Back in 2009, Teretonga Park in Invercargill hosted the opening round of the ASKO South Island Endurance Series. It was a race of attrition with every car having some kind of drama during the race, and some before. Here’s Lindsay Beer’s race report from the weekend…….
Matt and Dwayne Carter of Auckland took victory in the opening round of the ASKO Appliances South Island Endurance Series at Teretonga Park in Invercargill today (Saturday 26 September).
The race, originally scheduled to run for three hours, was reduced to two after a crash involving Derin Greenslade’s Datsun 510 caused a long delay.
The Carter’s qualified their BA Falcon V8 Supercar on pole position and led away from the rolling start. However within 10 laps they were forced to pit after a plug lead came loose. That allowed the Porsche GT3 RSR of Scott and Lindsay O’Donnell to gain a big lead while the Carter’s began a fight back through the field.
The Falcon was back in second place when, after 1 hour 11 minutes, the fifth placed Greenslade was pitched into the tyre wall after contact in a racing incident as a faster car tried to pass the Datsun. Greenslade hit the wall hard and the race was stopped while rescue crews extricated the Tauranga based driver who was taken to hospital. Racing was curtailed for almost 1 ¾ hours and the decision was made to continue for a further 49 minutes to complete 2 hours of racing.
After the restart the Carter Falcon began to reel in the O’Donnell Porsche, taking the lead with 25 minutes remaining. From there the Carter team extended the lead over the final part of the race, crossing the line 54.913 seconds ahead of the Porsche.
Third was the Chev Corvette C5 of Alexandra drivers Bruce Davidson and David Garden, 5 laps behind the winners.
The only other finishers were Dale and Dennis Chapman of Christchurch, fourth in their BMW 318i Super Tourer, Stuart Black and Perry Scarfe in a Ford Falcon Ute and John Wadsworth and Warren Croft of Blenheim in their Holden Commodore. Three other cars were still running at the finish but not classified as they did not complete 75% of the race distance.
The Carter’s were rapt with their great start to the series. Apart from the early pitstop they had a faultless run. There was great relief in the team when the problem requiring attention early in the race proved to be a plug lead rather than something more serious.
Likewise the O’Donnell camp reported no major problems, a flat tyre aside. However the timing of the red flag after the accident that stopped the race cost them dearly as their advantage evaporated.
Davidson and Garden were extremely happy with their third place. Their Corvette was built by the drivers and several team members making the car the first ‘homemade’ vehicle across the line. Their only problem had been a broken tie rod and a puncture.
Despite finishing fourth the Chapman BMW endured a tough day. Damage from an accident in qualifying required urgent repairs to the right front corner of the car prior to the race and then the team pitted early to investigate a noise.
The fifth placed Black/Scarfe combination was elated, having finished well despite several pitstops while Wadsworth and Croft lost a lot of time with a broken rear trailing arm.
Of those running but not classified at the finish the Craig McDermid/Peter Swaney Toyota Levin covered 71 laps, pitting several times to deal with a brake fluid leak plus clutch and diff issues.
Inky Tulloch and Greg Elder struggled with a fuel pump problem covering 55 laps in their Honda Integra while Allan Dippie and Stephen Grellet lost a huge amount of time with a clutch hose problem in their Porsche GT3.
Non – finishers were Garry Cliff and Hayden Knighton of Christchurch in their Porsche after blowing a turbo in the last minutes of the race, Chris Adams and Dave Stewart who lost power in their Holden Commodore, Matthew O’Donnell and Eric Swinbourn in their BMW Super Tourer due to a diff issue and the Greenslade/Murphy Datsun.
The BMW of Warren Good and Arron Black was a non-starter after hitting a tyre wall in qualifying, causing damage to the right front suspension that could not be repaired in time for the race. The car had set the fastest time in the opening qualifying session.
As well as the overall victory the Carter’s also won the ASKO Appliances GT Class while Davidson and Garden are the class leaders in the Southern Finance Class 1 points (3501cc and above).
The Hagley Building Products Class 2 (2001cc – 3500cc) is led by Dale and Dennis Chapman and despite their exit from the race Greenslade and Todd Murphy lead the points in the Burnside Contractors Class 3 (0-2000cc).
Points after round one
OVERALL
1st – Matt/Dwayne Carter – 95
2nd – Scott/Lindsay O’Donnell – 87
3rd – Bruce Davidson/David Garden – 80
4th – Dale/Dennis Chapman – 74
5th – Stuart Black/Perry Scarfe – 69
6th – John Wadsworth/Warren Croft – 65
ASKO APPLIANCES – GT CLASS
1st – Matt/Dwayne Carter – 95
2nd – Scott/Lindsay O’Donnell – 87
3rd – Gary Cliff/Hayden Knighton – 20
SOUTHERN FINANCE – CLASS 1 (3501cc & over)
1st – Bruce Davidson/David Garden – 95
2nd – Stuart Black/Perry Scarfe – 87
3rd – John Wadsworth/Warren Croft – 80
4th – Craig McDermid/Peter Swaney – 20
5th – Chris Adams/Dave Stewart – 20
HAGLEY BUILDING PRODUCTS – CLASS 2 (2001-3500cc)
1st – Dale/Dennis Chapman – 95
2nd – Inky Tulloch/Greg Elder – 20
3rd – Matthew O’Donnell/Eric Swinbourn – 20
BURNSIDE CONTRACTORS – CLASS 3 (1601-2500cc)
1st – Derin Greenslade/Todd Murphy – 20
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