The country's southernmost motor racing circuit is primed for a full day of action tomorrow (Sunday) after qualifying for all classes was held today.
The mighty OSCA Saloons headline the classes taking part in this meeting presented by Downer. Also on the programme are Kumho Sport Saloons, Pre 65 Saloons, Pro 7s, Mini 7, Super 6 Saloons plus the Noel McIntyre Drainage Clubmans Saloons and Sports & Racing Cars.
Two local drivers, both former champions in the class, headed the timesheets in the OSCA Saloons today. Colin Dawson recorded a lap of 59.677 seconds in his Mazda RX7 V8 to dip under the one minute mark while fellow Invercargill driver Lawrence Knowler was second quickest in his Brennan Camaro with a time of 1 minute 00.720 seconds. Chris Hatton of Christchurch was next in his Camaro.
The Kumho Sport Saloons will run with the OSCA Saloons this weekend and in qualifying today Temuka driver Gary Duncan set the quickest lap, half a second faster than Ivan McAuley of Timaru. Both drive Mitsubishi EVO's.
Greg Stewart of Castlerock in Northern Southland secured the fastest time in the Pre 65 Saloon class, two and a half seconds better than anyone else in the field. Meanwhile current New Zealand and South Island Pro 7 Champion, Jarrod Parmenter of Timaru, also laid down the gauntlet in the PRO 7 category, qualifying fastest ahead of Woodend driver Case Wortel.
Queenstown driver Kurtis Boult set the best time for Holden in the Super 6 Saloons with a Ford, driven by Wayne Christie of Christchurch, next up.
Doug Erskine of Tuatapere in Southland was the fastest of the Mini's today while the current South Island and New Zealand Champion Mark Donaldson was second fastest overall but the fastest of the 1000cc cars.
Winton driver Pierre Neame took his Ford Capri to pole position in the Noel McIntyre Drainage Clubmans Saloons ahead of Invercargill driver Andrew Brown in a turbocharged Honda Civic. Damon Leitch set the fastest lap of 57.683 seconds to take pole for the first Sports & Racing Car race with another Invercargill driver, Jamie Conroy second fastest.
Racing commences at 9am on Sunday morning. Admission is $15 each while children under 14 are free.
