Promise of closest races for some time

Press, 15 January 1986, Page 31

Promise of closest races for some time

Although it has been said before, the field for Sunday’s Phillip Mills Luxury Cars Lady Wigram Trophy race and preliminary heat really does have the makings of one of the closest races for some time.

This year will see a return to the one-race system for the Lady Wigram Trophy, with a 30-lap event for the trophy being preceded by an earlier 20-lap event that will count for points towards the New Zealand international series

only. With the majority of the field equipped with various examples of the übiquitous Halt RT4, there will not be much to choose between machinery, and spectators on Sunday can be sure that the winner will have overcome the competitors by sheer driving talent.

Over the years, the Lady Wigram Trophy Race meeting has attracted the cream of the world’s driving talent to Christchurch to contest New Zealand’s longest-sur-viving motor-sport event. The ultra-fast airfield circuit has proven popular with overseas and local competitors alike, despite a couple of bad dips in the surface where the track crosses drainage chanels. Members of the organising body, the Motor Racing Club, have spent many manhours each year converting Wigram from an operational air base to a motor race circuit so that the likes

of Brabham, Moss, Clark, Stewart and Rosberg could display their skill to Christchurch patrons.

This Sunday at Wigram, Christchurch enthusiasts will once again be able to watch racing on New Zealand’s fastest circuit as a new generation of drivers strives to come to grips with the historic circuit. The winner of the last Lady Wigram Trophy event was Ross Cheever in 1984. There was no event held in 1985, for the first time since 1955, when the meeting was not held due to resealing work which was being carried out on the runways. With such an evenly matched field, this year’s Lady Wigram Trophy Race should be the closest seen at the circuit for some time.

Other events on the programme include races for Group A Touring Cars, where Christchurch spectators will be able to see our own Trevor Crowe, racing the Archibalds BMW, for the first time; the ever popular O.S.C.A. classes, Formula Ford, Mini 7, Pre 65; and an innovation for 1986, the Quinns Fashion Cup, which is restricted to female competitors.

Although the defection of Ross Cheever from the series because of financial difficulties has been seen by some as a blow to the trophy race prospects, in many ways it is likely to result in a closer race.

Cheever made his wins at Pukekohe and the first heat at Manfeild look easy, and although it is amazing that a driver with such potential for publicity can be lost to the series for the want of a sponsor, the prospect of close racing on Sunday has been greatly increased.

Four American drivers will contest Sunday’s formula Pacific races, and each of them could be considered a prospect for victory.

The best known of these on the New Zealand circuits is Jeff MacPherson, aged 29, who arrived in New Zealand for the 1984 series as the American Super Vee rookie of the year, and not much more was known of him.

He proved a more than competent driver during the series and went into the final at Bay Park with a

chance of winning outright despite using outdated equipment relative to the cars of Cheever and Davy Jones.

This season, MacPherson has adopted the “if you can’t beat them, join them” philosophy by returning with the Graham Watson Ralt Australia team. Watson runs the latest specification Ralt equipment, so MacPherson should want for nothing in the way of machinery, and his win at Bay Park proved he has the ability. The fast Wigram circuit should suit MacPherson’s charging style on Sunday, and the likeable American who made many friends here during his last visit would prove a popular winner should he be first past the flag on Sunday.

Two further Americans, the brothers Steve and Cary Bren, come to New Zealand as two of the most promising prospects on the American domestic motor racing scene.

Coming to motor racing from a background of motor cycle racing, the Brens have been top performers in Formula Ford and Super Vee racing in the United States. Super Vee cars are similar to Pacific cars in concept albeit with less powerful Volkswagen engines.

Both Bren brothers are keen on maintaining a high standard of physical fitness and complete up to 160 km of training per week on foot and cycle in preparation for motor sport. Cary Bren has been

tipped to contest this season’s prestigious International Formula 3000 series following his New Zealand foray. With a reputed budget of over $300,000 to do the New Zealand series, the Bren brothers are obviously well equipped to do it properly. Once again, the wide open spaces of the Wigram circuit should suit these Americans better than the predominantly twisty North Island circuits, and their Garvin Brown Racing Budweiser Ralts should be among the front runners on Sunday. The final driver from the United States is another Super Vee racer, Ted Prappas.

Prappas’s credentials from the Super Vee series are also good, and although he had a reputation of being a better oval track driver than a road racer, Prappas has proven the critics wrong with some excellent drives on the New Zealand road circuits to date, being particularly impressive at Pukekohe.

Prappas races in the black colours of the expatriate New Zealander, Alan McCall, who ran MacPherson last season. As the pole position man at the fast ; Pukekohe circuit, Prappas might prove the dark horse of the field and provide MacPherson with his toughest challenge on Sun-

day. To describe the Auckland driver, Ken Smith, as a veteran, would be to employ an already overused cliche.

In fact, it is hard to find words to describe the ability of the diminutive Smith, a driver who has been among the top in his trade for more than 20 seasons of racing.

Smith has frequently amazed visiting drivers of half his age with his still quick reactions, and has constantly set a standard for young New Zealand drivers to aim at. All this Smith does with the benefit of as little as four race meetings per year, spending the rest of the year involved with his other passion in life, horse racing.

A past winner at Wigram and lap record holder, Smith is possibly New Zealand’s best hope for victory in the trophy race. It will be a sad day for New Zealand motor racing when Ken Smith hangs up his helmet.

The 80s have seen lean times for New Zealand on the international motor racing scene. Several promising young drivers have emerged, but apart from Mike Thackwell, none have managed to make the break into single-seater racing at the top level.

In 1984, Henderson’s Paul Radisich appeared likely to break the drought after a promising start to his British Formula 3 championship challenge. His effort faltered, however, when the Racing for New Zealand scheme collapsed after failing to generate enough finance for

him to see out the British season.

In 1986, however, Radisich will return to Britain with backing from his mentor, Rob Whitehouse, and it is in an effort to get back to race fitness, that Radisich is contesting this series, including the Lady Wigram Trophy.

Radisich appears to possess the ability to lead New Zealand back to the halcyon days of motor racing when names like Hulme, Mclaren and Amon were among the foremost in formula one. A win at Wigram on Sunday would help his progress a great deal.

Another New Zealand front runner will be Brett Riley. At one stage, Riley was on the verge of making a break into Formula One racing, and although he now has no such aspirations, he is still a driver of considerable talent.