American driver sweeps past ailing Radisich

Press, 25 January 1988, Page 38

American driver sweeps past ailing Radisich

By

JOHN HAWKINS

The American driver, Dean Hall, swept past the ailing Ralt of Paul Radisich in the closing stages of yesterday’s Lady Wigram Trophy Race to take his first victory in the Digital Computers Formula Pacific series.

Only a week earlier the 23-year-old Hall had contemplated returning home after his American-built Swift had shown poor form at the New Zealand Grand Prix meeting at Pukekohe. As had been the case in the previous rounds, it was Radisich who moved quickly to the front at the start of the 30-lap race. The American Dan Marvin made a storming start up the inside, but was pincered in at the first corner by Radisich and Hall.

As Radisich consolidated his lead at the end of the first lap, Hall came

under pressure from his team-mate, the Canadian Paul Tracy. While Radisich led Hall, Tracy and Marvin, the Christchurch driver, Andy McElrea, continued to show promise tucking in behind his team-mate, Ted Prappas, for sixth before conceding the place to the old master Ken Smith in a typical Smith out-braking manoeuvre at the hairpin. At the 10-lap mark it appeared that a stalemate had been reached, with Hall unable to peg back Radisich, who held a 2i/ 2 second lead while behind Hall less than one second covered Tracy and Marvin with Smith a little off his usual pace in fifth. After McElrea had retired to the pits with a broken exhaust on lap 14 the order looked set to remain the same until the finish, with the front four all well in touch but never

quite getting close enough to each other to mount a challenge. On lap 24, however, Radisich passed the start finish line fishing for gears and pulled up around the back handing the lead to a delighted Hall. Hall eased out the final five laps to lead Tracy across the line by 7.68 seconds at the finish with Marvin third ahead of Smith and Prappas. Further back Parker Johnstone held off a lastminute challenge from his fellow American, Robbie Groff, to take the final series point in sixth. Hall was at a loss to explain his car’s return to form. “It is still a new car and I guess we are learning about it and developing it all the time,” he said after the race.

The earlier preliminary heat had seen Radisich add to his already impressive tally of race wins during the Benson and

Hedges series. Radisich streaked away to the front followed by the erratic Groff and Hall, while Prappas pulled up at the end of the first lap with suspension damage after clipping a course marker. On the third lap, with Radisich moving away, Hall moved ahead of Groff while the normally steady Smith had an offcourse excursion by the hangers. On lap six Tracy, who had been placed fourth, pitted to change a punctured tyre allowing Marvin, David Brabham and McElrea to move into point scoring positions. Meanwhile, Smith was tracking McElrea and it seemed only a matter of time before he would push the Christchurch youngster down to seventh. Indeed, he moved ahead at the loop on lap 18. Other events: page 28