[ Summary | Qualifying | Race 1 | Race 2 ]
Round 3
Teretonga, Invercargill
22nd and 23rd November 1997
Motor racing in the deep south proved as popular as ever at Invercargill's Teretonga circuit, with excellent gate attendences for both days racing at the Street Skills Motor Racing Series. The organisers of the event can be justly proud of their efforts to promote the meeting and though the weather is sometimes cold, there is a real air of enthusiasm at Teretonga that should be the envy of other circuits.
Newly promoted BMW Motorsport's driver Jason Richards in the
BNT BMW 320i had his best meeting so far, winning the second qualifying
session at Teretonga on Saturday 22nd November 
1997
and taking first place in both races on Sunday. His very successful
weekend took a sizeable hunk out of BMW team mate Brett Riley's
commanding lead in the New Zealand Touring Car Championship. Riley
who had scored the perfect double at both Manfield and Levels
was looking to make the hat trick, but Richards had other ideas.
Richards held pole for much of the first qualifying session, but
couldn't deny Riley his fifth pole position of the season.
Teretonga has been good and bad to Richards. He scored his maiden pole in the older and heavier BNT BMW 325i last year but his second race last year was curtailed after what has become known as the Murdoch "Thumb's up" incident. In what was a premonition of things to come Richards was able to squeeze a little more out of his car in the second qualifying session, grabbing pole and most importantly the points off Riley .
Richards made excellent starts in both races, with Riley finding it difficult to get as much traction off the line. The first race was an intense battle between Richards and Riley, both suffering from mechanical problems during the race but never looking under threat from the rest of the field. Surprisingly, the Ford Telstars did not fulfil their promise of outstretching the BMWs on the long Teretonga straight as they had the previous season. Thomlinson in the Albert Street Dental Care/Autotrader Ford Telstar reported engine management problems, but the dominance of the BMWs indicates there has been further development of these cars in the off season.
The second race was a thriller, with Thomlinson maintaining the led for the early part of the race and Richards hounding him for first position. Riley had an unlucky second race, finding himself at the back of the pack by the end of the loop on the first lap. After fighting his way back into third spot he was unintentionally side swiped by his team mate Richards, breaking the front suspension and ending his race.
Thomlinson finished another successful weekend with a second and a third to put him within striking distance of the championship, with the gap between Richards, Thomlinson and van Brugel widening to 31 points.
The first session was held on Saturday morning. Heavy rain
had preceded the start and although the track was beginning to
dry, only Barrie Thomlinson was prepared to go out on slicks immediately,
the rest opting instead for intermediates. The strong wind and
traffic continued to pump the track dry and towards the end of
the session the track was suitable for slicks. The BMW pair of
Riley and Richards dominated the session, with Richards holding
out his more experienced team mate for the top spot for much of
the first session. Five minutes before the end of the session
the track had dried considerably, encouraging Richards to return
to the pit lane and fit slicks. In the 
meantime
Riley had improved his time on intermediates to take pole. Richards
only had time to scrub his slicks off on one fast lap and this
was not time enough to make a competitive lap to regain pole.
The session ended with Riley in the Castrol BMW 320i taking pole
with a 1.10.04 seconds. Jason Richards in the BNT BMW 320i followed
closely behind with a time of 1.10.44 seconds. The Albert Street
Dental Care/Autotrader Ford Telstar of Barrie Thomlinson performed
well in the damp conditions turning in a time of 1.10.78 seconds,
with Peter van Brugel in the Beaurepaires Nissan Sentra SSS rounding
out the top four with a time of 1.12.75 seconds. Unfortunately
a technical infringement would later see Thomlinson's time disallowed
and he found himself starting race one from the back of the grid.
The weather cleared for the afternoon session, the strong cold southerly wind drying the track, and although cool everyone managed to improve their times in the second qualifying session. Jason Richards has been working hard in the first half to the season to peg back the dominance of his team mate Brett Riley. His persistence paid off in the second qualifying session as Richards out ran Riley to take pole. His time of 1.07.19 seconds was six one hundredths of a second ahead of Riley who clocked a 1.07.25 seconds. Peter van Brugel once again showed that his car handles better in the dry than the wet and his time of 1.07.53 was almost 1 second ahead of arch rival Barrie Thomlinson with a time of 1.08.19 seconds.
