New sprint car hero

Press, 23 November 1988, Page 39

New sprint car hero

The sprintcar driver, Mark Williams, produced one of the highlights at Ruapuna Park international speedway on Saturday evening when he outstripped his rivals in gaining three impressive wins in his first outing in the sprintcar class.

Williams started his speedway racing in the threequarter midget car class and then stepped up to the midget class, where he quickly became one of the South Island’s leading drivers. By his display Williams will quickly stamp his mark in the sprintcar class. Driving a Mercedes Benz 406 Chev, Williams reeled off lap after lap in' near record time, as he blasted the 700 horsepower machine around a near perfect, track. The most breathtaking victory for Williams came in his second outing when he came from the back of the large field to hit the front within two laps, cutting through the traffic with ease, and going on to win by a big margin.

Two other drivers also went through the programme unbeaten, with Graham Fineran the star of the midget racing and Chris Beach in record breaking form in the three-quarter midget races.

Fineran come from near the back of the field to win the opening race, with his second win coming in a similar manner. Fineran took his Volkswagen to an early lead in the feature, with his main opposition coming from Rakaia's Selwyn Everett. Beach, a former New Zealand champion, collected two track records as he picked

his way through the 20-car field. He shattered his own lap record by nearly a second in his first race with the eight-lap record bettered by a second in the feature. Beach had to work hard for his victory in the middle race, with Dick Webb holding the lead over the middle part of the race before Beach closed in and passed on the Prison bend, with several laps remaining. A team of Nelson sidecar pairings helped produce some exciting racing. However, it was the local combination of Mike Slade and Lee Chappell that gained the most success, claiming two wins and a second from three starts. Slade and Chapple are racing a machine built up by Nelson’s Gavin Sendall. The machine is showing plenty of pace and should impress once they have a few more meetings under their belts. Alan Mason made the most of a bad run of bike problems by the New Zealand champion, Larry Ross, and was untroubled to rack up three wins. Ross was forced to borrow bikes and could manage only a second behind Justin Monk. Other riders to stand out in the first division were Darren Hopewell and Mark Thorpe, with Mark Richards showing too much class in the second division. On his form he will soon be lining up in the top division. Results:

Three-Quarter Midgets.— Indian file race: C. Beach 1, D. Webb 2, P. Walton 3. Handicap race: C. Beach 1, D. Webb 2, G. Hecker 3; 103.1.

Feature: C. Beach 1, D. Webb 2, G. Hecker 3, 138.6 (8 lap record).

Midget cars.— Indian file race: G. Fineran 1, S. Everett 2, R. Brown 3. Scratch race: G. Fineran 1, B. Denson 2, S. Everett 3. Feature: G. Fineran 1, S. Everett 2, G. Roxburgh 3. Sprintcars.— Handicap race: M. Williams 1, W. Pierson 2, M. Allan 3. Handicap race: M. Williams 1, K. Clive 2, W. Pierson 3; 75.6. Feature: M. Williams 1, B. Leversedge 2, K. Clive 3. Solos.— Novice final: P. Hollows 1, S. Madden 2, R. McKinnon 3; 65.0. Division two.— Heat 1: M. Richards 1, S. Morice 2, R. Bennett (Inv.) 3; 76.7. Heat 2: M. Thorpe 1, T. Richards 2, S. Mitchell 3; 77.3. Final: M. Richards 1, S. Morice 2, R. Bennett 3; 75.0.

Division one.— Heat 1: A. Mason 1, M. Thorpe 2, M. Brown 3; 75.3. Heat 2: J. Monk 2, L. Ross 2, M. Brown 3; 72.3. Heat 3: J. Monk 1, M. Thorpe 2, D. Hopewell 3; 71.5. Final: A. Mason 1, D. Hopewell 2, M. Thorpe 3, 71.4. Flying four: A. Mason 1, D. Hopewell 2, M. Thorpe 3; 72.0. Sidecars.— Handicap race: M. Slade/L. Chappell 1, J. Ward/P. Westrupp 2, R. Downie/J. Martin 3; 80.5. Handicap race: M. Slade/L. Chappell 1, J. Sullivan/R. Verry 2, N. Russell/G. Kisner 3; 82.5. Consolation: R. Downie/J. Martin 1, T. Gough/G. Martin 2, N. Rusell/G. Kisner 3; 80.1. Feature: J. Ward/P. Westrupp 1, M. Slade/L. Chappell 2, T. Gough/G. Martin 3; 77.4.