Stapleton beats N.Z. speedway champion

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32776, 29 November 1971, Page 16

Stapleton beats N.Z. speedway champion

The amazing progress that the former scrambles champion, G. J. Stapleton, has made since he turned his attention to speedway racing a little more than a year ago was highlighted at Templeton on Saturday night when he won two of the three main solo scratch races.

The reigning New Zealand champion, F. Shuter, and the test rider, A. Brown, made their first appearances of the season at the track on Saturday, but on the night they were no match for the flying Stapleton. If he can maintain his form, he will be certain of winning test honours for New Zealand against Britain and Sweden later this season.

Shuter salvaged his reputation with a fine win in the supersix scratch event in 82sec when Stapleton was put out of the running by an incident beyond his control. Brown slid down on the Prison Bend, parted company with his machine, and rolled for about 20ft into the safety fence. Stapleton, in fourth place at this stage, had to take evasive action and then slowed right down as he looked back to see if Brown was all right. Satisfied, he accelerated away to claim third place behind Shuter and R. Wright. . Even before the spill, Shuter appeared to have the race well within his grasp. Nevertheless, in all his outings. Stapleton showed a remarkable ability to come from behind, often from seemingly impossible positions. In the first A grade scratch race. Shuter and Brown were first out the gate. and. at the end of two laps. Brown led Shuter with Stapleton trailing in third. Then, with a truly outstanding display of riding. Stapleton went round the outside of Shuter and slid through Inside Brown to take the lead. At the finish he was 30 yards clear of Brown, who finished second. His time 80.6 sec was the fastest of the night. Shuter won the second scratch clash after one false start in which both T. Black and S. Foster lost control leaving the grid. Black was taken from the track by ambulance, but later recovered to ride again. The third scratch race, restricted to the top four riders— Stapleton, Shuter. Wright and Brown-promised to be a tremendous battle with personal honour at stake. Stapleton once again made a dreadful start and was last away. Wright, who produced some very praiseworthy form during the evening, led the first lap with Shuter, Brown and Stapleton right on his heels. Shuter briefly took over the lead on the second lap before Stapleton went by the entire field with a tremendous burst. Brown followed him through and Wright also managed to get past Shuter. But from that point there was only one rider in it Stapleton was soon well ahead and the rest were left to fight out the minor placings. Although this was vintage racing, Stapleton’s best performance of the evening was probably in his first handicap race. Off the back handicap of 60 yds with Brown, he had taken the lead before the end of the first lap and finished well clear in 81.6 sec. His time for flying four laps was 77.75ec. He also won his only other handicap race. Wright was another in grand form in the handicap events. Twice he was given a 10yd advantage over Shuter and both times he was able to hold off the national champion bs’ a comfortable margin. There is obviously some great solo racing ahead when Shuter and Brown become race fit.

COSTLY NIGHT It proved an expensive night for the midget cars. In the first handicap the South Island champion, J. McKitterick, spun up and R. T. Hall clouted him a tremendous blow. The cars of both drivers had to be towed away and Hall was unable to race again. Later in the evening, all but three cars were eliminated in a spectacular series of collisions in the Wynns Challenge Trophy event. This was won by M. Burt, who had also been involved in a minor collision but had escaped unscathed. In the supermodified rod class, the national champion, P. Annan, had the edge on his rivals. He

won two events, including the South Island championship points race, and was second to S. Everett in his opening handicap event. The feature side-car event was won by B. Keirnan and H. Jones in their unusual outfit powered by a VW car engine. However,! their task was made easy when other leading contenders elimin-i ated themselves. N. Hill and B.! Lynch spun their machine on the first lap and were thrown oft. The race was stopped while the track was cleared, but in the re-run—almost on the same .spot —L. Dwight sen., and S. Unwin swung broadside on across the track.

Following close behind. L. Dwight jun. and G. Pullen smashed into them. The race was again stopped, and neither of the two teams were able to continue.

