Tracey midget car champ. without win

Press, 20 February 1978, Page 21

Tracey midget car champ. without win

Bj

MURRAY OLDS

«i ( Tn Or A^®nl^? nd -r y S ar in succession Auckland > Ted Tracey cap-i nalional “Udget carl cyampionahip at Templeton on, a race ’ IU ®" 1 without winning! Jp al u ? 5 *«■? comment of anotner Auckland entrant in the fit.' alter the meeting, but the -L> ear-old Tracey said the tactics worked out tor the chainoy himself and Ills l crew did not require a win In' aoi of the three beats. 'We thought a consistent ef•,OrL.a ° uld '■*“ us l»e title, and 1. c.g said the quietiv-spoken iracey. "1 didn't win a single,' F ac ®' but finished in the first hait-dozen every time out. Con ,’ aistency won me the title. " i p . ut his success entirely in those erms would be to deny t racey his due as a driver of tome exceptional ability. The : first race saw Tracey come from I tne nineteenth grid position of t the high-class field to score his' lowest placing on the night, six_th. 1 hat race was dominated bv i Barry Butterworth, in sparkling ■ form -Or the event, lie drew the , eighth grid for the onening race, i and by the end of the first iap | *!L ad ca ? SQ J and passed a < nnsicnurcn hopeful for the 1 tit.e, Mark Williams. i Butterworth simply cleared : away from the rest of the field, j and was lapping in the low I9sec • as he won by nearly lOC metres • f-om Williams, who drove an ex- ' ce’lent race to finish second. Auckland cars filled the next i four placps, Christchurch’s top ’ prospect Kevin Proctor driving! i well to come from the back of'l the field to take seventh post- ] tion. [« The confident and dextrous 1 style 6f Butterworth stamped < him as the man most likely to ; carry off the championship, and ’ although he started the second race from back grid, he was'i aoon vying for the lead with the i other Auckland drivers. As he I roared round the track, shutting.', down drivers of less ability with i a display of driving skill seldom 1 at Templeton, on’v an ace’- i dent or a quirk of fate could 1 have prevented his capturing the i Right on cue. Butterworth ran’t

.through a puddle on the back, straight in the seventh lap of the 10-iap race, and he travelled only] } about another 50 metres before 'he pulled off into the centre • green witn water in the magneto of his Volkswagen racer. This ef-i festively put paid to his title chances as he watched other; Auckland drivers fill tne first J five spots. Iracey drove very well to fin , ish third, and another But--1 terworth, Max. added a fifth to his first-race place of third to J lead the field with one race to? go. Christchurch drivers, Proctor,; Alan Palmer and Williams, filled places six, seven and eight and all three were in the hunt for ■ the title going into the final, race. Tne third heat was disaster for Mark Williams. On the line at! the first start, he was deftly! nudged out of the way by Max: ' Butterworth and he spun into ; .the centre of the track. The race was restarted, and Williams had worked his way| through the field from sixth grid; position to be handily placed when he caused a minor pile up on the Prison Bend which caused. the Volkswagen of Auckland’s Kerry Morris to spin out. The race wa- i nstalled, but I Williams was black-flagged by? trackside officials and expelled; from the race for causing the mishap with Morris. Williams protested but to no avail, and it was left to Proctor to carry the I Templeton colours to the line. j He drove an excellent race to? finish in second place behind the hard-driving Barry Butterworth,! who clearly demonstrated to the ’5OOO-odd crowd that he would; have won the title but for theI second-race stoopage. He won as. he liked, lapping some of the; slower drivers as he raced around the quarter-mile track all 18 seconds a lap. ~ , Ted Tracey drove very well to. finish third. Going into the final; race, Tracey knew he would have to beat another handilv-placed Auckland driver to take the first orize of SlOOO and the impressive; trophy. Dave Jolly and Tracey! were tied *n second place after two races, and Tracev must have b °en keenly of thi-s *act n ‘-‘: the cars raced around the ‘circuit.

