Oil brings and early end to Teretonga racing

A trail of oil dropped by a car on an already wet track brought a slightly early end to proceedings at the Motor Racing presented by Downer at Teretonga Park this weekend.

Saturday’s races were conducted in fine, dry conditions but Sunday dawned wet and when the oil was spilt early on Sunday afternoon the meeting ended a little earlier than scheduled.

Up until that stage there had been some great racing with Sunday’s races punctuated by several Safety Car interventions due to incidents.

Caption: Alex Crosbie on his way to a fine third place in the South Island F1600 Championship race at Teretonga Park on Saturday. Photo: Ron Veint

Steve Ross of Dunedin in his Jaguar TraNZam XK took the top step of the OSCA Super Saloons podium after winning both of Saturday’s races before finishing second to Paul Brooks of Ohoka in his Nissan 200SX S15 in the rain on Sunday morning. Brooks was second overall for the round after earlier securing a second and third while Ashburton driver Michael Gallagher was third.

Southlanders were to the fore in several classes with Jordan Michels taking a clean sweep in the Noel McIntyre Drainage Club Saloons at the wheel of his Ford Focus V8 to podium ahead of Brian Scott of Dunedin (Porsche 997) and Dan Barlow of Queenstown in a Ford Capri. Liam MacDonald suffered a puncture in Saturday’s race which cost him dearly in the points.

Bradley Dawson of Invercargill took the top step of the podium in the Pro 7/8 Class after a clean sweep on debut in the class. Kris Mackie of Christchurch was runner-up with two seconds and a third with Sam Wallace of Christchurch third overall.

Caption: Steve Ross of Dunedin in his Jaguar TraNZam XK on his way to the top step of the podium in the OSCA Super Saloons in Sunday’s wet race. Photo: Ron Veint   

The South Island F1600 field only had one race but it featured a colossal battle which went the way of Louis Sharp of Christchurch in a Spectrum 015 from the experienced Matthew Hamilton of Christchurch in a Van Diemen RF88. Invercargill driver Alex Crosbie put in a fine performance to mix it with the leaders to eventually finish third in his Ray GR21 ahead of Zac Christensen of Rolleston in a Ray GR20.

Invercargill drivers Scott O’Donnell and Murray Kelman shared the Historic & Classic Pre 78 Saloon race wins but at the end of the weekend Mark McGuinness of Wellington (Alfa Romeo GTV) stood atop the podium ahead of Leon Hallett of Mosgiel (Ford Galaxie) and Nick Cross of Queenstown in another Alfa.

Corey Ross of Rolleston in a Ford Mustang made a clean sweep of the three Pre 65 Saloon races to take the round win from Wayne Patrick of Christchurch, (Ford XP Falcon) and Piers Mingham of Ashburton (Anglia).

Corey Ashworth of Ashburton won the 2K Teretonga Challenge in his Toyota Celica from Warren Reynolds and Greg Mitchell while Eddie Iraia of Timaru took the SS Cup honours in his Honda Civic EF9 from Bradley Dawson (RX8) and Jordan Rae of Temuka (Honda Civic).

Mini 7 South produced close racing, particularly in the dry, with Justin Neill of Christchurch prevailing from Rolleston driver Justin Ashwell and Paul Bennison of Christchurch.

Omakau drivers Cody Welch, with two, and Tony Herbert (one) shared the NZ Six Saloon race wins.

The next meeting at Teretonga Park is the Mobil 1 Classic SpeedFest scheduled for the weekend of 19/20 February.