[ Summary | First Qualifying | Second Qualifying | Race 1 | Race 2 ]

Round 4

Ruapuna, Christchurch

3rd and 4th January 1998

Summary

Championship leader Brett Riley once again made a clean sweep at the Ruapuna Park Track on Sunday 4th January, but not without his team mate Jason Richards making him earn every point. The meeting was particularly important for the drivers because the Ruapuna Round carried double championship points. From the outset it became evident that Riley and Richards were going to be wrestling with each other for maximum points all weekend. In qualifying the pendulum swung first one way, with Riley beating Richards out of the first qualifying session by less than two tenths of a second, only to be followed by Richards taking the second session by an even smaller 0.07 of a second. Due to the allocation of points, this gave Richards the early points advantage and his superb starts in both races gave Riley all the work to do. However Richards made critical driver errors in both races, providing Riley with the opportunity to nail home his advantage and extend his points lead.

Peter van Brugel had a much improved meeting, having freshened up his engine over Christmas and qualifying in third position behind the BMWs in both sessions. He was strong in race trim too, but a tangle with Barrie Thomlinson early in the first race saw him come off second best and pull up shortly afterwards. van Brugel protested Thomlinson's manoeuvre and at the time of writing it was unclear whether this protest had been successful. Always a hard charger, Barrie Thomlinson returns to the second half of the season in a replacement Ford Telstar as it had been expected that the Neil Allport Telstar he campaigned in the first half of the season would be driven by Nigel Mansell after Christmas. Geoff Short's car had received a new coat of black paint and new sponsorship from Husqvarna over Christmas putting in some respectable times, with Grant Aitken in the Suzuki Baleno rounding out the front runners.

Two drivers noticeable by their absence were championship leader in the 1600cc class Mike Eady and Kevin Pateman who's Ford Telstar failed to complete the first race at the Teretonga Meeting in late November. It was a pity because Eady would have revelled in the fierce racing between the Peugeot 106 of Peter Scharmach, the Suzuki Swift of Philip Colvin and the Toyota Corolla of Ted Jarvis.

Qualifying

Saturday's qualifying sessions were held in exceptionally hot conditions with temperatures in the Canterbury Region reaching the mid 30 degrees Celsius, with only a mild wind blowing to fan the heat across the track. For the first time at an international meeting a new section of track reminiscent of a slalom course was added and part of the larger circuit removed, providing a steep learning curve for all the teams. Set up became very important and data from previous meetings only went part way in sorting out the cars.

First Qualifying - Session started at 1:20 pm

Jason Richards came out to hold the early pole in the BNT BMW 320i with an absolute flyer of 1:07.167 in hot and difficult conditions. However, first blood was drawn when Brett Riley in the Castrol BMW 320i responded brilliantly, feeling that the 1:070 that came up on his in-car timing system was good enough to beat Richards for pole. However it was an anxious wait for Riley because the official time keeping system had temporarily lost his time and the manual backup is not as accurate an the electronic timing. To his relief the data was recovered and his pole position confirmed.

No.	Driver	Car	Best Lap Time	KPH
1	Brett Riley	BMW 320i 1991cc	01:06.978	177.0
2	Jason Richards	BMW 320i 1991cc	01:07.167	176.9
3	Peter van Brugel	Nissan Sentra SSS	01:08.083	174.5
7	Barrie Thomlinson	Ford Telstar 2000cc	01:09.666	170.5
12	Geoff Short	Ford Telstar 2000cc	01:09.735	170.4
9	Grant Aitken	Suzuki Baleno 1840cc	01:12.447	164.0
37	Philip Colvin	Suzuki Swift 1298cc	01:15.363	157.6
11	Peter Scharmach	Peugeot 106 1300cc	01:15.672	157.0
81	Ted Jarvis	Toyota Corolla 1600cc	01:16.851	154.6

A good qualifying session by Peter van Brugel in the Beaurepaires Nissan Sentra SSS saw him pull a full one and a half seconds on the current privateer championship points leader Barrie Thomlinson in the Albert St Dental/F1 Cars Ford Telstar. Geoff Short in the Husqvarna/Collingwood Mowers Ford Telstar came very close to pipping Thomlinson for the fourth spot on the grid. In the under 1600cc Class, Philip Colvin in the Dodson's Japanese Auto Spares Suzuki just squeezed out Peter Scharmach to take the under 1600cc qualifying.

Second Qualifying - Session started at 3:45 pm

The Ford Telstars of Barrie Thomlinson and Geoff Short had the early running in the second qualifying session. If anything temperatures were slightly warmer for the second session but all the cars except the BMWs managed to produce better times than in the first session.

