Tasman race may decide

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33153, 17 February 1973, Page 48

Tasman race may decide

(N.Z. Press Association—<Copyright) MELBOURNE. The 100-mile seventh round of the eight-race Tasman Cup motor-racing series at Melbourne's Sandown Park tomorrow may well decide who takes the title.

With only one more race to go in Adelaide tomorrow week the issue is very much between the Australian champion, F. Matich, and the New Zealand international. G. Mcßae, who has been the Tasman champion for the last two years.

new tyres when the car s right rear tyre deflated and the racer slid off the track and grazed a fence. Matich was not hurt but a left-front suspension upright and radiator were damaged and had to be replaced for yesterday’s official practice.

Mcßae leads on 31 points, with Matich next on 24. Both men need the win and the nine points that go with it. For Mcßae this would put him on an unbeatable 40 points. The most Matich then could score would be six for second and nine for a win in Adelaide—a maximum of 39 points. S. Thompson, the British driver who won magnificently in the wet at Warwick Farm’, Sydney, last Sunday, is in third spot over-all, with 18 points. For him to take out the series would mean him winning both remaining races and Mcßae and Matich not to be placed at all.

The contest within the contest between Mcßae and Matich is the Holden-Repco V 8 engine versus the Chevrolet VB,, used almost universally in Formula 5000 racing overseas.

Matich’s Repco-developed Holden engine has shown in the last two races that it has the “legs” of Mcßae’s Chevrolet. But more outings are needed to prove the Australian engine’s stamina. CAR DAMAGED Matich, from Sydney, crashed his Repco Matich A5O during unofficial practice at Sandown Park on Thursday for tomorrow’s race. He was bedding in some

Mcßae also practiced on Thursday and recorded an unofficial time of 61.3 sec. Matich. second placed to Mcßae, turned in a time of 61.6 sec. but both were expected to make better times during official practice for pole positions.