Lt was not until the final lap, ‘| that Tracey could get past the ■ flying Jolly. Coming out of the ■ Prison Bend for the last time, h? j gave the Sesco of Jolly a gentle ) nudge in tne tail, ana this was ■ sufficient to allow Tracey to slip ?ithrough on the inside and race to third placing on thd line for i 1 the title. Jolly eventually finished fifth r to fill second position in the over-all championship standings. • Max Butterworth, Proctor and ij another Auckland entrant. Keith • Watson, tied for third spot as they all finished on 45 points, . and Proctor's success was ac- ! claimed by the Templeton crowd.! Barry Butterworth achieved a ■ measure of consolation when he . won the final midget event of. the night with another imprest sive display of driving. Kerry ] Morris (Auckland) finished sec-; lond. and Mark Williams drove; : well to capture third place. i Although the midget cars] dominated the programme, the 'South Islond TQ champion, Bruce ; Hobbs, demonstrated a class all I : of his own as he drove conI'sistently into a pair of firsts and a third in the three-quarter midget competition. Graham , Dawson was also very consistent as he drove to a brace of second ! positions. Bruce and Wayne Turner had 'an impressive return to Templeton after their trip around the tracks of the North Island, winning three races from three ln the third event, they • had a slight altercation with Les 'Dwight, jun., and his passenger, I Graham Pullan, as the Turners I felt they were being pushed around on the bends by the aggressive style of Dwight. For the first time in several I meetings, neither Peter Annan nor Mike Allan filled first place, jin either of the super-modified j events. Selwyn Everett won the opening race, and Peter Leversedge the second, demonstrating a lot of skill behind the wheel of ibis 350 fuel-injected Chevy. ! Graeme Stapleton showed the j improvement he has been displaying over recent weeks was not a flash in the pan as he won three out of the four races he entered on Saturday. He won the final of the solo handicap event ]in grana style, and then dominated the Flying Six race from ] start to finish to win in the fast- • est time of the night. CARS Results: N Z. midget car championships. [ (10 laps . —Race 1: B. Butterworth ; (Auck i 1. M. Williams (Christchurch) 2, M. Butterworth ■ Auck.) 3, P. Johnstone (Auck.) 4, D. Jolly (Auck.) 5, T. Tracey (Auck.) 6. Time; 3:18.3. Race 2: ! Morris (Auck.) 1, K. Watson ;(Auck.) 2. Tracey 3, Jolly 4, iM. [Butterworth 5, K. Proctor | (Christchurch) 6. No time. Race 3: B. Butterworth 1. Proctor 2, [Tracey 3, Watson 4, Jolly 5, i Morris 6. iNo time. Final points .for Championship: Tracey (48) I; ! Jolly (46) 2; Proctor, Watson and !B. Butterworth (45) 3. Midget [Consolation: (8 laps): B. Buti terworth 1. Morris 2, Williams 3. [No time. Supermodified Handijeap: (6 laps): S. Everett 1, P. (Annan 2, M. Allan 3. No time. 'Ferry Road Rub-A-Dub Scratch: P. Leversedge 1, Annan 2, Allan 3. No time. Raynox TQ Sprint: (4 ■laps): B. Read 1, G. Dawson 2, B. ; Hobbs 3. Time: 87.8. Russ Noble [Motors Handicap Sprint: (4 laps): j Hobbs 1, Dawson 2, G. Stone 3. Time: 85.2. Geoff Stone Motors TQ Feature: Hobbs 1, R. Sladen .2. K. Harris 3. No time. Motor-cycles Solo handicap: (4 laps): Heat 1; G. Stapleton 1 J. Hanning 2, P. Fewings 3. Time: 84.8. Heat 2: R. Bruce 1, M. Brown 2, G. Stewart 3. Time: 83.6. Heat 3: J. Brown 1, G. Forscutt 2, G. Taylor 3. Time: 83.5. First semi final: Hanning 1, Bruce 2, Stapleton 3. Time: 80.5. Second semi-final: J. Brown 1, Taylor 2, Mason 3. Time: 84.2. Final: Stapleton 1. Hanning 2, Stewart 3. Time: 81.6. Go Cola Invitation Flying Six: Stapleton 1, Hanning 2, Stewart 8. Time: 78.0. Solo Consolation: T. Black 1, A ' Bryce 2. G. Reid 3. Time: 83.0.! [Novice Scratch: Race 1: J. Duff11, S. Duff 2, G. Wells 3. Time:] 85.5. Race 2: K. Fletcher 1, R. Lang 2, K. Browne 3. Time: 87.5.1 Side car Scratch: (4 laps): H. Jones 1, T. Bagbie 2, B. Savage 3.1 Time: ( 89.0. Sidecar scratch: 8., Turner 1, I. Begbie 2. Time: 85.7.! Sidecar handicap: Turner 1, Jones 2, J. Warwood 3. Time: 86.8. RCA Records Sidecar Scratch: Turner 1, L. Dwight jun. 2, Warwood 3. Time: 33.4.