No.	Driver	Car	Best Lap Time	KPH
2	Jason Richards	BMW 320i 1991cc	01:07.270	176.5
1	Brett Riley	BMW 320i 1991cc	01:07.337	176.4
3	Peter van Brugel	Nissan Sentra SSS	01:07.943	174.9
7	Barrie Thomlinson	Ford Telstar 2000cc	01:09.460	172.0
12	Geoff Short	Ford Telstar 2000cc	01:10.109	169.5
9	Grant Aitken	Suzuki Baleno 1840cc	01:11.549	166.0
11	Peter Scharmach	Peugeot 106 1300cc	01:15.339	157.7
37	Philip Colvin	Suzuki Swift 1298cc	01:15.505	157.3
81	Ted Jarvis	Toyota Corolla 1600cc	01:16.599	155.1

In particular, Peter van Brugel was able to break into the BMWs 1:07 second territory to place him in a much more competitive position. Both BMW drivers waited for the second half of the 20 minute session to begin their runs. Jason Richards came out first and fast to set the quickest time of 1:07.270 seconds for Riley to chase. Try as he might, Riley could not find that crucial 0.07 seconds and although he stayed out until almost the end of the session, the window of opportunity had been lost. Thomlinson and Short once again battled it out for fourth and fifth spots, with Scharmach finding the extra legs to secure the sharp end of the under 1600cc class.

Full Race Report

Race 1 - 10 laps

Temperatures on race day did not reach the highs of the previous day with a cooling breeze blowing across the track, much to the relief of competitors and spectators alike.

The BMW 320is of Brett Riley and Jason Richards both made excellent starts in the first race, but Richards's car had noticeably more drive off the line and by the end of the main straight Richards was able to move into the lead without much drama. Riley swarmed all over the back of his team mate as they headed onto the Noel Leeming straight for the first time, Riley looking down the inside of the BNT BMW as the back end of Richards's car got a little loose.

However, there was drama a plenty further back in the field. Peter van Brugel had slotted into third position with Barrie Thomlinson following him around Shell and onto the straight. Going into the hairpin Thomlinson braked late and dived to the inside of the track. This resulted in a serious coming together of the Nissan Sentra SSS and the Ford Telstar, with van Brugel being forced off the track in a cloud of dusk . In the mayhem that followed van Brugel was lucky to miss Geoff Short as he slid back onto the track. van Brugel struggled to control the car for the rest of the lap and a protest was lodged by his team after the race.

As the two BMWs pasted the start/finish line for the second time, Richards was in the lead, with Riley placing tremendous pressure on his team mate, hounding him with a wide line as they entered Shell. Barrie Thomlinson followed through followed by Short, van Brugel, Aitken and Colvin.

Exiting Shell the back end of Richards's car broke loose, he mounted the curb and made a short cross country run into the dust. With Richards dispatched, Riley's race changed to one of concentration and rhythm as he maintained a comfortable lead on second placed Barrie Thomlinson. The BNT BMW was undamaged and the crowd was entertained as Richards began his charge back through the traffic in pursuit of Thomlinson and Riley.

In the meantime van Brugel had been overtaken by Short and had fallen into the clutches of Grant Aitken in the Suzuki Baleno. Peter Scharmach had pulled out a handy lead on Philip Colvin in the 1600cc class. Richards with the best lap time of 01:07.249 seconds made good progress through the field, circulating at just under one second a lap faster than Riley who was still over 12.5 seconds ahead by the half way point. There was a cloud of dust as Richards overtook Peter Scharmach going into the hairpin, the little Peugeot being pushed wide to make room for the charging BMW. Peter van Brugel had pulled up by this time, his car handling terribly after the incident with Thomlinson.

Richards was to eventually overhaul Geoff Short three laps from the end, but not Riley or Thomlinson, Riley winning comfortably by 5.764 seconds from Thomlinson, with Richards 9.272 seconds behind the winner.

