Round 1 of the South Island Printstop OSCA Championship got under way at Levels Raceway on October 30th. The competitors were greeted with pouring rain and unfortunately OSCA had the same problem as every other class competing, small fields. This appears to be an all to common problem at non Tier 1 and 2 national events.

Qualifying was held in wet conditions but everyone went out to at least set a time and get qualifying points. The Oldsmobile Cutlass of Steve Ross grabbed pole off Dave McNaughtan in his newly rebuilt 13b turbo RX7 by less than a second with Colin Dawson in his Chev V8 RX7 third. Raymond Hart who joined OSCA from the Sport Saloon register for the day was fourth and the Chev V8 Commodore of Wayne Ross took out the final top 5 spot.
The first race was held in torrential rain with a number of competitors not too keen on going out. Unfortunately Steve Ross’ weekend was over after qualifying as he had problems with a crank seal but most competitors took to the lake…I mean track! Hart won the race from McNaughtan with Wayne Ross taking third.
By the time the second race started the track was all but totally dry and obviously the racing really got under way. The grid was reversed which meant the Chev V8 Capri of Evan Munt and newcomer Chris Hatton’s 2ltr Turbo Toyota were on the front row. Dawson soon got to the front though and took the win from Geoff Washbourne in his Chev V8 Commodore with Munt third.

The final handicap race was held in near perfect conditions and again it was Dawson who took the chequered flag ahead of Munt by just 0.27 of a second with Washbourne third after having a good tussle with Hatton and just getting to the line ahead by 0.13 of a second.

The points at the end of the first round sees Washbourne leading with 98 points over Munt with 95 and Hatton on 90. A great debut by Chris who has only previously competed in a few club days at Powerbuilt Raceway and was his first visit to Levels getting into the 1min 9second bracket.

The next round is at Powerbuilt Raceway, Ruapuna, Christchurch on 26-27 November. This is a Tier 1 event and part of the Paul Kelly Motor Company Series. It is the first round of the National Championship for PRINTSTOP OSCA Super Saloons. At present more than 30 cars from the North and South Island have entered which will make it one of the largest fields of OSCA Super Saloons seen to date.