17-9-93 Baird puts himself on the line to gain pole postion CRAIG BAIRD had a simple explanation yesterday for winning pole position for today's Lady Wigram Trophy car race. "I'm putting myself on the line and I don't think the others are," the young Hamilton driver said after setting best time on the fast, open airfield circuit. Baird was 8/10ths of a second faster than American Stuart Crowe and United Statesbased Kiwi Steve Cameron, who recorded identical times. Series leader Jos Verstaten of Holland was a further 2/10ths back in fourth place. Baird said the difference in times was because he drove harder, noi any advantage trom his new Reynard-Toyota. Most laps he was taking the Bomb Bay corner on to the back strait, foot flat in top gear — with the car skittery because he had removed half the rear wing. Most of the Formula Atlantie cars have a double rear wing to increase grip on corners, but Baird had removed the top wing to make the Alpine Reynard faster on straits. "It's a compromise," he said. "I've really lost a lot of downforce and I've got to work a lot harder in the cor- By BERNARD CARPINTER ners to keep it on the road." Iwice during the day he had run wide on to the grass outside corners. Baird also tried another little trick that riled some of his opponents. He would go past the hangar hairpin up the pit road, turn around and charge back on to the circuit - giying him extra speed on to the start-finish strait. However, Baird said the trick didn't quite work out and this was not how he set his best time. Crowe and Verstaten were both annoyed at this subterfuge, but both said they might follow Baird's example today and take off one of their wings. Last weekend Baird was disqualified from one race for exceeding new noise limits. He is still vexed about this, saying he supports the noise restrictions but the measurements were not taken properly. "This weekend we've been recorded at 10 decibels less than Invercargill - and the car's the same, " he said. Crowe said he was happy with the performance of his new Ralt-Toyota and thought that slipstream battles could decide today's two races in the Peter Jackson series. Cameron showed his class by qualifying his Reynard second equal, atter missing the Invercargill races because of a shortage of finance. Verstaten was considering further adjustments to his older Philips Swift-Toyota to make it faster today, but said he knew what the basic probiem was. "I need a new car, a Ralt or something," he said. "I have to drive this car much harder than the others do." Paul Radisich was fifth fastest in spite of damaging his Shell Swift-Ford when he ran wide on the hairpin and clipped a marker tyre. American Charlie Nearburg also damaged his Ralt, after tangling with a similar car of Briton James Taylor. in the Tranzam class, American Scott Lagasse made a big improvement in his Pontiac Firebird to score second on the grid, behind Kayne Scott's Ford Merkur turbo. Australian Russell Ingall again set fastest time in Formula Ford, ahead of Kiwis Ashley Stichbury and Garry Croft MOTOR RACING Christchurch QUALIFYING times from Lady Wigram Trophy meting, fourth round of Peter Jackson International series: Peter Jackson Formula Atlantic: C Baird (Hamilton) Reynard-Toyota, 1 mın 07.14S, 1; S Crow (US) Ralt RT40 Toyota, 1.08.54. 2; S Cameron (NZ/US) Reynard- Toyota, 1.08.54, 3; J Verstappen (Netherlands) Swift-Toyota, 1.08.77, 4; P Radisich (Auck) Swift Ford, 1.09.03. 5: G Pope (Pal North) Swift-Ford, (US) Smft-Toy01z, 1.09.09, 6; G Murpiy 1.09.74, Nearburg (US) Rait RT40 Toyota, 1.09.76, Duntop Formula Ford: R Ingall (Australia) Van Diemen RF92, 1.19.69, 1; A Stichbury_ (Havelock North) Van Diemen RF92. 1.20.32, 2; G Croft (Auck) Swift SC92F. 1.20.42, 3; G Clark (NZ-Australia) Van Diemen RF91, 1.20.68, 4; J Douglas (Dunedin) Van Diemen RF91, 1.20.69, 5; K Ingram (Filding) Van Diemen RF85. 1.21.67, 6. Aztec NZ Touring Cars: E Lamont (Auck) Horden Commodore, 1.28.94, 1; R Freeth (Auck) Ford Falcon, 1.30.53, 2; N Arkefl (Auck) Holden Commodore. 1.30.76, 3; F Ryan (Timaru) Holden Comnodore, 1.30.84, 4; W Murdoch (Timaru) Holden Commodore, 1.31.02, 5; B Dryder (Outram) Holden Commodore, 1.31.43, 6. Auto News Wigram: K Scott (Hamilton) Ford Merkur. 1min 12.88s, 1; S Lagasse (US) Pontiac Firebird, 1.12.94, 2; C Kneifel (US) Porsche 944 Turbo, 1.15.04, 3; K Wilis (Auck) Mazda RX7 V8, 1.15.74, 4; D Elvy (Kaiapoi) Capri V8, 1.20.82, 5; J Harcourt (Chct) Startet V8. 1.21.02, 6.