G. Mardon, again being the crowd-pleaset. L. Brownlee, in the Brabham Ford, also drove impressively, although he spun at the hairpin early in the day. ■ Miller easily won bis saloon scratch race, and Mardon headed P. GMlum (Cooper Ford) and Brownlee home in the Fingleseater and sports-car scratch event. Mullins In the A4O hzitdlly won h*s scratch event, but did not race in the handicaps. His car had been repaired after a practice engine failure on Friday, and until Saturday ho bad not expected to stzrt. Brownlee won a sports handicap after a fine drive tn a car which had one tyre slowly deflating. Mardon was second. D. Slater (Austin Cooper), who hod eartier won a scratch race, •too von Me bandkeap, but was

relegated to second for passing on the yellow flag. E. Sprague (Jaguar 3.8) was leading his saloon handicap when Hayward had his accident, but the stewards produced the red flag and stopped the race. The race had a field of only five cars, but all other races had good fields, which led to better racing. A notable feature of the meeting, which was the last of the season, was the generally high standard of the handicapping, which produced some fine finishes. This was particularly so in the last race, when Millar drove one magnificently fast lap in the Cortina Corvette in a successful effort to gain a second place. Results:—

Sports-racing cars, scratch: G. Mardon (Stapton Corvette) 1: P. Gillum (Cooper Ford) 2; L. Brownlee , (Brabham Ford) 3. Saloons, scratch: D. Slater (Austin Cooper) 1; P. Pascoe (Mini) 2; B. Koppert (Morris Minor) 3. Saloon scratch: J. Miller (Cortina Corvette) 1: C. Neate (Prince GT) 2; E. Sprague (Jaguar 3.8) 3. Saloon scratch:

J. Mullins (A4O Farina) 1: P. Yock (Morris Ford) 2; J. Milligan (Flat Ford) 3. Handicaps.—Sports racing: L. Brownlee 1; G. Mardon 2; A. Smith (120 EN Special) 3. Saloons: B. Lucas (Mini) 1; D. Slater 2; L. Jones (Morris 1000) 3. Saloons: T. Batchelor (Anglia) 1; D. Craw (Austin Cooper S) 2; R. Butters (Anglia) 3. Sports racing: L. Bryant (Cooper Vincent) 1; C. Bunce (Begg 1000) 2: G. Mardon 3. Saloons: D. Tattle (Morris) 1; M. Aynsdey (Sabre) 2; B. Lucas 3. Sports-racing: P. Gillum 1; A. Smith 2; G. Mardon 3. Saloons: B. Bryce (Austin Cooper) 1; J. Millar 2; R. Hore (Anglia) 3. Main race, fastest saloons, 20 laps: P. Yock (Morris Ford) 1; J. Milligan (Fiat Ford) 2; C. Neate (Prince GT) 3. B. Brown (Morris Cooper S) 4. Up to 1300 c.c.: N. Steenhart (Morns Mini) 1; Barry Brown (Morris Cooper) 2. 1301 to 2000 c.c.: P. Yock 1; J. Milligan 2; B. McLaren (Anglia) 3. Over 2001 c.c.: A. Murray (Sabre) 1. Group two saloons: C. Neate 1; Brian Brown 2; B. Lucas (Mini) 3.