SPEEDWAY RACING Moore Leads N.Z. Team To Beat Scotland

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31275, 23 January 1967, Page 17

SPEEDWAY RACING Moore Leads N.Z. Team To Beat Scotland

The mastery of former world champion R. Moore, and the splendid supporting role of his fellow team member, H. Cole, carried the New Zealand motor-cycle speedway team to an impressive victory over Scotland at the Templeton Stadium on Saturday night.

New Zealand scored 13 points to Scotland’s four, and would have taken maximum points if Cole’s motor had not failed in the final heat. Moore was at his most brilliant. He won all three four-lap races with ease and took the maximum of nine points. Cole gained four points from two seconds. He would have won at least two more if his motor had not failed in the final heat when he was leading. The two Scotsmen, D. Templeton and J. Tannock, were disappointing, although some allowance had to be made for the strangeness of the track. Tannoch failed to score a single point and Templeton, a former Scottish champion, was lucky to finish with four points. However, both visiting riders improved considerably as the night progressed and will no doubt be able to give a good account of themselves when they join the English rider, R. Andrews, in the Auckland team to meet Canterbury next Saturday. Andrews Templeton and Tannoch are under contract to the Western Springs Stadium in Auckland.

Perhaps the most outstanding feature of the international match, the first held in or near Christchurch for more than 10 years, was the manner in which Moore and' Cole, an English league rider living in Christchurch, combined. In each of the three races the pair managed to get to the front before the end of the pit straight the first time round and from then rode almost side by side. The times of all three races were slower than either Moore or Cole normally achieves in ordinary, scratch races, a sure sign that they were never pressed. Vital Race The defending South Island speedcar champion, R. T. Hall, lost a certain first place in the eight-lap feature race for championship points when his car was enveloped in steam, the result of a burst water hose, and he had to withdraw. At the time he was on his third lap almost a quarter of a lap ahead of his nearest challenger, R. Clive.

He continued on into the fourth lap with clouds of steam streaming from his Taubmans Special but quickly realised that he had no alternative but to stop. This was a great pity for the race could have been a vital one for the championship.

Before the race he was within three points of the

leader, Clive. Clive took the lead and increased his points margin to six.

Earlier in the evening, Hall dominated the Rothmans £lOO feature scratch of six laps and now has 17 points in the series. N. Hawkins and Clive are second equal with eight points. D. Harper was not troubled to win the rerun of the threequarter midget scratch race for South Island championship points after the joint leader, D. Richens, had been taken to hospital after a spectacular crash. This gave him the lead in the series, three points ahead of Richens. The only record was by J. Annan in the eight-lap stock rod scratch race. He drove a particularly well judged race in the outstanding time of 2min 55.7sec—l.lsec inside D. Cameron’s record and 3.3 sec faster than the winning time in the equivalent speedcar event. Cameron, the defending champion was second. Of particular interest was the first appearance of P. Annan’s new sportsman single seater. This showed great potential but was put out of the main race by a shunt. Results were: MOTOR-CYCLES New Zealand versus Scotland (cash race, four laps).—First heat: R. Moore (N.Z.) 1, H. Cole (N.Z.) 2, D. Templeton (Scot-

land) 3, J. Tannock (Scotland) 4. Time, 84.0. Second heat: Moore 1, Cole 2, Templeton 3, Tannock 4. Time, 84.0. Third heat: R. Moore 1, D. Templeton 2. Time 83.0. Final points: New Zealand (Moore 9, Cole 4) 13. Scotland <D. Templeton 4, J. Tannock 0) 4. Solo Handicap Events (four laps).—First race: R. Moore (170 yd 1, T. Black (130 yd 2, W. Moulin (130 yd 3. Time, 88.8. Second race: M. Burt (120 yd 1. H. Cole (160 yd 2, R. McKinley (40yd) 3. Time, 90.8. Third race: M. Burt (120 yd 1, T. Mauger (130 yd 2. W. Moulin (130 yd 3. Time. 90.5. Fourth race: T. Mauger (120 yd 1, T. Black (130 yd 2, R McKinley <soyds) 3. Time. 88.4. Fifth race: M. Burt (120 yd 1. T. Black (130 yd 2. T. Mauger (130 yd 3. Time, 88.7. Side-car Events (three laps). •—First race: I. Begbie (rider) and D. Harper (passenger), go, 1; W. Philp and B. Savage, 40yd, 2. Time, 72.8. Second race: Begbie and Harper, go, 1; Philp and Savage, 40yd, 2. Third race: Philp and Savage, 50 yd, 1; Begbie and Harper, go, 2. Time, 74.5. MIDGET CARS Three-Quarter Midget Racing Cars.—Opening handicap (four laps): J. Mayer (60yd) 1. H. Taylor (go) 2, D. Jones (120 yd 3. Time, 94.0. Second handicap: (six laps): D. Harper (170 yd 1, D. Richens (160 yd 2, D. Jones (120 yd 3. Time. 2:19.2. Scratch race for S.I. championship points (eight laps): D. Harper 1, D. Jones 2. H. Taylor 3. Time, 3:1. Progress points: Harper 27, Richens 24, G. Roxburgh 10.

Speed Cars (full-size midget cars). —Opening handicap (four laps): A. Coles (100 yd 1, G. Roxburgh (60yd) 2, T. Hall (160 yd 3. Time, 91.3. Rothmans £lOO feature scratch (six laps): T. Hall 1, N. Hawkins 2, R. Clive 3. Time, 2:14.2. Scratch race for S.I. championship points (eight laps): R. Clive 1, N. Hawkins 2, A. Coles 3. Time, 2:59. Progress points: Clive 26, Hall 20, Hawkins 6, R. Mead 6, G. Tickink 6. STOCK ROOS Stock Rod Events.—-Opening handicap (four laps): W. Rushbridge (140 yd 1, P. Annan 2. J. Annan 3. Time, 97.8. Second handicap (six laps): D. Cameron (170 yd 1. W. Rushbridge (160yds) 2, J. Annan (180yds) 3. Time, 2:21.1. Scratch race for S. championship points (eight laps): J. Annan 1, D. Cameron 2, W. Rushbridge 3. Time, 2:55.7 (record). Progress points: J. Annan 26, Cameron 24, P. Annan 15, W. Rushbridge 15.