Teretonga - 9 December 2007:
By Jan McInnes
It’s hard to believe that this is our 4th meeting already which means we are well and truly half way through the season - not long to Christmas either!
After some of us reading the supplementary regulations and the rest relying on those who had read them, 99% of us headed south on Saturday to set up and do any unofficial testing that was required. We were pleasantly surprised to be “greeted” with beautifully warm weather which continued throughout the day and also the next.
The reason I say 99% of us is that Wayne Tuffley was already in town (due to the fact he lives there) and Manny decided that he knew what time and what day everything started which meant he didn’t read the documentation that accompanied his entry, which meant that he missed documentation, scrutineering AND official qualifying which has really hurt his points!
Fifteen had entered, but Cliff had to pull Chris Adam’s entry (Cliff was unable to make this meeting due to work commitments and his cousin, Chris was going to drive his car for him) due to the car not being ready after the crash three weeks before at Levels. So we battled on with 14, but unfortunately almost immediately Ray Hurst had to pull out with gearbox problems and Bob’s classic Anglia didn’t even make the finish of the first race due to fuel starvation issues. Great to see Wayne Tuffley back racing and Barry Morgan out for his second only meeting and his first at Teretonga. It was another first for Bill Evans too and even though he had gearbox problems in qualifying, between him and Maurie they sourced another box and worked through to around midnight to get Bill back out - great effort guys.
Official Practice:
The usual contenders (minus Manny) battled for pole position and this had some surprising results. Steve got pole, but was followed very closely by Greg Stewart (in Manny’s ex Mustang) and Wayne Tuffley, who proved that he still had the magic even though it was his first meeting since last season. Jim Little was not far behind these three followed closely by Wayne Patrick, then back to Roy, Gareth, Maurie, Barry, Bill and Bob.
Race 1:
Wayne Tuffley got a blinding start and sped ahead to take the win and the lap record at 1:07.46. This was followed not far behind by Greg Stewart on a 1:07.93 and Steve Ross on a 1:08.03. The next fastest were Manny, Wayne Patrick and Jim Little.
Race 2:
Wayne Tuffley got another great start, but was penalised with a drive through penalty and had 30 seconds taken off his time due to a bad sportsmanship black flag. The winner of this race was Steve Ross, mainly due to Tuff’s drive through and Manny’s off road excursion resulting in collecting Wayne Patrick when he came back on the track. Jim Little was second, followed by Gareth, Roy, Maurie, Johno, Wayne P, Wayne T, Manny & Bill. Barry Morgan broke the tie rod and ended up in the sandpit at Castrol and Greg Stewart had electrical issues and didn’t manage to make the start, which was a shame for both.
Race 3 - handicap:
Only nine starters for this race, with Wayne Patrick’s car being more damaged than first thought, Greg Stewart and Barry Morgan not managing to fix their respective problems.
After being accused of letting Roy win the previous reverse grids, I decided to get someone else to organise the grid for me which turned out to be one of the Southland Sports Car Club officials. The race started out with the usual gaps, but it was a close finish with Roy being “pipped at the post” by Jim Little who took out the win. Manny was close behind followed by Maurie, Gareth, Tuff, Steve, Johno and Bill.
All in all it was a great weekend and the fine weather made it even better.
The points have changed again due to Manny’s error in judgement i.e. not reading his documentation, but as we only have three more points rounds, it’s still anyone’s game. Next meeting is not until March 15th & 16th at Ruapuna, so hopefully that will give everyone heaps of time to sort out their gremlins. Meanwhile 13 groups are travelling up to Taupo at the beginning of January to battle for the North/South trophy - wish us luck!