No.	Driver	Car	Best Lap Time	KPH
1	Brett Riley	BMW 320i 1991cc	01:08.115	174.4
7	Barrie Thomlinson	Ford Telstar 2000cc	01:08.786	172.7
2	Jason Richards	BMW 320i 1991cc	01:07.249	176.7
12	Geoff Short	Ford Telstar 2000cc	01:10.073	169.5
9	Grant Aitken	Suzuki Baleno 1840cc	01:11.517	166.1
11	Peter Scharmach	Peugeot 106 1300cc	01:14.523	159.4
37	Philip Colvin	Suzuki Swift 1298cc	01:15.601	157.1
81	Ted Jarvis	Toyota Corolla 1600cc	01:15.050	158.3
9	Peter van Brugel	Nissan Sentra SSS	01:12.460	DNF

Race 2 - 16 laps

The second race of the day was a reverse grind race for the first six cars, with Grant Aitken and Geoff Short on the front row, Barrie Thomlinson and Peter van Brugel on the second row, with the BMW Motorsport 320is of Brett Riley and Jason Richards on the third row. In one of the best starts of the season Jason Richards made a tremendous lunge off the line beating Riley into a spot between van Brugel and Thomlinson, effectively blocking his team mate's progress up the grid and forcing him to take the opposite inside line. Richards then gobbled up Thomlinson and Aitken in short succession. Riley maintained his line as Thomlinson moved to the middle of the track to get around Aitken. A small gap opened on the inside of Aitken and Riley took it , dropping the left side of his car off the track, but successfully following Thomlinson through on the inside at Shell to emerge in third spot onto the Noel Leeming straight. Both Peter van Brugel and Geoff Short were caught on the outside going into Shell and they followed the procession in fourth and fifth respectively.

Going into the new section of the track Brett Riley made an attempt to move on Thomlinson, but the narrow windy piece of track was always going to make it hard for the manoeuvre to stick. Riley was concerned that with Thomlinson holding him up, Richards was able to comfortably extend his lead in the clear air in front of him. The further ahead Richards got, the longer the chase. Again at the C93 FM sweeper Riley looked for space around the outside of Thomlinson, but without success. Finally in a beautifully judged manoeuvre, Riley worked his way onto the inside of Thomlinson on the Noel Leeming straight, out braking him at the Pothole and comfortably setting himself up for the hairpin. The chase for Richards was now on.

Like Timaru and Teretonga before, Thomlinson once again found himself fighting van Brugel for third spot, the Nissan Sentra SSS looking for a way past as they made their way onto the main straight. Meanwhile in the 1600cc class Peter Scharmach capitalised on the battle between Philip Colvin and Ted Jarvis to move ahead of Jarvis who was completely blocked out at the hair pin. During the race Scharmach made some very brave moves at the hairpin, only for Colvin's straight line speed to rein the Peugeot in and over take him again.

After two more assaults on Thomlinson at the end of the main straight, Peter van Brugel got his chance at Pothole as the back end of the Ford Telstar gave way and he moved ahead of Thomlinson as they entered the hair pin. It was during this period that Brett Riley put in the best lap time of the day with a 1:06.353 seconds to set a new lap record for the newly commissioned course.

Riley was now all over the back of Richards. For lap after lap Riley pressured the Number 2 car, with Richards developing a rhythm and pattern that the championship leader was finding difficult to break. With three laps to go Riley entered Shell unsighted, with the two BMWs being so close together he couldn't see the apex of the corner. His right front dropped off onto the grass over the curb. Concerned that he might have damaged the wheel, he backed off to assess the car's handling, giving Richards a much needed breather. This had the unintentional effect of upsetting the pattern that Richards had settled himself into earlier in the race. After the initial hesitation Riley once again pushed forward to have another attempt at passing Richards. At the hairpin on the second to last lap Richards made a crucial driver error going into the corner and lost the back end of the car, spinning to a halt and handing the lead and the win to Riley on a plate.

Once again Riley's cool disposition and dogged determination was rewarded with what eventuated into into an easy six second win over his newly promoted team mate, with Peter van Brugel coming home third. Barrie Thomlinson finished fourth with Grant Aitken in fifth and the Ford Telstar of Geoff Short coasting across the line with engine trouble in sixth. Philip Colvin came out to win the battle of the babies.

No.	Driver	Car	Best Lap Time	KPH
1	Brett Riley	BMW 320i 1991cc	01:06.353	179.0
2	Jason Richards	BMW 320i 1991cc	01:06.542	178.5
3	Peter van Brugel	Nissan Sentra SSS	01:07.553	175.9
7	Barrie Thomlinson	Ford Telstar 2000cc	01:08.202	174.2
9	Grant Aitken	Suzuki Baleno 1840cc	01:10.453	168.6
12	Geoff Short	Ford Telstar 2000cc	01:09.056	172.0
37	Philip Colvin	Suzuki Swift 1298cc	01:14.300	159.9
11	Peter Scharmach	Peugeot 106 1300cc	01:14.124	160.3
81	Ted Jarvis	Toyota Corolla 1600cc	01:14.51	158.9