Aust. drivers outclassed at Timaru

Press, 28 November 1977, Page 32

Aust. drivers outclassed at Timaru

By

RUSSELL JONES

The visiting Australian sports cars drivers couldl not manage better than a fourth place in Intelex championship races at Levels Raceway, Timaru, yesterday. Robert Willmott, of New South Wales, scored a fourth in the first 10-lap race but dropped to fifth in the second race. The fiery and competitive New Zealand drivers offered the visitors no chance in the championship races, but in the two Cowles invitation races, each of five laps, the Australians scored 21 points, compared with 18 for the local drivers. The short international series will be decided next Sunday at Ruapuna. The first Intelex race was crammed with incidents. The lead changed three times within the 10 laps. Tom Donovan (Wellington, Odlins) led John McDonald (Wellington, Noble) and Jamie Aislabie (Rotorua, SID Mk II) into the first corner but McDonald passed him in the next lap. Aislabie also passed Donovan but then spun and dropped back a number of places. Donovan closed right up behind McDonald and saw his chance to pass on the eighth lap. But Donovan has a habit of spinning his Odlins at the wrong time and, sure enough, spun on the corner after the start when his lead was no more than half a lap old. This cost him a number of places and allowed Aislabie back into second. Donovan spun yet again on the ninth lap and finished in sixth place. A number of other cars had trouble on the greasy track, some of them spinning more than once. One of the Australians had a frightening problem — the engine of his car caught fire. lan Adams, driving a Lotus 238, pulled off the track as soon as he noticed the flames licking around his neck and leapt from the car even before it stopped moving. But he had the presence of mind to take his fire extinguisher with him and he put the fire out with the help of a marshal. Little damage was done and he raced the car later in the afternoon. The second Intelex race was almost free of incident but the excitement level was just as high. Aislabie spent the first few laps disputing the lead with Warren Steel (Taupo, Rhubarb V), who was third in the first race.

But Donovan and Bob Homewood (Waimauku, Rhubarb III) were right there behind them and Donovan took over second place on the sixth lap. However, he could not shake off Steel and the Taupo driver won the dash to the line. Homewood was fourth, followed bv Willmott. Trevor Crowe, in the Lichfield Motors-Chung Wah Datsun 1200, had no trouble winning the Open Saloon Car Association race for cars up to 2000 cu cm but found plenty of competition in the O.S.C.A- final. David Baker, in the P.D.L. Mustang I, was the clear winner of the O.S.C.A. race for cars up to 6000 cu cm but also had problems in the final. Lawrence Bruce (Christchurch, Camaro) led into the first corner and held off the mighty Mustang for six laps until he went wide and let through Baker, Crowe, and Kevin Ryan (Timaru, Escort). Then the fun started because Crowe was determined to beat all the “big bangers”, including the P.D.L. Mustang. He almost managed it, nosing up beside Baker when the big car was held up in traffic, but sheer power told in the end and Baker won by 50m. The O.S.C.A. farewell race of eight laps provided a similar spectacle, with Crowe driving like a demon in the heavy traffic and finishing a close second to BakerRyan, Bruce, Dave Waldron (Christchurch, Escort), and Grant Aitken (Dunedin, Datsun 1200) all drove well but could not match the flying Crowe. Three Castrol G.T.X. production saloon-car races of five laps, run as handicap events, provided some close racing but the fields were not big enough to give the interest this class should offer. Barry Lloyd (Tinwald, Falcon) beat his big handicap twice to win two races but, in the third, he was handicapped another 3s to 48s and this was enough to let three cars finish in front of him. Graham Jenkins, Gavin Duff, and Ron Gilkison, three Dunedin Torana drivers, filled the minor places in two races and the third was won by John McCracken (Dunedin, Mazda RX2), with Jenkins second and Gilkison third.