Auckland pair wins saloon car round

Press, 27 October 1986, Page 19

Auckland pair wins saloon car round

PA Tauranga Wayne Anderson and John Moreton, of Auckland, were convincing winners of the second round in this year’s Benson and Hedges saloon car series at Mount Maunganui’s Baypark Raceway yesterday. Their big yellow Ford Mustang didn’t miss a beat as it led the race from start to finish and took the chequered flag by more than a lap. A strong second was the Wellington-based Jaguar XJS of Alan Prince and Mike Hourigan, while the first round winners, Ed Lamont and Graeme Cameron, could manage no better than third in their immaculate BMW 325 i.

It was a sweet victory for the Anderson brothers and their Pinpac Racing team. They have never previously won a major saloon car race in New Zealand, after suffering a string of costly mechanical failures. But this week-end belonged to them. Wayne Anderson won the Rod Coppins Memorial Trophy, which goes to the fastest qualifier,. and his brother, Bruce,, qualified his iden-

tical car in second place. They had no opposition when the race got underway and appeared to be running in formation well within their limits for the first hour. Then the gremlins struck again, with Bruce Anderson’s car breaking a belt pulley on the front of the engine and having to retire. But Wayne Anderson handed over a healthy car to Moreton, who never put a foot wrong on the way to victory and was able to actually ease up over the final 30 minutes.

The Hourigan/Prince Jaguar was never really in contention and ran a lonely race for third after the BMW had to make an early stop with a punctured tyre and lost a lap. It lost nearly another lap during a very slow pit stop at the two-hour mark, and though Cameron hurled the car along and unlapped himself once, the BMW ran out of time in the finish.

Consistent driving in the variable conditions, that included two heavy rain squalls during the race, saw Bruce and Allan Drinkrow take fourth place over all and victory in the 0-1600 cc Group A class ahead of Manfeild

outright runners-up Dave Barrow and Brett Riley.

But it was the small car class that provided the main action.

Five teams led at various stages, with pit crew efficiency and wet weather driving skills proving a deciding factor in the finish.

Early in the race Dauntsey Teagle and Charlie Monro (Honda Civic) looked to have things well under control, but they were using tyres that did not perform in the wet and the classwinning Bryan Hartley/ Shane Higgins Laser TX3 gscythed past them.

Wayne Anderson/John Morton (Mustang GT), 133, laps 1; . Alan Prince/Mike Hourigan (Jaguar XJS), 132 laps, 2; Ed Lamont/Graeme Cameron (BMW 3251), 132 laps, 3; Bruce and Allan Drinkrow (Toyota Corolla GT), 131 laps, 4; Dave Barrow/Brett Riley (Corolla GT), 131 laps, 5; Bruce Fowler/. Kirk Stoneman (Corolla Sprinter), 128 laps, 6; Rupert and Sydney Gardiner (Corolla Sprinter), 127 laps, 7; Lloyd Owne/Jim Clark (Escort RS160011), 124 laps, 8; Warren Burt/Jeff Pascoe (Toyota Starlet), 123 laps, 9; Tony Rutherford/Lance Johnson (Corolla GT), 120 laps, 10.