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46 Thursday March 16 2017
Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi
The Star
Sport
THE WEEKEND’S Battle of the
Stocks at Woodford Glen will
feature 16 North Island drivers.
In fact, more drivers will cross
the Cook Strait to compete than
any other superstock meeting in
the country.
The Battle of the Stocks format
sees 16 cars from the South Island
matched up with a North Island
car as its partner, and aggregate
points over the weekend determines
who will be the champion
pair. There’s also a trophy for the
individual who earns the most
points on their own.
A quality line-up of drivers
has been assembled with no less
than three past New Zealand
champions including Malcolm
Ngatai, Wayne Hemi and Shane
Hardwood.
Current number two and three
ranked NZ drivers Jordan Dare
and Adam Joblin have made the
BATTLE: Former
New Zealand
superstock
champion
Wayne Hemi
will be amongst
the favourites at
Woodford Glen
this weekend. ​
Big entry for Glen event
cut and with five drivers from
around NZ making their debuts,
picking a winner is extremely difficult
due to the calibre on display.
The winners will possess a mixture
of speed and endurance, able
to outlast their opponents while
working as a team and making the
most passes. Last year’s winning
combination is back for the 24th
running of the event, and Palmerston
North’s Peter Bengston and
Nelson’s Blair Cunningham will
be keen to win.
Support racing comes by the way
of the mighty V8 winged modified
class who are racing for the
Canterbury championship. Expect
plenty of action from the stockcar
and streetstock classes and on
Friday night check out some of
speedway’s future stars in the annual
youth ministock challenge.
The action starts from 7pm both
Saturday and Sunday.
Ruapuna host to GT racers
THE COUNTRY’S quickest GT
cars will line up at Ruapuna’s
Mike Pero Motorsport Park on
Saturday for the New Zealand
Endurance Championship
The NZ championship title
will see the top cars from both
the South Island endurance
series and the North Island
endurance Series compete in a
single day, winner takes all title.
This is the second running of
this format after the inaugural
event was hosted at Hampton
Downs last year. The two tracks
have a 10-year agreement with
Motorsport NZ that will see the
event run in alternate islands
annually.
With the top 20 cars invited
from each series’ one-hour and
three-hour races there is a vast
array of machinery set to take to
the circuit.
“Not only are there titles at
stake for the big guns, but there
is a NZ championship for each
of the four classes we have, so
rest assured that the little guys
are taking this just as seriously
as the big boys,” said South Island
endurance series secretary
Chris Dunn.
The field for the three-hour
race includes Johnny McIntyre,
who will be out to defend the
title he won 12 months ago and
CONTENDERS: The Carter brothers will fancy their chances
in their Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS GT3 which took out the
South Island endurance series event at Ruapuna in October.
PHOTO: EUAN CAMERON ​
will team up with Mark Gibson
in the Tulloch Motorsport
Camaro GT3.
Other favourites include Sam
Fillmore and Danny Stutterd in
a Ferrari 458 GT3, Neil Foster
and Johnny Reid in an Audi R8
LMS GT3, the recently unveiled
Audi R8 LMS of Simon Evans
and Gene Rollinson, and the
Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS GT3
piloted by Matt and Dwayne
Carter.
The Carter brothers have
extra reason to fancy their
chances on Saturday after taking
out two rounds of the South
Island series, including the race
at Ruapuna in October.
The one-hour race will start at
11.40am followed by the threehour
race at 2.20pm.
BHUJA
LEIGH HART
JASON HOYTE
YOUR DRIVE HOME
4PM - 7PM WEEKDAYS