Prize money withdrawn

Press, 14 March 1984, Page 31

Prize money withdrawn

Trentham-based General Motors recently offered prize money to drivers of its products in the three-round South Island production saloon car race series, but has now withdrawn the offer in the case of the Southern 200 which will be contested at Ruapuna Park this week-end. Originally conceived by the Canterbury Car Club, the Southern 200 is the premier event in the South Island series. The other races in the series are held at Timaru’s Levels Raceway and Invercargill’s Teretonga Park. GM has withdrawn its support because the Southern 200 will be run conforming with different car eligibility rules than the Timaru and Invercargill

races. The Ruapuna race is being promoted by Trident Promotions and the manager of the GM Dealer Team, Mr R. J. H. Curtis, has advised Mr I. M. Shrimpton, of Trident, that GM is committed to supporting the series, but not individual races so regret fully the company’s offer to operate the incentive scheme for the Southern 200 has been withdrawn. “It seems a great shame that the three South Island circuits cannot get together to run a unified series which would then possibly attract the participation of substantial sponsors such as ourselves,” Mr Curtis told Mr Shrimpton. However, Trident is unconcerned about GM’s with-

drawal. Mr Shrimpton said that entries from such wellknown Auckland saloon car racers as Neville Crichton and Trevor McLean, both of whom drive Holden Commodore SS models, which would qualify the drivers to participate in the GM incentive scheme, have already been confirmed along with those of Auckland’s Chrysler Charger V 8 men, Tony May and Ken Flashman. Entries are also awaited from Rod Collingwood, Pat Monaghan and Trevor Crowe, also in Holden Commodore SS models, and from one of New Zealand’s greatest endurance car racing exponents, Leo Leonard, of Timaru. Leonard plans to drive the Ford Falcon XD with which Gary Sprague won

the ANZ Bank Touring Car Championship series recently. There can be little doubt that his appearance will be the star attraction at Ruapuna. Additionally, it is likely that Wayne Anderson, an Aucklander who was associated with the third-placed Ford Falcon in the ANZ series, will also contest the endurance race. Although the outcome of the Southern 200 will most likely be disputed by the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore men, the race has attracted a host of South Island production saloon racers, among them Timaru’s Jim Little with the E 49 Chrysler Charger in which he won the series race at Levels Raceway recently.