McPhail Beats Sprague In Saloon Duel

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31660, 22 April 1968, Page 9

McPhail Beats Sprague In Saloon Duel

In a race-long battle R. McPhail, of Christchurch, in a 33-litre Vauxhall Velox, held off the veteran saloon-racing driver, E. Sprague (Ford Zodiac Mk III), to win the productioncar category in the Rothmans feature race at Ruapuna Park racing circuit yesterday.

Because of the small number of unmodified saloons entered for the feature race, the field was made up with modified saloons, which started from three-quarters to one lap back on the production cars and did not run for the production-car award. At the end of the 30 minutes the first three places were filled by modified cars, the immaculate Lotus Cortina driven by J. Kennedy taking first place from R. Here in an earlier-model Lotus Cortina. B. Koppert brought his Mini in third after a fine drive. McPhail finished next, with Sprague about 50 yards behind him, the gap between the two cars having increased in the last laps as the brake trouble which had dogged Sprague since the seventh lap continued to plague him. The third-placed production car, the Fiat 1500 driven by L. Leonard, kept close to Sprague and McPhail until the twentieth of the 29 laps, when he lost two laps repairing faulty throttle linkage. At the start McPhail shot into the lead with Sprague inches behind him. and they with Leonard soon opened a large gap on the rest of the field. Overtaken The other production cars were steadily overhauled by the modified cars, and eventually finished well back. The battle among , the three leaders, and particularly Sprague's furious hounding of

McPhail, kept the crowd excited. Time and again the big white Zodiac pushed alongside the Vauxhall, and on the ninth and tenth laps it even got ahead. But on the eleventh lap McPhail slipped back into the lead under braking, and Sprague had to pump his brakes when slowing for the curves. The three leaders still stayed within feet of each other, however, and on the eighteenth lap the Lotus Cortina of R. Hore took over the lead. Kennedy had been driving magnificently further back and steadily making up ground, as had Koppert, and on the twenty-eighth lap he passed Hore into first spot, having earlier taken second place from Koppert. Kennedy and Hore, feet apart, led in Koppert, then McPhail and Sprague. Scratch Races Saloons: B. McLaren (Anglia) 1. B. Lucas (Mini Cooper) 2, P. Kirk (40 Farina) 3. Saloons: N. Doyle (Anglia Corvette) 1, A. Murray (Sabre) 2, J. Kennedy (Lotus Cortina) 3. Sportsracing cars: B. Hawes (Begg Corvette) 1, J. Armstrong (Lotus Climax) 2, L. Bryant (Valour Ford) 3. Saloons: L. Neilson ("Mini Cooper) 1, E. Sprague (Anglia) 2, P. Pascoe (A4O Farina) 3. Handicap Races . Saloons: S. Richmond (Anglia) f, I. Jacobsen (Morris) 2, B. Lucas (Mini Cooper) 3. Saloons: N. Doyle 1, R. Silvester (Chevrolet Corvette) 2, J. Kennedy 3. Sports-racing: P. De Lore (Cooper Vincent) 1, A. McCully (Repco Brabham) 2, W. Cameron (Taylor Imp) 3.

Saloons: R. Slade (Anglia GT) 1, E. Sprague (Anglia) 2, P. Pascoe 3. Saloons: J. Kennedy 1, B. Koppert (Mini) 2, E. Sprague (Zodiac) 3. Saloons: J. Harvey (Mini Cooper) 1, T. Anderson (Honda) 2, I. Jacobsen 3. Saloons: A. Murray 1, P. Kocis (Ford Spl) 2, M. Stanley (Chevrolet V 8) 3. Sports-racing: P. De Lore 1, L. Bryant 2, G. Baker (Lotus) 3. Saloons: P. Pascoe 1, E. Sprague (Anglia) 2, R. Slade 3. Saloons: I. Jacobsen 1, M. Creswell (Austin Cooper) 2, T. Anderson 3. Saloons: P. Kocis 1, A. Murray 2, M. Stanley 3. Sports-racing: L. Bryant 1, A. Murdoch (Lotus 20B) 2, G. Baker 3. Saloon feature race preliminary (scratch): J. Kennedy 1, B. Koppert 2, E. Sprague 3. Rothmans saloon feature race, over-all: J. Kennedy (Lotus Cortina) 1, R. Hore (Lotus Cortina) 2, B. Koppert (Mini) 3. Production saloons, over 2000 c.c.: R. McPhail (Vauxhall Velox) 1, E. Sprague (Ford Zodiac) 2, C. Jamieson (Holden) 3. 1301 to 2000 c.c.: L. Leonard (Fiat 1500) 1. R. Silvester (Hillman) 2. 1001 to 1300 c.c.: V. Blackburn (Datsun) 1. Up to 1000 c.c.: K. Smeaton (Mini) 1, E. Mackie (Anglia) 2. Modified saloons: Kennedy 1, Hore 2, Koppert 3. Motor-cyclas Scratch race: I. McGregor (350 A.J.S.) 1, N. Duncan (250 Suzuki) 2, K. Hanham (250 Suzuki) 3. First handicap: W. Guy (250 Yamaha) 1, I. McGregor 2, N. Duncan 3. Second handicap: P. Armstrong (250 Suzuki) 1, I. McGregor 2, E. Hussey (305 Honda) 3.