Roger Laird of Gore took the bulk of the silverware at the Eastern Southland Car Club 55th Annual Dinner and Prizegiving at the Heartland Croydon Hotel in Gore on Saturday night.
Laird's successes gave him the overall Club Championship, the third time he has achieved that milestone. His first club championship came in 1980 and the second in 1993. On Saturday he received the trophy again after a successul 2010/2011 season. Laird's participation in the clubs events in recent times has been compromised by the amount of effort he has put into organising club activities rather than competing in them. However, this year he competed more regularly and won the Club Championship in a close finish from Mosgiel driver Chris Hey, the champion in 2009, and his wife Karen Laird. Roger and Karen Laird's son Kevin has also been prominent in the past, winning the club championship every year from 2004 to 2008 and again in 2010.
Roger Laird enjoyed plenty of success throughout the season and as well as the overall title he also won the Clubsport Championship from Hey and Errol Hewlett in another hard fought result, the most consistent competitor award, the Motorkhana Trophy and the Autocross Trophy. He also shared the Sealed Events Trophy with Dunedin driver Phil Winter who also won the Bent Sprint Trophy, the Flying Lap Trophy and the Standing 1/4 Mile Trophy.
As well as finishing runner-up in the overall championship and the Clubsport Championship Hey took the Gravel Sprint Trophy and the C Class Championship.
Karen Laird, third in the overall championship, won the 0-1300cc Class Championship and the Ladies Trophy.
Other winners on the night were Balclutha driver Dean Bond who took the First Gravel Sprint Of The Season and the Tokanui Hillclimb, Andrew Graves of Gore, the Rally Challenge Trophy and Neville Krammer of Wallacetown who won the Hillclimb Cup and the clubs Class D title.
Gavin Read of Invercargill won the Class B title while Stephen O'Brien of Invercargill won the Junior Trophy for the most successful Under 18 Competitor, Damian Vincent of Stirling the New Competitor Award, Paul Gouman of
Clydevale the South Otago Challenge Cup and Errol Hewlett the Member Of The Year.
The Hard Luck Award went to Warner Reid of Clydevale, not for the first time in his career, after a crash at Teretonga Park.
Motorsport New Zealand President Shayne Harris was the guest speaker for the evening and he gave the crowd a good insight into the activities of Motorsport New Zealand and the FIA.
Clerk Of The Course Craig Jessop ended the formal proceedings by outlining details of the upcoming Catlins Coast Rally. The event will take place on Saturday 6 August and Jessop was able to announce that longtime sponsors MWH, the Rosebank Lodge, SouthRoads and Owaka Motors would again support the event.
EASTERN SOUTHLAND CAR CLUB AWARDS
CLUBSPORT EVENTS
Motorkhana Trophy - Roger Laird
Autocross Trophy - Roger Laird
Standing 1/4 Mile - Phil Winter
GRAVEL EVENTS
First Gravel Sprint Of The Season - Dean Bond
Tokanui Hillclimb - Dean Bond
Gravel Sprint Trophy - Chris Hey
Rally Challenge Trophy - Andrew Graves
SEALED EVENTS
Bent Sprint - Phil Winter
Flying Lap - Phil Winter
Sealed Events Trophy - Phil Winter/Roger Laird
Hillclimb Cup - Neville Krammer
Hard Luck Award - Warner Reid
Most Consistent Competitor - Roger Laird
CLASS CHAMPIONSHIP
Class A (0-1300cc 2wd) Karen Laird
Class B (1301-1600cc 2wd) Gavin Read
Class C (1601cc & over 2wd) Chris Hey
Class D (4wd) Neville Krammer
Clubsport Championship
3rd - Errol Hewlett
2nd - Chris Hey
1st - Roger Laird
Club Championship
Junior (Under 18) - Stephen O'Brien
New Competitor - Damian Vincent
South Otago Challenge Cup - Paul Gouman
Ladies Trophy - Karen Laird
ESCC CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP
3rd - Karen Laird
2nd - Chris Hey
1st - Roger Laird
Member Of The Year
Errol Hewlett
