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Powerbuilt Raceway at Ruapuna Park in Christchurch hosted
the second round of the Kelford Cams NZ O.S.C.A. Championship with a
great field of 26 beautifully presented cars and burning sunshine all
weekend.
Qualifying was at midday on Saturday and Canterbury put on one of those
famous Nor'wester days with temperatures hovering around 30 degrees.
There was really no surprise at the end of it all though with Dennis
Running in his GT1 Camaro setting the pace with a time of 1min25.7 to
grab pole for the first race later in the day. Second was Richard
Freeman with the newly acquired Knight Corvette setting 1min27.2
followed by last seasons Champion, Roger Fawbert in his GT2 Camaro with
a personal best time of 1min27.4. The other two GT1 Camaros of Nigel
Sheppard and Eddie Fairbairn were next with 1min27.5 and 1min27.7
respectively. The Southland V8 brigade were next with Colin Dawson
setting 1min29.1 and Lawrence Knowler 1min29.6 followed by Andy
Greenslade on 1min29.9 with his first visit to Powerbuilt Raceway. Matt
Cronin was the first non V8 with a time of 1min30.7 and rounding out the
top 10 was Geoff Washbourne with a time of 1min32.6. The rest of the
grid lined up with Scott Fitzgerald next followed by Andrew Cundall in
his Nissan Silvia, Brian Gray (RX7), Craig McDermid (Levin), Phil Winter
(Altezza), Cameron Jones (RX7), Mark Crabbe, Leighton Hill, Craig
Flewellen (Starlet), Dave McNaughtan, Evan Munt (bedding in brakes),
Chris Coleman, Paul Smith, Daniel McNaughtan (RX7), David Keir (MX5
Rotary) and Rob Lewis in his Batman RX7 chasing a misfire rounding out
the 26 car grid.
The first race was a rolling start and boy did the field look and sound
good as they all headed off down the front straight towards the first
corner. Running was first through followed by Sheppard and Fairbairn.
Over the course of the race there was plenty of hard and close fought
racing and a couple of late braking duels which didn't come off. One of
those was Sheppard trying to take the lead on the 4th lap but
unfortunately went off, but came back to regain 5th at the end of the
race. Running took the win by 4 seconds over Fairbairn with Freeman 3rd.
Fawbert was next and doing well holding onto the back of the GT1 cars
for most of the race while setting another PB time of 1mim27.0. Sheppard
followed with Dawson, Knowler and Greenslade line astern across the
finish after having a monumental battle with Washbourne just behind and
also setting his personal best time with a 1min29.5. In 10th was the
first non V8 with Fitzgeralds Starlet getting the better of Winter,
Mcdermid, Jones and Gray with these last 4 crossing the line within 2
seconds after a great midfield battle for the final top 10 place. Dave
McNaughtan was next with just a slight oil leak, but still managed to
just hold out Flewellen and Crabbe with Hill just a few seconds back and
at the rear of the field Daniel McNaughtan just held out Coleman to
round out the field.
The second race was the handicap by class with the GT4 fellas being let
go first. Gray lead out from Jones with Hill and Daniel McNaughtan
following but it soon became clear that both Gray and Jones were out to
win this race outright with the two of them having a great race long
battle for the lead, setting low 1min33 lap times and only being
overhauled on the last lap. The GT3 cars started next with Cundall
getting the better of that bunch while setting a personal best time of
1min32.1 but could only catch Daniel McNaughtan and Hill from the first
group. The GT2 boys started another 10seconds behind GT3 and it was
Dawson who got the better with Greenslade managing to hold out Fawbert
for the duration of the race.
But it was the GT1 Camaros of Fairbairn and Sheppard who got through to
cross the line first, just passing Gray and Jones with 1 corner to go
with Dawson just pipping Jones by 0.05 of a second at the line. This was
the first 5 and they were only split by 3 seconds. Next was Greenslade
and Fawbert followed by Cundall, Hill, Fitzgerald, Winter, Crabbe,
McDermid, Smith, Dave McNaughtan, Flewellen, Daniel McNaughtan and
Coleman rounding out the field. With plenty of passing and some great
battles throughout the field the final handicap race was setting itself
up as a real crowd pleaser.
Coleman and Daniel McNaughtan headed off first for the final handicap
race but straight away something was amiss. Coleman in his Mini had put
on some new front tyres after he came in with canvas showing after the
second race and being the last race in the South Island before heading
home he decided to turn the wick up a little. Being out by himself and
obviously on a "mission" he was able to set consistent laps while
everyone else were tripping over each other and managed to win the race
by 17 seconds. I guess he finally got used to the track!!!
Behind Coleman though was a great race developing as by lap 4 the whole
field were line astern between turns 1 and 2. With the big boys tip
toeing their way through the smaller cars there were plenty of opportune
passing and a few hairy moments but everyone got through relatively
unscathed. The crowd loved the action and I personally thought we put on
the best show we could have possibly put on. At the end of the 6th lap
it was Fawbert who had done the best job (apart from Coleman) to
narrowly take second from a hard charging Greenslade with Fawbert
actually finishing minus part of his diff housing! Sheppard got through
for 4th with Knowler just crossing the line ahead of Running for 5th.
McDermid and Cundall were next followed by a huge gaggle of cars with
Fitzgerald just getting the better of Crabbe, Daniel Mcnaughtan, Dawson,
Gray and Jones across the line. Smith was next just ahead of Hill with
Fairbairn and Flewellen rounding out the field.
The points tally for the day has Roger Fawbert winning the day in his
Century Batteries Camaro from Andy Greenslade and Colin Dawson. In GT1
Fairbairn just pipped Sheppard for the round honours and Fawbert was
ahead of Dawson in GT2. Fitzgerald cleaned up GT3 from Coleman and GT4
honours went to Gray over Jones by 2 points.
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