Saloon car title to Harrington?

Press, 29 March 1982, Page 6

Saloon car title to Harrington?

PA -v Auckland A Papatoetoe car salesman, Rov Harrington, provisionally won the Shellsport national saloon car championship at Pukekohe yesterday. With a fourth in.'the first heat and a win in the second in his Escort, Harrington assured himself of enough points to take the Shellsport title from the Timaru pair of Wayne Murdoch and Warren Burt.

Murdoch could only manage a fifth and a third in his Avenger, while Burt had a seventh and fifth in his Toyota Starlet. Harrington’s championship will have to be confirmed or overturned by a Motorsport Association of New Zealand judicial inquiry. The validity of the aluminium engine block that Harrington had in his Escort in some rounds of the series has been questioned by the national body’s technical officers. Reg Cook, last year’s champion, led the first heat from start to finish in his Datsun Sunny,

although he was strongly challenged by the Escort o’f Kirk : Stoneman. with the similar car of Don Halliday third. i In the second heat Harrington ; led from the start from Halliday, ■ while Cook broke a drive shaft ’ on the startline and Stoneman hit •’ the crash barrier at the elbow ,’ corner on the first lap and ' retired. David Oxton had a comfortable enough win in the first heat of the Tisco Formula Pacific race. But in the reverse grid race, Ken Smith got his March through the field to the front much quicker and built up a handy lead. Oxton took until the third lap to dispose of the back markers and then needed another couple of laps to close up the deficit. The two then raced nose to tail, with Oxton making repeated efforts to outbrake Smith and ■ into the elbow. Eventually Oxton managed to outbrake Smith into the hairpin at the end of the back straight on the last lap and go on to win.