Full Race Report
Sunday morning was fine and warmer than Saturday, the wind weakening overnight. Jason Richards made a brilliant start, the differences in the suspension set-ups between the identical BMW 320is becoming evident as he found that vital car length to put him in front of his team mate Brett Riley going into the first corner. In a reversal of the first race at Levels Timaru, Richards rear-view mirror was filled with Riley's front grill. Repeatedly Riley attempted to overhaul Richards lead, braking a little later than Richards going into the loop at the end of the main straight. However Richards kept his composure under tremendous pressure, firmly shutting the door on Riley to maintain his lead.
Meanwhile further back in the field Thomlinson had also made an excellent start from the back of the grind to put himself into third place and ahead of a frustrated van Brugel. Like Timaru, van Brugel tried repeatedly to overtake Thomlinson, but couldn't make it stick. The inevitable accusations of blocking, countered by arguments about performance look set to continue into the second half of the season.
Peter van Brugel's Beaurepaires Nissan Sentra SSS split the Ford Telstars, with Pateman and Short following up behind. Unfortunately for Pateman his car expired on the last lap moving Short and Eady up a place each.
The BMWs have been very reliable this season, but about half way through the 10 lap race white smoke began to pour out the back of the Richards BNT BMW 320i car. Riley believing the smoke contained oil backed off providing Richards with a breather. In fact Richards had gearbox problems and was pushing his car to the limit. Finding the track in front of him clean, Riley came back at Richards. Ironically it was Riley who found his oil pressure indicator warning light flashing intermittently towards the end of the race. Rather than risk causing major damage to the engine, Riley settled for second place.
That's how it finished with Richards scoring his maiden win for BMW Motorsport and major sponsor BNT, with Riley in the Castrol BMW 320i second and Thomlinson in the Albert Street Dental Care/Autotrader Ford Telstar third.
For the first time this season the reverse grid race was run for all of it's scheduled 18 laps.
Geoff Short in the Collingwood Mowers Ford Telstar and Kevin Pateman in the Timaru Motors Ford Telstar sat on the front row of the grid, with Barrie Thomlinson and Peter van Brugel behind them and the two BMWs of Brett Riley and Jason Richards (with new gearbox) on the third row.
Richards got off to another great start with Riley following him through on the outside of the loop. Richards went from fifth to second with this manoeuvre, but Riley was squeezed off the track as Short drifted wide, forcing him off the track. By Castrol corner Barrie Thomlinson was leading the charge followed by Richards, van Brugel, Short, and Riley.
Riley fort his way back through the pack to sit behind Richards
who was still looking for a way past the Ford Telstar of Barrie
Thomlinson. Thomlinson was not
going to give his lead up easily and for several laps the nose
to tail touring car train streamed round the circuit, with Richards,
Riley and van Brugel each attempting overtaking manoeuvres down
the main straight without success.
On lap seven Riley found a opportunity to dive up the inside of Richards through the Esses. At the same time Thomlinson slowed dramatically (was that a missed gear or some brake testing?) and Richards unaware of his team mates position on the track swerved to avoid slamming into Thomlinson. Racing three cars wide, the left rear of Richards car side swiped the right front of his team mates BMW sending Riley flying off the track destroying his suspension and steering. This ended Riley's race, and a weekend short on points.
Richards recovered and finally snatched the lead from Thomlinson on the eleventh lap diving past the Ford Telsar at the end of the main straight. The safety car was brought out onto the track while debris was cleared from the track, giving the field a chance to bunch up, but once in the lead Richards was never going to relinquish it.
Peter van Brugel had battled on throughout the race but slowed towards the end allowing both Geoff Short and Mike Eady through to finish fifth.
This finished Richard's meeting with a maximum points score, pegging Riley's lead back to just 28 points. Although Riley began the season for BMW Motorsport in Craig Baird's absence due to overseas commitments, there is every chance he will complete the second half of the season. This will undoubtedly intensify the rivalry between him and his BMW team mate Jason Richards as each fights for championship points. Barrie Thomlinson must be heartened by his performance in the first half of the season, placing himself within striking distance of the BMWs and hedging off his main opposition this year, Peter van Brugel.
