Dawson early leader in South Island PRINTSTOP OSCA Championship

A warm Canterbury day greeted us for the first round of the PRINTSTOP South Island OSCA championship at Levels Raceway, Timaru. As the day progressed the crowd were treated to some great racing and duels. The V8 Camaro of Lawrence Knowler drew first blood gaining pole with a high 64 second lap with reigning NZ & S.I. OSCA Champion Colin Dawson in his V8 RX7 along side on the front row. Chris Hatton debuted the ex Andy Greenslade V8 Camaro in third which was a great effort after only running a few laps at Powerbuilt Tools Raceway earlier in the week. Laine Etwell had a new "Tasman" colour scheme on his Pontiac and grabbed fourth on the grid followed by Dave Agnew's Volvo.

Knowler grabbed the lead off the line for race 1 and had Dawson crawling all over his bumper for the first couple laps until he made a pass with some very late braking into turn 1. This didn't last long as Knowler made a much better entry onto the back straight and regained the lead until the chequer heading off Dawson and a fast closing Etwell for the third. Hatton lost a power steering pump pulley so retired which let Geoff Washbourne into a lonely fourth. The Skyline of Garth Somerville lead home a race long duel with Raymond Hart's Skyline and Bruce Davidson's exceptional looking C5 Corvette who were never more than a couple car lengths apart with Steve Malone's similar Skyline following. Steven King-Turner's V8 Camaro was next after spinning at the esses mid race. Dave Agnew and Matt Cronin unfortunately struck engine troubles which put them out.

Race 2 was a reverse grid race and it was Hart who made a lightening start to take the lead into the first corner. He held the lead until Dawson and Etwell who were leading the faster cars got by at the start of the last lap. These two were never more than a car length apart with Knowler just sitting back to ready to pounce if the first two tangled. They didn't and this was how they finished with Hart holding onto fourth and Hatton getting through to fifth after a race long battle with Washbourne. These two just got the better of King Turner who was sixth who led home a race long battle with Malone, Davidson and Somerville. Again these cars were close all race with only 3 seconds separating the four of them.

Race 3 was a handicap but this time it was all Raymond Hart who led from the start and just had the edge over King Turner who kept second narrowly from a hard charging Dawson. Washbourne got through to fourth with a lot of passing on the last lap. The two skylines of Malone and Somerville were next just holding out Hatton. Davidson followed after being slowed by the tangle between Knowler and Etwell on the second last lap. Knowler rounded out the field with Etwell retiring.

So after the first round last year’s champion has started where he left off but judging from the first round he will have very stiff competition from Knowler and Etwell while the midfield battles will be sure to be exciting all season long as these guys look to be very evenly matched..
Round 2 of the PRINTSTOP South Island OSCA championship will be held at Teratonga in Invercargill on 9th December. For more information visit www.osca.co.nz.

Championship Points
Overall
Dawson 82
Hart 76
Knowler 72
Washbourne 66
King Turner 63
Somerville 57
Malone 57
Davidson 54
Etwell 52
Hatton 40

GT2
Dawson 87
Knowler 77
Washbourne73
King Turner 69
Davidson 64
Hatton 48

GT3
Hart 82
Somerville 75
Malone 75
Etwell 60