Motor Sport
Alex Little of Lower Hutt won the Mobil Delvac 1 Trophy for the sixth time when the NAPA Auto Parts NZ Super Truck Championship visited Teretonga Park in Invercargill for the annual Southern Thunder meeting over the weekend.
Little drove his Freightliner Century to two wins and a third across the three races and stood on top of the Kings House Removals event podium with 60 points. The championship leader coming into the round, Shane Gray of Wellington (Kenworth), was second overall with 47 points and Brent Collins of Pareora in South Canterbury in another Freightliner was third after copping a penalty in the second race of the round. Related: Southern Thunder Roars to Life at Teretonga Park with Action-Packed Opening Races
Little first won the trophy in 2018 and has won it every time it has been up for grabs since, apart from last year. Gray accumulated results of a second and two thirds across the weekend and Collins a second, fifth and sixth. Troy Wheeler of Gisborne won the other race during the round.
In the Flying Farewell race for the Super Trucks Tim Wheeler of Gisborne took the win in another Freightliner.
The UDC V8 Utes were the other headline category and provided four superb races for the big crowd. Championship leader Glen Collinson of Ohaupo in Waikato and current New Zealand Champion Brad Kroef of Hamilton were the key figures in their Ford Falcon FG’s with Kroef narrowly taking the round and Collinson a new lap record for the class of 1 minute 08.486 seconds.
A small turnout of Mainland Muscle Cars meant they ran with NZ Six Saloons with Ross Wylde of Westport (Commodore), Paul Clarke of Dunedin (Mustang) and Peter Templeton of Cromwell in another Commodore taking the race wins. John Smolenski of Invercargill was prominent with two second placings and a third in his Falcon while Marty Russell of Dunedin in a Commodore took the NZ Six class honours.
Smolenski backed up his Muscle Car form winning the first Pre 65 Saloon race on Saturday while Wayne Tuffley of Invercargill (Mustang), Garry Price of Cromwell (Chevrolet Nova) and Corey Ross of Rolleston (Mustang) were the other winners.
Mike Hall of Queenstown topped the Noel McIntyre Drainage Club Saloons podium with consistent performances in his Volkswagen Golf ahead of Steve Dent of Queenstown (Ford Falcon SuperTourer) and Steve Ross of Dunedin in a Ligier JSP3 LMP3 car.
Bradley Rule of Queenstown in a Holden Commodore VE SuperTourer won one Class A race with Steve Ross and Kyle Dawson of Invercargill (Jaguar XKR) taking the others. Peter Bennetts of Queenstown in his Seat Supercopa and Kevin Underwood of Invercargill in a Falcon won the Class B races. Donovan Isted of Mosgiel (Honda Civic) set a new 1601-2500cc class lap record of 1 minute 04.907 seconds breaking the mark set by Rick Michels which had stood since September 2004.
Rule also won the annual One Hour race while Dent took out the Flying Farewell.