Aislabie puts claim for sports car title

Press, 18 October 1976, Page 3

Aislabie puts claim for sports car title

By

JOHN FRIDD

Jamie Aislabie, of Rotorua, showed that he will be a major force in the New Zealand Intelex sports car championship this season when he won both heats in the first round at Ruapuna Park yesterday.

Aislabie quickly came to grips with the slippery Ruapuna track in his well-sorted Bray and powered away from his nearest rival, Charlie Benseman, of Nelson, who was racing Colin Smith’s Rhubarb 111 for the first time. Smith won last season’s championship in the Rhubarb. Benseman drove well, despite a few spins in the first rain-affected heat, and collected two seconds, while the consistent Christchurch driver, Bob Archibald, stayed on the track to finish third in both races in his homebuilt Kimac.

The fiery Wellington driver, Tom Donovan, turned in some fast lap times but several spins off the track kept him out of the placings.

There was a lot of interest in the near-new factory-built Lola T 212 of the Lower Hutt driver, John McLellan. However, McLellan spun on the first lap of the first race and had trouble coming to terms with the Lola’s “cammy” power. In the second race he was holding on well to third place when another spin put him out of the running. In the Castoral G.T.X. production saloon car championship races, Christchurch driver Doug Allan struck back at lan Tulloch (Invercargill, Camaro Z2B) when he won both heats of the 3001 to 6000 cu cm class in his Camaro Z2B. Tulloch, who won both heats in the first round at Invercargill two weeks ago, was a distant second in both heats.

A third Camaro, driven by Rob Farrar, of Christchurch, was third in both heats.

The 0 to 3000 cu cm class was dominated by Norris Miles, of Auckland, in his German-built Capri R 52600. Miles kept up with Farrar’s Comaro in. both heats and was too good for his rivals. Bryan Hessey (Christchurch) found it hard to get traction for his new BDA Escort in the first heat and finished last but came back in the second race to finish second, holding off the threelitre Capri of Roy Hiscock (Lower Hutt) in • a tremendous dice.

The O.S.C.A. open saloon races provided some close racing, with David Grant, of Timaru, having to drive his two-litre Escort hard to hold off a determined Trevor Crowe in his new Datsun 120 SSS in the 0-2000 cu cm race. The two minis of Doug Erskine and Dave McNaughton had a great tussle for third, with Erskine slipping through at the last minute to fill the spot.

The O.S.C.A. 2000-6000 cu cm race turned into a procession dominated by Ross Cameron, of Dunedin, in a Camaro. The fields were so small they had to be augmented with a couple of Minis, and one of these driven by Dave McNaughton, actually held off the big Mustang of Rod McElrea (Ashburton) in the wet to finish second. A feature of the combined O.S.C.A. final was the appearance of Art McKee’s new Chev Monza, which will make its Shellsport debut at Bay Park next week-end. McKee started at the back of the field but put on an impressive display in the' sleek machine, which has just been shipped out from the United States, and he lapped the circuit in one* of the fastest times of the day, 47.45ec. In the race, Rod McElrea cleared out from the field in his Mustang and Ross Cameron finally got past Trevor Crowe’s little yellow Datsun and lan Munt’s V 8 Capri to take second. David Grant drove impres-

sively in his Escort to sneak past Munt for third.

Results:— Intelex sports car championship.—Race one: J. Aislabie (Rotorua), Bray. 1; C. Benseman (Nelson), Rhubarb 111, 2; B. Archibald (Christchurch), Archibald Kimac, 3. Fastest lap: Aislabie, 50.2 sec.

Race two: Aislabie 1, Benseman 2, Archibald 3. Fastest lap: Benseman and T. Donovan (Wellington. Sprite), 54.25ec.

O.S.C.A. open saloon championship 0-2000 cu. cm.—D. Grant (Timaru), Escort 2000, 1; T. Crowe (Christchurch), Datsun 1200 SSS, 2; D. Erskine (Southland). Mini Cooper, 3. Fastest lap: Grant, 55.8 sec. 2001-6000 cu. cm.—R. Cameron (Dunedin), Caraaro, 1; D. McNaughton (Christchurch), Mini Cooper, 2; R. McElrea (Ashburton), Mustang, 3. Fastest lap: Cameron, 56.35ec. Final.—McElrea 1 Cameron 2, Grant 3, I. Munt (Christchurch), Capri 5000, 4.

Castol G.T.X. production saloon championship 0.3000 cu. cm.—Race one: N. Miles (Auckland), Capri R 52600, 1; R. McElrea, Mazda Capella, 2; B. Hessey (Christchurch), Escort BDA, 3. Fastest lap: Miles, 57.7 sec. Race two: Miles 1, Hessey 2, R, Hiscoek (Lower Hutt), Capri 3000. 3. Fastest lap: Miles, 52.7 3001-6000 cu. cm.—Race one: D. Allan (Parnassus), Camaro Z2B, 1; I. Tulloch (Invercargill), Camaro Z2B. 2; R. Farrar (Christchurch), Camaro Z2B, 3. Fastest lap: Allan, 53sec. Race two: Allan 1, Tulloch 2, Farrar 3. Fastest lap: Allan, 49.65ec.

Motor-racing.—Two top Australian saloon car drivers, Frank Gardner and Ron Harrop, have been contracted by Bay Park and Manfield promoters to drive at race meetings during the 1976-77 motor-racing season.

Baseball. — Chris Chambliss blasted a ninth innings home run in New York to lead the New York Yankees to a 7-6 victory over the Kansas City Royals and their first American baseball league championship in 12 years. Chess.—Lajos Portlsch (Hungary) overwhelmed the Russian master Michail Tai in a match to put himself back in strong contention in a three-man elimination tournament in Varese, Italy, counting toward the world championship.