23-9-93 25-9 - 93 Baird fastest in test runs PA Paimerston North Denis saird, pion, was the quickest of Craig Baird, the Formula Atlantics dursessions ar Masteild. test The Hamilton driver, chasing a record third straight win in the New Zealand Grand Prix tomorrow, lapped the Feilding circuit with • a best time of 63sec - well under Ken Smith's official lap record of 63.89. Baird won both races at Wigram last weekend and has a two-point lead in the senes. Second-fastest yesterday was United Statesbased New Zealander Steve Cameron, like Baird driving a Reynard. Runner-up in the 1992 CRAIG BAIRD American Formula Atlantic championship, Cameron's best lap was about 0.4sec slower than Baird's. Cameron's main purpose in contesting part of the Peter Jackson series is to win the Grand Prix. "It's what I've been working towards for the last 10 years,' "" he said. "It's the only real reason I'm here. I would like to re-establish myself in New Zealand and show people there are local drivers other than Ken Smith, Paul Radisich and Craig Baird." Third-quickest yesterday was 20-year-old Dutch driver Jos Verstappen in a new car created by matching a new chassis with parts salvaged from the Graeme Lawrenceowned Swift DB4 he crashed at Wigram last Sunday. Race en While there is little shelter from the sun. the nor' wester threatening to blow spectators off the face of the earth and the temporary facilities leaving something to be desired. since 1949 Christchurch motor racing enthusiasts have flocked in their thousands to the Wigram air base for the Lady Wigram Trophy meeting. Admittedly. the crowas today are tar smaller than in the halcyon days of the fifties and sixties, but the traditional event still enjoys a strong following. In recent years the future of the meeting has been surrounded by doubt and. inevitably. there was again talk thai this year's event may have been the last. The uncertainty surrounding the future of the base itself means the race faces a shaky thusiasts future, but the president of the organising Motor Racing Club, Dor Craighead, is optimistic over its shortterm tuture. "Tunderstand that we can certainly programme for next year. beyond that point i don : know, bur that is what we are working toward, "Mr Craighead told "The Christchurch Mail"." The club's officials were certainly de. lighted with the ourcome of lasi week s meeting. Initial estimates put the attendance between 500 and 1000 up on last year's total of 3300 After the two previous South Island rounds of the Peter Jackson series had been conducted in unseasonable weather. spectators and competitors alike weicomed the opportunity to bask in the sunshine at Wigram.