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feature · Stephen Stuart

Millen hoping for a change of luck

Stephen Stuart profiles Auckland driver Steve Millen, winner of the opening Stuyvesant round at Bay Park but unlucky since: a blown head gasket at Pukekohe, an oil slide and a battery falling out at Manfeild, and eighth at Teretonga. He is racing a heavier Schollum Brothers Chevron B35 as training for the Asian circuit and paying his own way.

Facts

  • Steve Millen was the only local driver to win a round of the 1977 Stuyvesant series (Bay Park).
  • Millen's Chevron B35 was about 45 kg heavier than the other cars in the 1977 series.
  • Millen finished third in the 1972 Bank of New South Wales saloon series and first competed in the Stuyvesant series in 1974 with a Chevron B20.
  • Millen finished eighth at Teretonga in 1977.

Photos

  • Millen working on the B35 Chevron.
preview · Peter Greenslade

Different pattern on Sunday?

Peter Greenslade says Wigram's longer, faster circuit could change the pattern seen in earlier Stuyvesant rounds. Keke Rosberg clinched the series at Teretonga with a third straight win and is at very short odds, though Tom Gloy's smaller-fronted-area Tui may be faster along the back straight. Rosberg had 29 points to Gloy's 16.

Peter Stuyvesant series, Teretonga round

1Keke RosbergChevron
2Mikko KozarowitzkyChevron35.4sec behind

Facts

  • Keke Rosberg clinched the 1977 Stuyvesant series at Teretonga with his third win in a row, finishing about 35 seconds ahead of team-mate Mikko Kozarowitzky.
  • Rosberg had 29 points and Tom Gloy 16 in the 1977 series before the Wigram round.
  • The winner of the 1977 Lady Wigram Trophy received $3000.
Read the OCR text
28-1-77 BY STEPHEN STUART Steve Millen is hoping for a change of luck at Wigram on Sunday. ..The Auckland driver made a great start to the Peter Stuyvesant Peter the irst race s, Bay Park: But in his next three starts he mas not been so fortunate. In the New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekehe, Millen blew a head gasket after 12 laps. Bad luck , dogged • him again at Manfield when he slid on some oil and hit a bank. After a quick pit stop he was back in the race and in eleventh place when his battery fell out. Millen did not show up at Differe By PETER GREENSLADE Because Wigram is a longer and much faster circuit than the others used the Peter Stuyvesant motor racing series Lady the pattern in Sunday's Wigram Trophy race could well be very different from the earlier rounds. Finland's Keke Rosberg clinched the series last Sunday when he scored his third win in a row in the Chevron B29 entered by American Fred Opert. On the basis of his per- Millen char Teretonga, finishing eighth, but he will go into the Lady Wigram Trophy race fourth equal on the points ladder with fellow Aucklander Dave McMillan. Millen is the only local driver to win a race in the series - Keke Rosberg has effortlessly won the last three events — a fine performance as he is run. ning in a new car. Millen's sponsors for the nt race formances in this series, he must be at very short odds on Sunday. Opert, who also entered another Mikko Kozarowitzky, Finn, told me after his cars had finished first and second at Teretonga. that the team "will have to make a thing about Mikko winning wigram, but one can be excused for suspecting that amiable Opert's remark was made in an effort to whip up flagging interest in the series haely to result from Ros- hoping for a ge of luck Asian circuit, the Scallum brothers, recently obtained a B35 Chevron and he says he and nis mechanics are just "training for the Asian circuit." Millen said the car mas about 45kg heavier than the others in the series. "It tas been raced extensively in Earope and is a genuine formula two car," he said. During the past 12 months Millen has competed in a production sedan race, rally crosses, rallies and formula Pacitic races in Asia. He started racing in 1969, competing in hill climbs and straight sprints in his 1954 Filman. His move to saloon cars saw him finish third in the 1972 Bank of New South Wales series. pattern on S berg having won it already. Kozarowitzky drove an honest race for an honest second last Sunday, but he was 35.4sec behind Rosberg at the finish. It may well have been that he nursed his car, for until then mechanical troubles had kept him off Drivers who could give Rosberg a run for the $3000 first prize are Queenslander Bruce Allison (Ralt RT1) who has raced here before, the best performed New Zealander of this series, Aucklander Dave Mevillan (Ralt RTI) Jamaica's Richard Melville (March 76B) expatriate Kiwi John Nicholson (Modus M4), who is better • Known racing circles as a grand prix engulle preparer than a racer and Californian Tom Gloy (Tui BH2). Gloy has scored 16 points in the series and is now rumber-up to Rosberg, who has an unbeatable 29. Because his Tui, designed and built by the ace New Zealand internattional rac- In 1974, Millen competed in his first Peter Stuyvesant series but he says nis B20 Chevron was hopeless against the Formula 5000s and his best placing was sevental. However, the B20 was consistently among the top placings in Asia in 1975 and he also finished second in the Heatway rally that year. Millen has had to pay his own way for the Stuyvesant series - "It is hard for New Zealand drivers to obtain sufficient sponsorship. "The car is in top condition for Sunday's race but I won't make any predichons," Millen said. ABOVE: Millen working @ the B35 Chevron. unday? ing mechanic, Alan McCall, has a much smaller wind cheating frontal area than the Chevrons, Ralts and Marches, it should, in theory at least be a little faster along wigram's long back straight. But whether this theory is proved over the weekend remains to be any seen. And Whether advantage Gloy could gain will be great enough to keep Rosberg and the other frontruuners at bay is also a matter of conjecture.

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