Mcfarlane And Bushell Triumph Again

MEDIA RELEASE
28 APRIL 2007

Mcfarlane And Bushell Triumph Again At Teretonga Park

Angus McFarlane and Michael Bushell won the race but Matt and Dwayne Carter took the championship when the final round of the South Island Endurance Series was held at Teretonga Park near Invercargill today.

The three hour race was very entertaining with plenty of action before McFarlane and Bushell emerged to win the event for the second year running. In the process they covered 164 laps in their Porsche GT3 to lead home Scott and Lindsay O'Donnell in their similar car by four laps. Matt and Dwayne Carter of Auckland brought their Ford Falcon V8 Supercar home in third, five laps behind the winners. In doing so they clinched the South lsland Endurance Series after winning the previous two rounds earlier in the month.

Local driver Scott O'Donnell had qualified quickest this morning but it was Dwayne Carter who grabbed the lead at the start only to run wide and lose several places on the first lap. The Peter Swaney/Craig McDermid Toyota held second early but Carter fought back to second and soon after he took the lead when he passed O'Donnell. However the Porsche driver regained the lead to head Carter, McFarlane and
Swaney/McDermid. Just after the thirty minute mark O'Donnell and the Swaney/McDermid car made contact at Castrol corner as O'Donnell was lapping the Toyota. The incident saw both cars stuck in the gravel trap and the safety car deployed. Both cars resumed, although the Swaney/McDermid car pitted with diff problems and struggled from that point on, finally retiring after 88 laps.

While the safety car was on track the Carter Falcon pitted for a quick fuel stop handing the lead to McFarlane while at the restart O'Donnell earned a drive through penalty.

At the two hour mark McFarlane/Bushell had 30 seconds in hand over the Carter Falcon with the O'Donnell Porsche back up to third after losing a lot of time after the earlier incident. Bruce Davidson/David Garden had their Chev Corvette in fourth position.

The McFarlane/Bushell Porsche still led with 30 minutes remaining but the Falcon was closing in relentlessly and was just 5 seconds behind. With just over 20 minutes to go the Falcon, with Matt Carter at the wheel, took the lead on Teretonga's front straight only to head for the pits a few minutes later. Bushell seized the lead while the Carter Falcon resumed to cruise to the finish at greatly reduced speed. The team suspect a valve spring or rocker problem.

A jubilant Bushell crossed the line to win by four laps from the O'Donnell Porsche which had made an amazing recovery. The Carter Falcon crossed the line 3rd, a further lap back, ahead of the Davidson/Garden Corvette. Dale and Alan Chapman were classified 5th in their BMW 318i after a good drive despite problems near the end of the race. Southlander Dave McLean along with Ross Hurley completed the top six after another excellent performance in their Honda Integra.

Several competitors struck problems in the race. Grant Molloy and Warren Good lost time after losing clutch fluid while Dennis and Debbie Chapman lost a lot of time in the pits with gearbox problems. The Chris Henderson/Brent Russell BMW had run strongly but Russell was forced to park it short of the finish line with the right rear wheel missing. Craig Molloy and James Mitchell retired their Honda with a driveshaft problem and the Dennis Ham/Mark Laughton Alfa 147 finished the race with smoke pouring from the rear of the car. Meanwhile the Shane Page/Rob Lewis Mazda RX7 suffered with fuel pump problems all day.

Class winners were McFarlane/Bushell, Dale and Alan Chapman, McLean/Hurley plus Stuart and Arron Black. Southland drivers Bradley and Jeremy Dawson finished 11th overall to win their class for the series.

Racing continues tomorrow (Sunday) with 16 races on the final day of 2006/2007 motor race season at Teretonga Park. Mike Small (Timaru) and Kerry Bartlett (Ashburton) will fight out the Kumho Sport Saloon Series while Blair Sutherland of Dunedin looks set to add the South Island Series to his New Zealand title in the Super Six Saloons. Invercargill driver Wayne Tuffley will be one of the favourites in the Pre 65 Saloon Car Races while there are good entries in the Noel McIntyre Drainage Clubmans Series including father and son Barry and Damon Leitch in the single seater races.

Qualifying for the Clubmans and Pre 65 classes begins at 10.00am tomorrow. Entry to the event, presented by Fulton Hogan, is $10 for adults
and children under 14 are free.

Ends

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