Accidents and records at Templeton Speedway

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32525, 8 February 1971, Page 7

Accidents and records at Templeton Speedway

Numerous spills, collisions, reruns anti records kept a small attendance of speedway fans highly entertained at the Templeton Speedway on Saturday night.

The meeting began on an unfortunate note when, in the second event on the night’s programme, a four-lap motor-cycle race, K. Young crashed from his machine at the first bend after having clipped the rear wheel of another competitor’s motor-cycle.

He skidded across the track and lay motionless for several minutes before being taken by ambulance to hospital for observation. Five events later the ambulance was again on the track after a spectacular collision between two novice riders, L. Russell and M. Brown.

Brown’s machine came down on the prison bend amidst the rest of the field. Russell, directly behind him, (was unable to do anything except ride over the top of him. Neither sustained any ! serious injuries, although Brown was obviously shaken and decided to spend the night in hospital. BEST RACING Some of the evening’s best racing was provided by the three-quarter midget cars. This class is attracting additional entries nearly every week and as the field grows larger so does the competition intensify. A new lap record was established by K. Stephens in the feature T.Q. race—the South j Island points championship event. Taking full advantage of •a favourable grid draw, Stephens , led from the outset, and although two leading drivers, A. Palmer and R. Burt, chased him ■ throughout, he was untroubled to win in a time of 2min 47.95ec 1 —lsec inside Palmer’s old record, i These three drivers demonstrated their superiority on the night when they filled the first three positions in the other T.Q. I scratch race. However, this time it was Burt who capitalised on a front-row position, to lead home Stephens and Palmer. To finish third, Palmer had to come from the back of the field, and his drive was an excellent one. Riding right up to the form that gave him three second placings to the world champion, I. Mauger last Saturday, A. Brown crushed his opposition in the four motor-cycle races he entered. In the four-lap solo scratch event, Brown was beaten at the start by T. Black, but his quick acceleration from the bends enabled him to slip through Black and from then on he was never in danger of defeat.

Another leading Canterbury rider, R. Wright, made one of I his rare lapses on the second •lap and came to grief. Brown’s j time in the race of 80.5 sec was i the fastest of the night and might win him a berth in the i N’ew Zealand team to contest the third test against the British Lions at Templeton on February 20. ANNAN'S RECORD The second record to be broken came in the Stan Wheatley eight-lap race for super-modified cars. P. Annan was forced to i drive his Ford Mustang-powered stock rod to its maximum to hold out a determined challenge from J. Erickson’s distinctive yellow “007” machine. Annan’s time lowered the old record, held by his brother Joe, by .Isec. The night’s racing ended tn an abrupt, sensational manner. The field in the final race—an eight-lap handicap eVent for the super-modified section —was making its way out of the prison bend for the first time when B.

Annan apparently lost control and nose-dived through the safety fence. Annan and his car appeared to be unscathed, but the fence was damaged considerably. Officials, realising that it would be impossible to repair the fence in time to restart the race, had no option but to end the meeting. Results:

MOTOR-CYCLES Solo handicap events (four laps).—First race: R. Wright (60yd) 1, R. Herdman (30yd) 2, G. Stapleton (30yd) 3. Time: 86.3. Second race: R. Hall (10yd) 1, D. Sincock (30yd) 2, G. Jemmett (10yd) 3. Time: 89.4, Third race: A. Brown (80yd) 1, T. Black (50yd) 2, K. Burt (20yd) 3. Time: 84.0. Fourth race: R. Clarkson (60yd) 1, G. Jemmett (10yd) 2, S Woods (30yd) 3. Time: 88.6. Fifth race: T. Black (60yd) 1. A. Nes bitt (30yd) 2, R. Wright (80yd) 3 No time. Sixth race: A. Brown (90yd) 1, M. Salt (40yd) 2, R Herdman (40yd) 3. Time: 85.6. Seventh race: S. Foster (10yd) 1. K. Burt (20yd) 2, B. Valentine (20yd) 3. Time: 86.8. Eighth race: A. Brown (60yd) 1, A. Nes bitt (go) 2, T. Black (30yd) 3 Time: 82.9. Solo novice events (four laps) —First handicap: B. Turnei (60yd) 1. L. Russell (go) 2, M. Brown (20yd) 3. Time: 95.0. Second handicap: L. Ross (20yd) 1, M. Johns (20yd) 2. J. Cowan (20yd) 3. Time: 95.5. Solo scratch race (four laps).— A. Brown 1, T. Black 2, A. Nes bitt 3. Time: 80.5. Side-car events (four laps).—

First handicap: N. Hill and B Lynch (10yd) 1, L. Dwight, Jun., and G. Cox (60yd) 2, L. Dwight, sen., and S. Unwin (100 yd 3. Time: 91.2. Second handicap: Dwight, Jun., and Cox (60yd) 1, Dwight, sen., and Unwin (100 yd 2, Hill and Lynch (20yd) 3. Time: 90.6. Bex Russell scratch race (four laps): Dwight, jun., and Cox 1, Dwight, sen., and Unwin 2, W. Philp and B. Mulqueen 3 Time: 95.7. MIDGET CARS Three-quarter midget cars.— Opening handicap (six laps): D. Mathias (go) 1, W. Denovan (10yd) 2, R. Burt (100 yd 3. Time: 2:9.3. South Island championship points race (eight laps): K. Stephens 1, A. Palmer 2, R. Burt 3. Time: 2:47.2. John Morris challenge scratch (six laps): R. Burt 1, Stephens 2, A. Palmer 3. Time: 2:7.3. Midget cars.—Opening handicap (six laps): J. McKltterick (140 yd 1, R. Mead (130 yd 2, E. Murray (150 yd 3. Time: 2:5.7. Second handicap (eight laps): M. Burt (50yd) 1, McKltterick (140 yd 2, T. Hall (150 yd 3. Time: 2:49.5. Rothmans feature (eight laps): McKltterick 1, Hall 2, R. Mead 3. Time: 2:44.1. STOCK RODS Super-modified stock rods.— Opening handicap (eight laps): J. Erickson (90yd) 1, B. Annan (80yd) 2, P. Annan (120 yd 3. Time: 2:50.2. Stan Wheatley feature (eight laps): P. Annan 1, Erickson 2, H. Pierson 3. Time: 2:44.9.