Canty karters superior

Press, 28 August 1980, Page 22

Canty karters superior

Canterbury proved far too strong for karters from Otago and Southland in the triangular series held before a large crowd at the Carr’s Road Raceway at the week-end. There were 40 races run, one every seven minutes. A feature of the racing'was the new track record set by Canterbury’s international John Hamilton. The old record was held by Toni Zoserl (Austria), who set a time , of 27.28 s last February. Hamilton lowered this to 27.17 s—an average speed of nearly 75 km/h for the ■ 550 m circuit. The triangular meeting was held over five heats and Canterbury’s win was never in doubt after the first heat. It eventually scored 360 points, with Southland second on 250 and Otago on 219. The Canterbury championships were held in conjunction with the triangular series. The racing was exciting and often spectacular. In the 125 c.c. gearbox class, there were 24 entries. Perhaps the best race was the last one. Hamilton, starting from the back grid, worked through the field to be In the lead after five of the 15 laps. Ross Young and Peter Mills (both Southland) chased hard, but they collided and went into a fence. Young quickly regained control and picked up ground on Hamil-

ton, whose kart was affected by a slowly deflating tyre. However, Hamilton had established a big enough lead 'to take the chequered flag by 2s. Results of the Canterbury championships over five heats (karters from Canterbury unless stated otherwise) were:— 100 c.c. McCulloch: Murdoch Anderson 1, Grant Chignell (Nelson) 2, Grant Munroe (Invercargill) 3. 100 c.c. Yamaha; John Hawker 1, Brian Shaw (Invercargill) 2, Julie Archibald (Nelson) 3.' 125 c.c. gearbox: John Hamilton 1, Ross Young (Invercargill) 2. Derek Wilson 3. 250 c.c. open: Doug Drake 1, Wayne Burgess 2, Michael Wallace (Dunedin) 3. Teddy’s Toy Box 100 c.c;: Julie Archibald (Nelson) 1, Graeme Tapper 2, Gary Fisher (Invercargill) 3. Doug Cresswell Suzuki open: Clive Smith 1, Brent Houston 2, David Kircher 3. Consolation: Colin Wallace (Dunedin) 1, Avon Hyde 2, Clarrie Bremner (Dunedin) 3. IROC Super 10 (15 laps): Hamilton 1. Young 2. Drake 3. Midgets (six heats): Christopher Emms 1, Bryce Coulbeck 2, Nigel Wilkinson 3. Supporting races (winners only): Brian Shaw (Invercargill), Brent Houston. Drake, Derek Wilson, Archibald.