R. Burt won two of the three three-quarter midget racing car events in fine style. His form in the final six-lap scratch race was particularly impressive. His time of 2min 4sec was an excellent one. Results were:—

Motor-cycles Solo scratch events (4 laps).— A grade event: G. Stapleton If A. Brown 2, F. Shuter 3. Time, 80.6. Super six scratch: Shuter 1, R. Wright 2, Stapleton 3. Time. 82.0, Invitation flying four: Stapleton 1, Brown 2, Wright 3, Shuter 4. Time, 82.0. Solo A grade handicap events (4 laps).—First race: G. Stapleton (60yd) 1, R. Wright (50yd) 2, A. Brown (60yd) 3. Time, 81.6. Second race: Wright (50yd) 1, F. I Shuter (60yd) 2, T. Black (50yd) 3. Time, 82.6. Third race: Stapleton (60yd) 1. Brown (60yd) 2, S. Foster (30yd) 3. Time, 85.5. Fourth race: Wright (50yd) 1, Shuter (60yd) 2. T. Black (50yd) 3. 84.5.

.line, Solo B grade handicap events (4 laps).—First event: G. Stewart (30yd) 1. G. Jemmett (50yd) 2, M. Johns (10yd) 3. Time, 89.6. Second event: W. Irvine (go) 1, G. Stone (20yd) 2, R. Dunley (go) 3. Time, 89.0, Third event: L. Ross (30yd) 1, S. Woods (40yd) 12. Time, 88.1. Fourth event: Ross (40yd) 1 Jemmett (50yd) 2, Stone 3. Time, 91.4. Fifth event: D. Sincock (50yd) 1, Stone (go) 2, Woods (50yd) 3. Time, 90.3. Sixth event: Sincock (SOyd) 1, B. Doidge (go) 2. B. Turner (30yd) 3. Time. 91.5. Novice solo events (4 laps).— First race: W. Irvine (20yd) 1, R. Dunley (10yd) 2, C. Parson (go) 3. Time, 90.0. Second race: B. Doidge (10yd) 1, P. Fewings (20yd) 2, G. Morgan (20yd) 3. Time, 93.6. Solo re-run (4 laps).—G. Rhodes (30yd) 1, G. Jemmett (SOyd) 2, L. Russell (10yd) 3. Time, 87.4. Sidecar events (4 laps).—Opening handicap: L. Dwight Jun. and G. Pullen (100 yd 1, B. Keiman and H. Jones (go) 2, N. Hill and B. Lynch (60yd) 3. Time, 90.4. Second handicap: Dwight Jun. and Pullen (100 yd 1, Keirnan and Jones (go) 2. L. Dwight sen. and S. Unwin (140 yd 3. Time, 89.9. Rex Russell Wrecking Company scratch: Keirnan and Jones 1. I. Begbie and B. Council 2. Time. 91.8.

Midget cars Three-quarter midget racing cars.—Opening handicap (6 laps): A. Palmer (90yd) 1. D. Harper (80yd) 2. K. Stephens (100 yd 3. Time. 2:9.8. Crowes Garage feature scratch (6 laps): Palmer 1, R. Burt 2. Harper 3. Time. 2:6.3. John Morris Car Sales challenge scratch (6 laps): Burt 1, D. Jones 2, Harper 3. Time, 2:4. Midget racing cars.—Opening handicap (8 laps): L. Miller (go) 1, R. Clive (90yd) 2, G. Roxburgh (go) 3. Rothmans feature scratch (8 laps): Clive 1, J. McKitterick 2. Miller 3. Time, 2:46.4. Wynn’s Challenge Trophy: M. Burt 1, Roxburgh 2. R. Jemmett 3. Time, 2:4.

Supermodified Supermodified rods. —Opening handicap (8 laps): S. Everett

(50yd) 1, P. Annan (100 yd 2, J. Madsen (go) 3. Time. 2:52;8. Ferry Road Service Station feature (10 laps): Annan 1. Everett 2, Madsen 3. Time, 3:35. South Island championship points race (10 laps): Annan 1. Madsen 2, 'Everett 3. Time, 3:34.