17-1-70 Out of Petro Dut Still Won However, the rolling start Others to be sidelined were could not be delayed too long- the New Zealanders, Dennis and the field was sent off and Marwood (Eisert Chev), after completed more than a fourteen laps, and the former lap before McRae was able speedway. driver, Geoff Marto join the race. "don (Begg Chev). He drove "like a man: pos Mardon had a big spin-up at sessed, but his engine over- the Hangar Bend, and was not heated and because of the fire seen thereafter, while Mardon damage he was unable to top! went out with a broken radius up the radiator and so was rod in the rear suspension. forced to retire when Matich| The sixteenth International had completed seventeen laps. Lady Wigram Irophy will not For the sixth successive year be rememored as a great the Hamilton driver, Graeme race, although Bell and Grable Lawrence, faued to finish at put on a tremendous show Wigram. when they were running in His 2.4 litre Ferrari over- close company. heated when a sheet of newspaper flying across the track Fine Race was caught up in his radiator. He made a stop for a change - Bell in particular, in a 2.5 of spark plugs and was soon litre car, only half the size in the pits again. of the big American Formula A 5000 c.e. cars which made Cruel Luck. their Wigram debut : to-day, drove a fine race in a car It was cruel luck for Lawwhich was handling very. rence, for he had been prom- badly. ineat early in the race, run- • It was a bitterly disappointed ming fifth behind Stewart. crowd that saw him finally pull Earlier departures, in the opening laps, were made by into the pits with smoke pourthe Australian, Revin Barlett, ing from the exhausts of the and burly, bearded Swedish Coswarth Ford Y8 engine. As far as the minor placa Bartlett's Mildren Waggoi getters were concerned, steady and Norinder's Lola T190 plugging on rewarded them, touched and the result was that with evidence of decreasing Bartlett stopped and had the size. Matich took • his Tasman aerofon remove from his car, got going again, but was points total to 22 to-day. forced out with more serious Next in line are Stewart (10), troubie. Lawrence (13) and Grable (9), : The impact apparently Bell (6), Goth (a), Simpson damaged an oil line on Norin- (3), Norinder and Bartlett (2 der's leach) and Campbell (1). car and he, too, was Paul Fahey powered the forced to retire. F.V.A. Escort to his third win 1'he Australian, Niel Allen, ¡Ot the day in me final saloon had no luck either, for a short car race a free formula event! in the electrical system put -and Ford again the tiny him out of contention after turned in an impressive time. thirteen laps. Allen had been quite pro-ered the sit laps i min 68.minent at that stage, ning in seventh place behind sec, and with a fastest lap of Lawrence and just ahead of min 3o.3sec. Simpson, the American. rophy Again Fahey shut out one of the big V8-powered American cars at the une, Rod Coppins, in the Chevrolet Camaro, could manage sto scrape home second after dicing with the tiny Ford throughout. Some distance back, Brian Crosbie, of Invercargill. in a Twin-cam Ford Escort, headed off John Riley in a V8 Ford Mustang. Some distance back againi was Timaru's Gary Sprague in another Twin-cam Escort. North Islander Red Dawson, who had hounded Fahey in the two earlier races, did not start in the final event because of a cracked cylinder head. Apart from the close duel in the front of the race, the rest of the field was strung. out around the long course. The ninth event at Wigram, the six-lap Forraula Libre invitation race, was a walkaway for the Auckland driver, Graham Harvey, in his Elin sports car From the outset, the race was between Harvey and-G. Baker, in a Brabham: s From the grid, these two drivers fought it out closely sor the fourteen miles. Baker secured the lead from Harvey at the hairpin but Harvey just as