23-9-84 lady Wi gram Tro Sud to A merican dri ver By LINDSAY KERR win the prestige Lady Wigram Trophy in its 35-year history A 19-year-old, Davy Jones, yesterday became only the second American driver to second in Jones, with a win and a fourth placing also finished start, and took the lead from Jones. After four laps the Formula Pacific series. the four-round Just Juice International gap was still less than one second, but this was to change with the pressure coming off Oxton when Jones An Aucklander, Ken Smith, was rewarded for his Ralt R14 developed carburation probiems. consistency throughout the series and with two third On lap 11 Dave Micivillan in his Ralt R1s gathered placings at Wigram, he emerged the overall winner. in Jones, with Smith overtaking Jones three laps later. Success for Smith was sweet. At 42 he had won McMillan, a former winner at Wigram, relished New Zealand's No. I sport championship and in doing so being back behind the wheel of his trusty Ralt, and set proved he is not too old to be racing at this level. off to overtake his arch-rival. It was to be too late and Another Aucklander, David Oxton, who like Jones when the chequered flag came out, Oxton had an had missed the first round of the series, won the second advantage of 7.04sec. Pukekohe. Wigram leg after being close to Jones at Manfeild and Oxton, although not winning the Lady Wigram Trophy, had the satisfaction of recording the fastest travel to Europe soon to compete in Formula Three New Zealand's rising star, Paul Radisich, who will time of the two heats, his time being 1.38sec quicker than Jones. racie in ted third am hends three posers hind Jones recorded the fastest lap time with 70.64sec, while Oxton's quickest during his win was 70.71sec. The lap record for Pacific cars at Wigram is held by Smith, In the first race Radisich finished second behind with 70.1sec set in 1983. forced the 21-year-oid's retirement. Jones but a seized wheel bearing in the second race But for Smith, these races had been safety first. "I kept thinking 1 would like to have a real go up front but In spite of recording the fastest practice time, •I had to remind myself to start using my nut." Smith Oxton had a bad start in the first heat and it was Jones said. "I didn't know whether, if I broke down, Radisich who took the lead. Oxton stayed close to Jones until lap would overtake me on the points table. pate approached the hairin on ocked to see Final points in series — K. Smith (NZ), Ralt RT4, and spun off. 57g)s Rait RT4, 48, 3, D. Oxton (NZ), Rait RT4. 45, 4 c. Ralt RT4, 48, 3; D. Oxton (NZ), Ralt RT4, 45, 4; D. Breathing space McMillan (NZ), Dart and Ralt RT4, 24, 5. Lady Wigram Trophy results: This gave Jones the breathing space he wanted and Race one - Davy Jones (USA, Halt K14, 28mm Smith and Radisich battled for second place with the the American was never again seriously challenged. 48.183sec. 2: Ken Smith (NZ, Rall AT4, 26 min ,.30sec, 3; Andrew Miedecke (Aust), Rait R1%, 29min 11.76sec, Panion changing twice before Radisich gor the upper Oxton (NZ), Ralt RT4, 29min 12.23sec, 6. 4: lan flux (UK), Ralt RT4, 29min 12.23sec. 5; David After eight of the 24 laps Oxton had worked his Race two - Oxton, 28min 31.92sec, 1; Dave way up into fourth place and on lap 15 he sqeezed past McMillan (NZ) Ralt RT4, 28min $8.96sec. 2; Smith, Smith who was having handling problems. Jones had a 28min 45.60sec, 3; Jones, 28min 55.91sec, 4; Flux, 29min lead of 13.5sec on Radisich, a gap that had remained constant for several laps. 12.04sec, 5; Brett Riley (NZ), Dart 83M, 29min 21.45sec. 6. On the last lap. Oxton suffered another blow when Final Just Juice series points - Ken Smith 57, his car developed ignition probiems. He was quickly Davy Jones 52, Paul Radisich 48, David Oxton 45, Dave overtaken by Smith, Australian Andrew Miedecke and Englishman Lan Flux and struggled home in sixth place. McMillan 24, Brett Riley 20, Justin Revene (USA) 16, In the second heat Oxton made no mistake at the 11. lan Flux 14, Andrew Miedecke 12, Grant Campbell (NZ) Battles for supporting race titles By LINDSAY KERR Highlignts of the supporting races to the Lady Wigram Trophy included the Ford versus Holden battle in the ANZ Bank Touring Car Championship. Trevor Crowe's superb win over Avon Hyde in the Arbuckles $25,000 Super Car Series and two fiercely close Formula Ford championship encounters. The inaugural sighting in the South Island of the new ANZ Bank Touring Car championship was a closely contested affair between the Ford Falcons of Gary Sprague and Bruce Anderson and the Holden Commudore of Neville Crichton. Sprague, after earning the pole position, was the first car out, but he was gathered in under-braking at the hairpin by Crichton. Sprague struck back, but on lap & Crichton repeated the same move - but Sprague held him out. On lap 5, Anderson joined the struggle for the major honours and took second slot off Crichton. After eight of their 15 laps, the Falcons had opened a gap on the Crichton Commodore with Anderson sticking fiercely to Sprague. But sprague was to be unruffled by Anderson and on the last lap he widened the gap to record another vietory and retain his series lead. Trevor Crowe in his V8 Toyota Starlet, took the top honours in the Arbuckles OSCA Super Car series race. Over the seven laps, Crowe received close attention from Avon Hyde in his V8 Commodore. Crowe's advantage at the halfway point was 14sec, but when the pair began to lap slower traffic, he was able to extend this lead and head home Hyde. The series leader, lan Hunt, had the misfortune to blow his Capri's powerful V8 motor during Saturday's practice, and with a spare motor he started the race well down on the grid. After fighting his way through to third place, the rear wing on the car broke, and he struggled to keep his position with Steve Vigurs, Cortina Chev V8, and Don Grindley, Mazda tal, snapping at nis heels ver the final two laps Auckiand's Tony Marsh, in a Nissan 1300, extended series lead the Shellsport series, for saloon cars under 2 litres, with two clear wins. The fastest qualifier and defending champion, Roy Harrington, also from! Auckland, in a MK1 Escort did not have a successful day, failing to finish both races. Mechanical problems saw his demise in the first, and in the second, he struck the large tyre marker at the hairpin corner when dicing for third piace with Christchurch's Mark Rutherford in a MKII Escort 1600. Rutherford finished third in the first encounter, after a first lap incident which saw him and Kevin McNamara in MKI Escort touch, sending them spinning off the circuit. He was to finish second, next time out. The two rounds for the Sockburn Motors Moto craft National Formula championship saw the series leaders, Jobn Crawford from Christchurch and Steve Richards, Hamilton, score a win and a second apiece. Crawford, who set the lastest time in practice, made no mistakes in the second, and while he surendered the lead at one point to the defending champion, Kevin Ingram from Feilding, he went on to win by 1.4sec. Richards' win over Crawford in the first An incident-packed race for National Ford Laser Sport champion, saw Ed Lamont of Auckland and Palmerston North's Warren hisiop battle it out for their eight lap race with half a second rarely separating the pair. On the last corner, they made contact as Hislop made his last bid for the lead, but Lamont held his line to maintain first place by a slender 0.22sec. Frank Ryan, who had been seen with the leading bunch, saw his race come to a sad conclușion when he, like Harrington, clipped the big tyre on the hairpin. His fortunes were even more disastrous as the car rolled before coming to rest on the grass infield.