19-1-73 Tasman hat-trick on the caras for Graham McRae If Graham McRa last Saturday, he will month. There wras no way in which other likely front runners could get near McRae during the qualifying sessions. He clocked an electrifying 43.3sec lap to take pole position in his Bartz-Chevy MeRae • That was three-fifths of a second better than his 1972 pole-winning qualifying time and record race lap. WHEELS Certainly he fitted 15in rear wheels to do it. but I think the result would have been much the same if he had stuck with the usual 13in wheels,. which he used in the race case. As the Australian Max Stewart i Lola T330› ran a 43.6sec lap for second place on the grid and his fellow Countrymen Frank Matich Repco Matich A50• and Warwick Brown •Lola T300› shared the second row with #see each. one did not need prophetic By PETER GREENSLADE e keeps going as he did in the 75-mile Rothmans Infernational at Levin complete a Tasman Cup motor racing hat-trick before the end of next : powers to conclude that in : 63-lap race on a 1.2-mile circuit MeRae would put a lot of ground between himself and anyone else before the race finished. I have more than a sneaking suspicion that. with the . possible exception of the burly Stewart, the rest of the contenders had more or less resigned themselves to finishing no better than second by the time ther tumbled into bed the • night before race day. Stewart made a pretty strong bid for the lead from the rolling start, but VcRae. with the inside running, held him out and barrelled into the first left-hand sweeper at least a car's length ahead. while Matich and Brown tied themselves in behind the Lola T330 driver. By the time they came round to start the second lap. New Zealand Grand Prix ninner John McCormack had sidelined his Elfin Repco with a broken throttle cable and second man home at Pukekohe. Alan Rollinson 'McRae G.Vl! was in the pits wondering why petrol was sloshing around in the cockpit and feel. ing most uncomfortable in the nether regions because of fuel burns. Seconds later Stewart abruptly became a spectator when a suspension joint let go and the T330. its right front wheel adrift. went spinning madi! to the outfield in a done of dict SHAKE-UP FASTEST That spot of drama save Wigram, scene of the third cinsely-following Matich and Tasman round tomorrow after- Brown a bit of a shake-up. as noon. is now the fastest circuit well as a check. and that was!b! enough to set McRae on alni aire Levin Tasman race win. sie evin tasman race nice e I would imagine those behind him were hoping that di McRae would either blow his engine or run out of road. But neither happened - and the latter was most unlikely, because McRae knows the cir. cuit well that he could probably put in a lap with his ir eyes shui - ana atter about ive laps he was already ima- • 0. gining himselt laugning all their way to the bank with the $3000 a: cheque in his pocket. 01 STEADY al str Si Matich, set a 43.8sec lap Ci record and then apparently de. cided thai S2000 and six Tasman poinis were betier than ! nothing at all. so settled down i to a sieady race just keeping up-and-coming Brown at bay. With the memory of McCormack booting his Eifin al out of Pukekohe's slow cor- ! iar. with lap speeds run-. ling up to around 115mph, and • know that Matich and sevral others were very pleased o shake off the North Island lust and head for Christchurch and what one driver, who shall remain nameless in the interests of peace-keep. ing - described as New Zealand's only decent motor racng circuit and motor race. But. in that context, there is one important aspect of motor racing that many of us who are involved in it in one way or another tend to forget. This is that to be successful any driver must keep on the rack and go as fast as posible within the limitations the circuit imposes. HAPPY The English racing cousins sho are doing this series, an• Rollinson and Stere hompson, feel very strongly bout this and, to date, they ave made it quite clear that ers still fresh. I we evin feeling that the orque band of the Melb iesigned and built Rep ngines could well be ti iding factor and that possibly McCor : ould be able to "do" 1I It never looked like i ihat way. Of course. Pukekohe almost paintil Sic i and Levin is quite cher. ent to they have no complaints about • wide ine tracks they nave raced on. bourne-i New Zealand motor racing oco V8: could do with some good overhe de-seas friends and, for that rea- Matich son, among a number rmack, others, I hope the Englishmen IcRae. score some good places in the South Island orking When. they return home, they may tell their friends is now that the Tasman series " cir- worth doing and not half such a bit bad news as some people have been led to beliere. All the same, the was things are shaping up at present. it looks as though the 1973 Tasman champion will be MeRae, on his Levin showing. or an Australian. with the odds in that bunch weighted hearily in Matich •. possible contender. McRae $9500 bill facing drivers in series By PETER GREENSLADE Unless Tasman Cup motor racing entrants come up with $9500 among them, the chances of all of them reaching Surfers Paradise for the fifth round in the series are extremely remote. Entrants are responsible for paying their own transport expenses in this series and there Is not sufficient space on aircraft flying from Christchurch to Swoney after the final New Zealand race at Invercargill on Sunday week for more than six cars to reach Surfers in time. In all. about 14 cars are entered for the Surfers race. Mr Richard Sellens. who is handling transport, said today. could get a Pan Am freighter aircraft on charter to fly all cars to Sydney early. the week after next. A charter flight. however, would cost each driver more han twice as much as regular scheduled flights. Two cars can • be flown out each day on scheduled flights on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. APPROACHES When I asked Mir Seliens if the entrants would ballot for the six places, he said that he had been approached by certain drivers and all he could do was allocate the space on aircratt on the basis of the appraches he had received. Nir Sellens would not indicate the order of priority but I understand that Graham McRae, who leads in the Tasman series, is No. 1 on the List. Others who could make Surfers in time include Australians Frank Matich. Kevin Bartlett. Warwick Brown and John McCormack. The president ot the Motor Racing Club 'VIr J. A. Brewcr contirmed today that if all drivers agreed, the club would pay out prize money down to ivurteenth place in the international Lady Wigram Trophy race tomorrow: The payout has been in con tention at other meetings. At the Jew Zealand Grand Prix it only ran down to seventh place, remaining runners being classitied as non-finishelis