quickly Ie gained the lead before the Club Corner to hold the dominating position for the next five laps. Baker constantly challenge him, but the lead was not relinquished. Baker moved up to within a tyre-length at the chequered fiag, but the Elfin held bim off The third driver was .K. Cameron, also in a Brabham. Looking more like an astronaut rather than a racing driver is Frank Matich, the winzer of this afternoon's Lady Wigram Trophy Race, as he speeds along in his McLaren M4A. The special helmet is also fireproofs. Fahey Leads With wins in both beats to series s ¡day. Manurewa driver Paul on Feb ¡Fahey leads after the first! Howe drivers round of the Mercury $1000 this, saloon-car series. drivers North Island drivers, cause of their more powerful cars. cominated the opening races of the series to-day. But it was Fahey. in the FVA Ford Escort, who really impressed. His two wins give him 10points in the series. Runner-up at this early stage is Rod Coppins, who! drove a 5.5-litre Chevrolet Camaro to second and third placings to-day to give him 7 points. Old rivals Red Dawson and John Riley, both from the North Island and both driving Lord Mustangs, share third! position. Dawson had a second and Riley two fourths. Invercargill's Brian Crosbie " 1win Cam Ford Escort) is in fifth position with 3 points, land Timaru's Gary Sprague, in a similar car, is sixth with 2 points. sound race in the Saloons will be held at Ruapuna bruary 8. ever. most North Island S will not compete: m which will give local s a chance of winning, Victory To Grant Ron Grant of the United States, made a clean sweep of the second: motor-cycle event at Wigram with a away win in the New Zealand open airfiela championship a Slow. off the line, Grant blasted into third place before the lap was over and moved away from the field. Only a determined ride from Geoff Perry of Auckland kept Grant in sight Perry, Jeading for the Irst three laps, rode particularly well on a 350 Yamahas to finish only loyd. back bun Neville Landrede, edin, and Dalé Wylie, of Christ church, fought for third place for an absorbing cleven laps. • Landrebe - arrowed :: past Wylie at the hairpin and beati off a late challenge to claim the third place. Wigram Results Results from today's Wigram Trophy Face meeting: Lady wigram • Trophy Race of torty-four laps (1012 miles)F. Matich 59mm (Australia, McLaren Grable 60min 4.5sec, 2; M: Stewart (Australia, 2.0 Wildren Waggott), 60min 7sec, - 3: Wa Simpson (U.S.A., Eagle Chevrolet), 42 laps. $; M. Goth (U.S.A., Surtees IS5), 42 taps, 5; M. Campbell (U.S.A4 Forsgrini Ford), 41 - laps, 6; B Falloon (New Zealand, 2.5 Rorstan Climax), 41 laps, 7; P. Phillips. fU.S.A.. Begg Chevrolet), 41 taps 8.. Fastest lap G. -McRae (New: Zealand, McLaren M5I0A) and • Stewart, Imin 19.8sec, 103.76 miles an hour. Motor-cycie Open Airfield Championship R. Grant, Suzuki 500 (U.S.A.) 1, 3. Perry, Yamaha 350 (Auckland) 2, N. Yamaha (Dunedin) 3. D. Wylie, Wylee, Hams-Matchless S00 i (Christchurch) 4. ON THE GRID Grid positions for the Lady Wigram Trophy: :| Race: F. Matich (Australia) 1min. 182sec McLaren 1110A D. Bell (U.K.) 1min 19sec 2.5 Brabham-Ford G. MeRae (N.Z.) Imin 18.4sec McLaren M10A R. Grable (T.S.A.) 1min 19.3sec McLaren M10A N. Allen (Aust.) U. Norinder (Sweden) 1:20.2, MeLaren M10A 1:21.1, Lola T190 G. Lawrence (N.Z.) 1:21.8, 2.4 Ferrari M. Stewart (Aust.) 1:21.9, 2-litre Mildren-Waggott M. Goth (U.S.A.) D. 1:23sec, Surtees TS5 1:2 F. Radisich (N.Z.) 1:25, McLaren M4A Marwood (N.Z.) 4.8, Eisert-Chev. W. Simpson (U.S.A.) 1:254, Eagle-Chev. D. Williams (U.K.) G. Mac 1:29.4, Lola 1142 - 1:26.2, G. Baker (N.Z.) K 1:26.6, 1.6 Brabham P. Phillips (U.S.A.) M. Car 1:27.4, Begg-Chev. P. de Lore (N.Z.) B 2.1 Lotus K. Bartlett (Aust.) . —, 2-litre Mildren-Waggott dron (N.Z.) Begg-Chev. C. Smith (N.Z.) 27.2. 1.6 Lotus mpbell (T.S.A.) Forsgrini-Ford Falloon (N.Z.) , 2.) Rorison- Climax