Fine rides by Ross

Press, 14 November 1977, Page 24

Fine rides by Ross

The New Zealand speedway champion, Larry Ross, proved himself to be a class above his opposition when he won the Canterbury elimination races for the Grand National Chevette series at Templeton speedway on Saturday evening. The two riders who will represent Canterbury in the fiveround series beginning at Templeton on November 26 are Ross who finished the evening with a maximum nine points, and Roger Wright, who finished with eight. Roger Abel was third with seven points. In addition, Ross broke the four-lap record in the second heat when he recorded the outstanding time of 74.75ec, breaking the existing record of the Swedish star, Ove Fundin, by o.2sec.

In the third heat, Abel led from the first corner and was only just beaten by Wright who pipped him with 20m remaining to the finishing line. Ross also won the Go-Cola Flying Six event in 76sec from Wright and Abel. Graeme Wells performed well in the solo handicap events winning one off the 50m mark while Robert Bruce recorded a win and four second places. Predictably, the sidecar events were dominated by the Turners, Bruce and Wayne. Their closest opposition came from Brent Beadle and Alan Boyle who finished second in each of the three events.

In the second handicap, the Turners equalled the lap record of 19.9 sec and in the third went one step further, breaking the record by O.lsec. Bruce Hobbs, Ross Galt and Geoff Stone had successful evenings in the three-quarter midget

car events. Hobbs won both the opening handicap and the Geoff Stone Motors handicap, both over six laps. Galt finished with two thirds and Stone with two seconds.

Johnny McKettrick made a satisfactory return to Templeton, finishing second in the opening handicap and then winning both the Phillips Mower Service handicap and the feature event in the midget car class, both over eight laps. Kevin Proctor won the opening handicap and finished second to McKettrick in the Phillips handicap while Gordon Roxburgh managed three thirds. Wavne Pierson (Chev. 350 cu. cm) won both the opening handicap supermodified and the Ferry Road event with Brian Todd second both times.

Selwyn Everett (351 cu. cm) improved as the night wore on. He finished third in the Ferry Road event and won the final race of the night from Peter Annan and Brian Wendt in the commendable time of 3min 21.8 sec. Results:— MOTOR-CYCLES

Chevette qualifying series.— First heat: R. Abel 1, P. Fewings 2, P. Pawson 3. Time: 77.4. Second heat: L. Ross 1. M. Brown 2, G. Forscutt 3. Time: 74.7. Third heat: R. Wright 1, Abel 2. A. Brown 3. Time: 76.2. Fourth heat: T. Black 1, G. Reid 2, Forscutt 3. Time: 82.4. Fifth heat: A. Brown 1, G. Taylor 2, G. Beardsley 3. Time: 79.2. Sixth heat: Ross 1, Abel 2, A. Brown 3. Time: 75.4. Seventh heat: Wright 1, M. Brown 2, Reid 3. Time: 78.2. Eighth heat: Taylor 1, Forscutt 2, R. Selby 3. Time: 80.4. Ninth heat: Ross 1. Wright 1, Fewings 3. Time: 76.4. Solo handicap events (four

laps'.—First heat: G. Beardslev (30m) 1. R. Bruce (50m) 2, K. Browne (go) 3. Time: 85..0 Second heat: G. Wells (50) 1. R. Bruce (50) 2, J. Taylor 3. Time: 89.8 Third heat: J. Sparks (10) 1, R. Bruce 2, R. Brown (50) 3. Time: 87.7. Fourth heat: Taylor 1, Bruce 2. Tune: 87.0. Fifth heat: Bruce 1. Wells 2. A. Mason 3. Time: 89.4. Sixth heat: Wells 1, Sparks 2. B. Carpenter 3. Time: 89.0.

Go-Cola Flying Six’.—L. Ross 1, R. Wright 2, R. Abel 3. Time: 76.0.

, Sidecars (four laps).—Opening I ■ handicap: B. Turner and W. (Turner 1. B. Beadle and A. Boyle 2. Time: 85.5. Second I handicap: Turner and Turner 1, Beadle and Boyle 2, H. Jones and I. Comb ridge 3. Time: 84.4. Scratch: Turner and Turner 1. Beadle and Boyle 2, Jones and Combridge 3. Time: 83.0. CARS Three-quarter midget cars.—Opening handicap: B. Hobbs 1, G. Stone 2, B. Galt 3. Time: 2:5.6. Russ Noble Motors scratch (six laps): N. Chandler 1, Stone 2, Galt 3. Time: 2:1.6. Geoff Stone Motors handicap (six laps): Hobbs 1, Galt 2, Chandler 3. No time. Midget cars.—Opening handicap: K. Proctor J, J. McKettrick 2. G. Roxburgh 3. Time: 2:0.0. Phillips Mower Service handicap (eight laps): McKettrick 1, Proctor 2, Roxburgh 3. Time: 2:45.6. Feature: McKettrick 1, M. Williams 2, Roxburgh 3. No time.

Supermodified cars.—Opening handicap: W. Pierson 1, T. Stenhart 2, B. Todd 3. Time: 2:45.3. Ferry Road Rub-a-Dub scratch: Pierson 1, Todd 2, S. Everett 3. No time. Feature: Everett 1, P. Annan 2, B. Wendt 3. Time: 3:21.8.