Rally-cross revival in prospect

Press, 2 June 1989, Page 30

Rally-cross revival in prospect

The sport of rally-cross attracts a large following at European circuits, where spectators flock to see powerful former factory Group B cars do battle with purpose-built hybrids, but this particular discipline of motorsport seems to have made little headway in New Zealand.

Some successful meetings have been run in the North Island at Mystery Creek, but it was back in 1986 that the last promoted event was held in Canterbury. All this will change, it is to be hoped, in August

when the Canterbury Car Club holds its Gold Rallycross on its new, improved circuit. There were problems with the track surface at

John Hawkins

on

Rallying

the 1986 meeting, but since then club members have spent many hours consolidating the surface and are confident that it will hold up well in August. To help the situation, road tyres are stipulated in the event’s regulations; this should also result in spectacular racing.

To provide close racing, grids will be drawn in the same way as was done successfully in the Agip South Island Mini 7 series. This will provide each competitior with starts

from the front, middle and rear of the grid, with a series of heats leading to a final.

Already several wellknown competitors have indicated an interest in competing at the meeting, for which $5OOO prizemoney, paid in gold, has been allocated.

At this early stage it is expected that Simon Davies, Gary Cliff, Avon Hyde, Peter Cunliffe and Dave Samson will be among the starters, and the organisers are hard at work trying to attract entries from the likes of Possum Bourne, Kim Austin and Barry Robinson.

A novel feature of the day’s events will be a towtruck derby, in which competitors will be required to tow a car for at least half the distance. Supporting races on the Ruapuna rally-cross track will include off-roaders, and there is the possibility of a demonstration of racing trucks being held on the sealed circuit.

Entries for the day are now open with the club at P.O. Box 21-088, Christchurch.

Although most eyes will be focused on the tussle for national championship honours, this week-end’s Southland Mainfreight Rally will also have a continuation of the equally hard-fought Mainland series. Last season Simon Davies saw his hopes of winning the championship dashed at the final hurdle, and at the beginning of this season the Mainland series did not rate highly on his list of priorities.

With three rounds down, however, Davies finds himself with a 13point lead over Brian Stokes, who will surely

devote his energies to his national championship campaign. Thus Davies is 21 points ahead of the 1987 champion, Roger Townshend, who is in third place on the ladder.

Even further back is another Subaru driver, Robbie Hart, an old rival of Davies’ and the present Mainland champion. Perhaps Davies will now reassess his commitments and give the Mainland series a fair try; it may be the personable Christchurch businessman’s best chance ever of capturing a big title. Perhaps Davies’ change in fortunes could be attributed to the steadying influence of his new codriver, the highly experienced John Kennard.

In any case, the present score in the over-all championship shows Davies with 73 points, Stokes with 60, Townshend with 52, Hart with 46 and the newcomer, John Silcock, with a highly creditable 44.

Davies also leads the large-capacity C class, while in Class B, Dean Buist, Darryn Fairhall and Wayne Murdoch are locked in struggle with 69, 67 and 56 points, respectively. In the smallcapacity city A class, Grant Goile, is continuing his run of success with 80 points, this putting him well clear of his nearest challenger, Paul Buist. * ♦ ♦ Continuing the present trend towards nostalgia in motor-sport, a committee has been set up to investigate the possibility of running an historic rally in conjunction with the 1990 Anniversary celebrations.

Few details are yet available, but it is believed that the event would be run over four days, travelling from Christchurch to Auckland, and would be open to vehicles constructed before 1972. More details will be printed as they come to hand.