Ruapuna - 13,14 October 07

By Jan McInnes

Felt a bit rusty preparing for this meeting - I must be getting old! Roy spent most of the last four months getting Steve’s Mustang ready after the huge smash at the beginning of the year and all credit goes to him and his team for getting the job done, cause the car looks great. 

Saturday - a few went out for unofficial practice just to get in the swing of things and when it came to official practice, Steve Ross and Wayne Patrick showed the rest of the team that it was going to be a hot season of racing - Steve got pole with Wayne hot on his heels. Pete Fitzgibbon finally showed us that his mighty Farina wasn’t a figment of his imagination, but had a few teething problems and didn't manage to finish qualifying or any of the races. We also welcomed Bill Evans in his new Anglia (unfortunately he had a few problems too) and Greg Stewart in the ex Manny Sim Mustang. It was nice to see Greg Lyons back and Gareth managed to squeeze himself into the seat of Roy’s XP Falcon and after flat spotting the odd tyre, got to grips with the car rather quickly.

Sunday dawned with a whole different weather scenario from yesterday - overcast, cold and windy and we were really pleased that we had booked a garage. Out at the track, everyone was gearing up for the fist race at 10.35 and as they waited on the dummy grid, the rain started. And it got heavier and heavier as the time went on and by the time the race started, puddles had formed on the track. Manny got a demon start and powered ahead uncontested to win with the best time of the race being 2:12.831. Scorch came off at the hairpin and kissed the tyres, but managed to come back on the track again only to DNF on the last lap. Most of the bigger cars found the wet conditions difficult and the ballet manoeuvres were a pleasure to watch even though we were worried all the time about the dangerous situation. As usual the smaller cars of Maurie, Bob, Johno & Greg got better times and handled the situation better than the bigger cars, but it was might that ruled the moment and Jim Little got second with Roy third. It wasn’t pleasant for the hardened spectators either - horizontal rain, which was so hard that it felt like hail and driving wind which just about blew you off the bank.

Races 2 & 3 were dry, but the wind was still just as strong. Race 2 was reverse top half with Johno & Bob on the front row, Maurie & Roy on the 2nd row and Manny & Jim behind them. Wayne Patrick had the demon start this time and “sailed” through to take the win. Steve had to start back on 10th due to the DNF and managed a healthy 4th. Jim came 2nd and Manny 3rd. 

Race 3 was the handicap and was really based on the times from qualifying as they were the best for the weekend. There were 3 groups with Ray & Bill off the front, 40 seconds back was the next group, followed 30 seconds later by the faster cars. Roy got a good break with this one and after encouraging” Greg Stewart that he didn’t need to be in front of him took the win, followed by Maurie and Gareth.

The points are wide open at this stage cause overall and the class points are taken over qualifying and all three races, so it’s anyone’s game at this point.

 
Next two meetings are at Levels - first in 2 weeks on 28 October and the next 3 weeks later on 18 November. Hope everyone can make it.