Multi-Car Sprint Trophy decided at Ruapuna

Back in 2013 John Cottier, while racing a BMW E30 at the age of 79, presented the Canterbury Car Club with the silver “Kerrowmoar Coffee Pot” (of Scottish origin) to be used as the award to the annual Multi-car Sprint Champion.

Multi-Car Sprints were a new type of car racing that was introduced around 2010 as a steppingstone from the basic dual car sealed track sprints to ‘full on’ Club Racing where up to 45 cars can start together in one race.

The Jack Tench Speed Championship Trophy is competed for in ten events run over the 12-month season from 1 July 2023 till 30 June 2024. On the day of the Multi-car Sprint Trophy, each competitor is given the choice of staying in the Dual car sprinting format or if they want to have a go for the Coffee Pot and join the six cars in a grid format?

Canterbury Car Club is one of the few clubs in NZ to run the Multi-Car Sprint format.

On the day, two-rounds of qualifying are followed by racing in grids of six cars with the fastest off the front. At the Euromarque Motorsport Park in Christchurch, using the 3.3km Grand Prix circuit, two grids of six cars are started 10-seconds apart. With 47 competitors on the day, there were four groups with the first electing to stay with the Dual Car Sprint starts so they could take passengers or concentrate on getting the best lap times.

***James Hopman takes second in the first race in Multi-Car class Photo – Mark Duncan***

Races were three-laps long and racing was close. The winner was decided by overall place with bonus points for each position improved from the starting grid (and their times counted only towards the annual series results).

In qualifying, Chris Stephens (Megane) set the pace followed closely by Jeremy Lush (Lotus 7) and Rueben Adams (Starlet).

Along with nine others in their group they kept in fairly tight formation in the first race. Lush took the top points with James Hopman (Porsche 993) nabbing second and Adams coming on strong in third. Stephens failed to finish and was out for the day.

The second group of 12 were also very close. Jeremy May (BMW i30), Ben Smith (Charade), Joshua Rufford (Evo 3), Ben Fisher (Mirage) and Tracey Barrett (Clio Cup car) all circulated in the 1m 45/46s lap times and finished in a cluster, a nightmare for the lap-scorers!

The overall winner on the day was Ross Bristol (Westfield SE) (main photo) who also leads the Jack Tench Speed Championship Trophy after five rounds. He led the Dual Car Sprint group and is currently leading the annual Canterbury Car Club Speed Championship with 99-points over Peter Flewellen (Fraser) 90, Sharon Keir (Civic) 62 and John Rathgen (GR Yaris) 60.

The day was not incident free! With the tight times came a wee panel rub between a Mazda and a Toyota. The incident in the hairpin between the Evo 3 and the i30 was less than minor as both failed to finish from that point but, brilliantly, the matter was resolved with a handshake and the quote “that’s racing”.

The eventual winner also had a coming together with an oystercatcher that, sadly, met its demise after hitting the helmet of Jeremy Lush, dislodging his visor.

With four members of other clubs ineligible for the trophy, only Canterbury Car Club members appear in the Multi-Car Sprint “Kerrowmoar Coffee Pot” trophy –

Road Car Class – Winner – Jeremy May, BMW i30, (14^th overall)

Full results are at Facebook Pursuit / Circuit Sprints & Multicar Championship

***Multi-car Sprint Trophy winner – Jeremy Lush (Loyus 7)***

Results and Points

Place	Driver	Vehicle	Club	Time	Points
1st	Jeremy Lush	Lotus 7	Canterbury	900.084	201
2^nd	Rueben Adams	Starlet	Canterbury	907.531	194
3^rd	Craig Smith	260Z	Canterbury	945.889	186
4^th	Tony Chapman	MX5	Canterbury	951.675	184
5^th	Mitchell Ward	Levin	Canterbury	944.792	182
6^th	Mark Barrett	GT 86	Canterbury	953.326	177
7^th	Graham Crow	MX5 T	Canterbury	981.128	165
8^th	Jonathan Prince	Levin	Canterbury	984.075	159
9^th	Benny Yan	MX5	Canterbury	989.524	154
10^th	Ayven Dunn	MX5	Canterbury	1002.949	152
11^th	Andrew Bailey	Integra	Canterbury	1008.620	147
12^th	Alex Tiffen	Trueno	Canterbury	1015.189	144
13^th	Tony Martin	Starlet	Canterbury	925.001	142
14^th	Sam Knight	Swift	Canterbury	1014.639	138
15^th	Tracy Barrett	Clio	Canterbury	973.112	130
16^th	James Hopman	Porsche 993	Canterbury	DNF	101
17th	Dan Collis	MX5	Canterbury	DNF	96
18^th	Jorjia Hill	Celica	Canterbury	DNF	92
19^th	Liam McMahon	325i	Canterbury	DNF	85
20^th	Ben Smith	Charade	Canterbury	DNF	83
21^st	Everard Petrie	MX5	Canterbury	DNF	80
22^nd	Teresa Stephens	Sentra	Canterbury	DNF	62
23^rd	Chris Stephens	Megane	Canterbury	DNF	0
24^th	Ben Geayley	RX7	Canterbury	DNF	0