Four-Car Collision In First Speedway Race

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31198, 24 October 1966, Page 7

Four-Car Collision In First Speedway Race

A spectacular crash involved four cars in the first four-lap stock rod handicap race at the Christchurch Speedway Association’s opening meeting of the season at the Templeton Stadium on Saturday night.

The four drivers, J. Annan, W. Rushbridge, A. Botherway and R. Mitchell, suffered only severe shakings. Their cars were unable to race again because of damage and the meeting was held up about 10 minutes while officials boarded up the gaping hole one of the cars had smashed in the safety fence.

This was most unfortunate, for it cut the stock rod field by more than half, detracted much interest from later races and prevented Annan and Rushbridge showing off the paces of their new revolutionary single-seater sportsman stock rods. In the brief time that they were racing the two new cars showed tremendous acceleration, which suggested that they could provide the South Island champion, D. Cameron, his strongest challenge yet

Right from the start the opening handicap appeared doomed to finish in disaster. Barely a split second after the green light P. Annan’s V 8 coupe was struck from behind, spun wildly across the track and crashed into the telephone and electricity point near the start. There was a bright flash as the car brought down the pole and tore the wires.

The race was stopped for fear that the driver would suffer a fatal shock if he attempted to leave the vehicle.

It was in the early stages of the re-run that the multiple collision occurred. After an impressive burst of speed down the pit straight, J. Annan found he was going too fast to take the corner safely in his VS Sportsman. He fought for con-

trol all the way round but coming out of the bend the car swung across the track and collided with Rushbridge and Bortherway. Mitchell, following close behind, was unable to avoid the spinning cars. He hit several of them before hurtling nose first Into the safety fence. The race was not stopped and Cameron and B. Fisher, in the only cars still mobile, took first and second, respectively. Cameron later took maximum points in the South Island championship heat. Burt In Form In the motor-cycle races, the former New Zealand champion, M. Burt, was in tremendous form. He won every race he entered, including the fast four feature scratch race. In this he overcame an exceptionally strong challenge from T. Black, who led for the first three laps, and took the lead with a brilliant piece of riding on the last bend. The appearance of two motorcycle sidecar combinations, one raced by G. Smith and B. Amtman (passenger), the other by I. Begbie and D. Harper (passenger), added variety to the programme. Both combinations showed considerable skill. They are the first of several which wilt be racing later in the season. The use of a fuel Injection system on his J.A.P. threequarter midget racing car paid dividends for D. Richens. He scored maximum points in his South Island championship heat with a fine display of driving, won the opening handicap off 140yds and was second in the only other race held. D. Jones, a new driver, was also most impressive. R. Clive gave notice that he would be a strong contender for the South Island midget car championship this season when he won the four-lap scratch race. He was runner-up to R. T. Hall last season. His time of 84.6 sec was a good one. In an earlier race a new driver, G. Roxburgh, brought a promising big midget debut to an end when he hit the safety fence in his Zephyr powered car. It was only a glancing blow but it was hard enough to put the car out of action for the night and loosen a few boards on the fence. Results were:— MOTOR-CYCLES Handicap solo races (4 laps). —First event: M. Burt (100 yd 1, R. Wright (100 yd 2, C. Glasson (30yd) 3. Time, 88.0. Second event: T. Black (100 yd 1, T. Mauger (100 yd 2, T. Shearer (80yd) 3. Time, 88.8. Third event: M. Burt (100 yd 1. T. Black

(100 yd 2. R. Wright (100 yd 3. Time 80.0. Fourth event: C. Glas-| son (30yd) 1. T. Mauger (100 yd 2, R. McKinlay (80yd) 3. Time.l 91.2. Fifth event: T. Sheareri <Boyd) 1. W. Moulin (SOyd) 2. R. McKinlay (SOyd) 3. Time. 59.0. Sixth event: J. Jewell (SOyd) 1, C. Glasson (30yd) 2, M. Salt (SOyd) 3. Time, 94.4. Solo Scratch Race (4 laps).— M. Burt 1. T. Black 2. R. Wright 3. Time. S4.S. Side Car Handicap Races (4 laps).—First event: G. Smith and B. A. Amtman (SOyd) 1, I. Begbie and D. Harper (go) 2. Time, 74.8. Second event: Smith and Amtman i6oyd) 1, Begbie and Harper (go) 2. Time, 74.4. MIDGET CARS Three-quarter Midget Racing Cars.—Opening handicap (4 laps): D. Richens (140 yd 1, D. Jones (go) 2. G. Roxburgh (lOOvd) 3. Time, 91.0. Second handicap (0 laps): D. Jones (go) 1. D. Richens (150 yd 2. J. McKitterick (160 yd 3. Time. 2:15.8. Feature scratch race for S.I. championship points iS laps): D. Richens 1. J. McKlttertck 2, G. Roxburgh 3. Time. 3:0.4. Full size Midget Racing cars. —Opening handicap (4 laps): S. Campbell (30yd) 1. R. Clive (150 yd 2, J. Tiekink (130 yd 3. i Time, 94.0. Second handicap <6 laps): M. Sloan (150 yd 1. J. I Tiekink (130 yd 2. Time. 2:15.7.1 Feature scratch race for S.I. I championship points (4 laps): R. Clive 1, J. Tiekink 2. Time, 84.6. STOCK CARS Stock Rod Handicap Races.— First event (4 laps): D. Cameron (SOyd) 1, B. Fisher (go) 2. Time, 98.0. Second event (4 laps): D. Cameron (80yd) 1, B. Fisher (go) 2, P. Annan (60yd) 3. Time. Feature scratch race for S.I. championship points (6 laps): D. Cameron 1, P. Annan 2, W. Rushbridge 3. Time, 2:20.