West takes NZ Super Truck honours

A new name will be engraved on the Mobil Delvac 1 Trophy after the latest round of the NAPA Auto Parts NZ Super Truck Championship at Teretonga Park in Invercargill last weekend.

Dave West, of Pukekohe, won the trophy which is on offer each year the championship visits the circuit.

The championship was brought south by King House Removals and featured three good races with a different winner in each.

Alex Little, of Lower Hutt, was aiming for his sixth straight trophy win but had a tough weekend finishing second to team-mate Brent ‘‘Bones’’ Collins, of Pareora, in the first race on Saturday and then fourth in Sunday morning’s race after getting oil from Collins’ truck on his windscreen and then losing low boost. Little took no part in the third race after his Freightliner Century failed to leave the dummy grid. Collins’ challenge also evaporated after he had replaced a head gasket after Saturday’s win only for it to let go again on his way to second on Sunday morning.

Through it all came West in his Freightliner Argosy. He finished third on Saturday and then won Sunday morning’s race before finishing fourth in the third race behind Shane Gray, of Lower Hutt, Ron Salter, of Auckland, and Marc King, of Eketahuna, to take the top step of the podium from Gray (Kenworth) and Collins (Freightliner Century).

In the Flying Farewell, Gray headed home Ricky West and Garry Price, of Cromwell.

The Mobil 1 Mainland Muscle Cars was the other headline category and local driver Brendan Mason in his Chev Monza prevailed after four races. He took the top step of the podium from Rhys Gould, of Christchurch, in a Falcon XE and Matt Coory, of Dunedin (Ford Mustang). Mike Wallace, of Dunedin, in a Chev Monza won two of the races while Gould and Mason took one each. Championship leader coming into the round, John Hepburn, of Timaru, broke a rocker in his Holden Monaro during qualifying and did not race.

The Historic & Vintage Racing Association provided a different winner in each race with Simon Crampton, of Christchurch (BMW M3), Trev Lines, of Amberley (Mini), Leon Hallett, of Mosgiel (Mustang) and Stacy Lines, of Invercargill (Falcon) each taking a win.

The MX5 Heritage Cup paid its first visit to Teretonga Park and Hamilton driver Dean Evans took home the spoils. After his own car suffered issues on Friday, he took over fellow driver Richard Bosselman’s car, and won the round from Canterbury drivers Brayden Phillips and Benny Yan.

Local driver John Smolenski in a Ford Falcon took round honours for the Pre 65 Saloons after two good race wins, with Corey Ross, of Rolleston (Mustang) and Paul Whiting, of Christchurch, in a Ford Anglia second and third respectively.

Mick Ross, of Dunedin, in a Commodore was the best in NZ 6 Saloons from Cody Welch of Alexandra (Falcon) and Marty Russell, of Dunedin (Commodore).

Jordan Michels, of Invercargill, in his Marc Mustang won three of the four Noel McIntyre Drainage Club Saloon races while Liam MacDonald (Ford Falcon) won the other. In the class race MacDonald took the 2501cc and over class, Dave McLean, of Balfour, in a Honda Integra the 1601-2500cc class and Josh Cooper in a Corolla the 1301-2500cc.

Drivers faced difficult conditions throughout the weekend with wet conditions on Saturday and early Sunday and then drier conditions for the rest of the event.

 - By Lindsay Beer