Upset win on treacherous track
(By
A. J. PETRE)
Wet weather and a greasy track resulted in an upset win for F. Ryan (Te Anau), in an Escort Twin Cam, when the third to last round of the Ace-O.S.C.A. series for open class saloons was raced at Timaru yesterday. The treacherous conditions, which made power a handicap instead of an advantage, also led to an acci-j dent in which two men were ! injured. In a sports-racing car ' event, early in the afternoon, , G. Bloore (Hamilton), who’ had been leading in his sixlitre Lola T7O, slid on a mixture of oil and water as he! entered the back straight. His! car skidded sideways up the i banking, and into a fence, in a shower of track-markers and fibreglass panels. i
Three laps later, as the race ended, the car was surrounded by marshals and helpers when J. Monehan, on his “running down” lap in his 5.7-litre Stanton Corvette, slid at the same place. Monehan’s car crashed sideways up the bank and into the halted Lola, scattering men, markers and debris in all directions. A marshal, Mr P. Brady, of Christchurch, had leg injuries, and Bloore, who had also been attending to the Lola, suffered a dislocated hip. There were many spins during the rest of the day, • but no other serious incidents. The surprisingly large crowd which braved the bitter conditions, however, saw , jan outstanding race in the i ; O.S.C.A. main event. The Christchurch driver, C. i Collins, then leader of the iseries on points, and now!:
first equal, shot away from the pack in his Cortina Mustang when the flag fell. From the start it was obvious the more powerful cars were a handful on the greasy surface, and although Collins and K. Haig (Mustang) were ahead the first time round, B. Vuyk, in his more wieldy Prefect-Torana, was a surprising third, ahead of G. Baker in the P.D.L. Mustang. Haig tried to drive inside Collins at the end of the front straight after one lap, but he lost control on the slick track, went wide, and lost two places before he got things pointing the right way again. Baker, several times a winner in the dry with the Mustang, found the car difficult to control on its big-dry-weather slick tyres, and spun to the back of the field. A couple of laps later the furious battle at the front
changed when Collins was touched by B. Paton (Escort T.C.) in the esses, and spun off to join Baker. Vuyk was now in front, with L. Neilson (Escort) a few inches behind him, then Ryan, Haig — handling the big Mustang admirably in the conditions — T. Crowe (Corolla Chevrolet) and J. Armstrong (Mustang), with the rest not far behind.
The gaps between the leaders gradually decreased, until the first five sliding, slipping cars were almost nose to tail. Vuyk had to yield to Ryan on the thirteenth lap, although the Prefect-Torana ! trailed the Escort by only half a second, with Crowe a scant three-tenths further back, and only just ahead of Haig and Armstrong. Baker, and series leader Collins, never recovered from their earlier forays, and both came in at the rear. .V
The result is that Armstrong and Collins now share the lead in the series points, with Haig five points further down, and three ahead of Ryan. The upset may have opened up the whole series, with only two events — Ruapuna and Teretonga — remaining.
Other scratch-race results were:
O.S.C.A. A and B class, (5[ laps): C. Collins (Christchurch) Cortina Mustang, 1; K. Haig: (Dunedin) Mustang, 2; T. Crowe (Christchurch) Corolla Chevrolet, 3. O.S.C.A. “C” class (5): F.[ Ryan (Te Anau) Escort T.C., 1;. G. Aitken (Dunedin) Mini S. 2:. L. Neilson (Dunedin) Escort T.C.,' 3. Sports-racers (5): R. Noble (Noble T.C.) 1; J. Monehan (Christchurch) Stanton (Corvette.: 2: L. McCutcheon (Dannevirke). U2. 3.
Sports cars (15): McCutcheon, 1: G. Chamberlain (Christchurch) U 2.2; K. Barberel (Christchurch) Le Demon Rouge. 3. Hawes, Sports-Car Trophy winner:| [McCutcheon.
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