Sidecar title delayed

Press, 13 December 1982, Page 3

Sidecar title delayed

Rain on Saturday and last evening prevented the completion of the South Island sidecar championship at the Lucas Ruapuna Park Speedway. A downpour late on Saturday evening forced the Christchurch Speedway Association to stop its programme with two of the deciding sidecar races still to be run. The event was to be completed last evening, but more bad weather intervened and the championship will now be decided when the Canterbury v. Invercargill match is held at Ruapuna, early in the New Year. The leader in the championship after one of the three final heats was a twice former championship runnerup, Wayne Turner, of Christchurch. Turner won the opening final race convincingly after a rerun had been ordered because of a pile-up between two of the six finalists. John

Sullivan and Howard Jones, in the first run. Sullivan was excluded by the organisers from the heat proper after it was ruled that he had caused the pileup. Jones had to “eat dust" in the rerun of the heat after his motor-cycle lost power and left him sitting at the starter's tape. That left only Turner. Alistair Mitchell, and the two Invercargill finalists. Kevin McDonald and Fraser Gillespie in contention. Those four, plus Sullivan and Jones, qualified from races held earlier in the evening. As well as a place in the finals they also earned the right to compete in the New Zealand championship, in Wanganui on December 26. Turner's finals ride was also his first of the evening on his own motor-cycle. The former New Zealand best pairs champion had borrowed Mitchell's machine for

the qualifying events because he was not certain of his Nourish-Weslake 950. It had only been restored to running order a couple of hours before the start of the racing. Turner thought it a safer tactic to borrow a mount until he had qualified. In the first final heat. Turner hung on to finish ahead of Mitchell and McDonald. Turner. Mitchell and Sullivan had earlier been the first to stake a place in the finals as respective winners of the three qualifying heats. Gillespie and McDonald gained their places by finishing first and second, respectively, in the repechage, while Jones edged out one of the premeeting favourites. Russell Cunningham, of Invercargill, for the last final spot by winning the special repechage. Cunningham now has reserve status for the national championship.