ASKO Appliances SI Endurance Series set for big finale

ASKO Appliances SI Endurance Series set for big finale

The 2011 ASKO Appliances South Island Endurance Series heads to Levels Raceway, Timaru for its third and final round this Saturday, where its $30,000 dash for cash will be decided and the South Canterbury Car Club has made gate entry free.

Christchurch duo Paul Kelly/Kevin Bell Porsche 997 GT3 currently have won two from two in 2011 and will be hoping to be the first team in SI Endurance History to win 3 from 3 for the clean sweep. However, neither win has been easy though with the pair being pushed hard at both rounds before taking the chequered flag. The beautiful Ferrari F430 has its tyre shipment delayed for Ruapuna but they will arrive in time to take the fight to Kelly/Bell at Levels, as will the rapid twin turbo Porsche of Angus McFarlane/Michael Bushell who have missed the first two rounds with engine issues. Behind Kelly/Bell in the overall championship standings there are 4 cars within a mere 6 points, and with 85 points available on Saturday there are still 7 cars that can still win the overall ASKO Appliance South Island Endurance Series title, and the classes are equally far from decided.

Others in line for both overall and GT class honors should the Kelly/Bell car falter, are defending champions Allan Dippie/Grant Aitken’s 996 GT3 & Mike Baker/Seadon Baker’s 997 GT3.

The 3501cc+ Class 1 is another class where any of the top few cars can still win the class, with the Graeme Rhodes/Paul Rickerby RX7 V8 currently leading from the Bruce Davidson/Dave Garden C5 Corvette and the John Wadsworth/Warren Croft VY Commodore.
Engine failures in both the Perry Scarfe/Stu Black XR8 Ute and the NASCAR engined BA Falcon of Dean Perkins/Grant Silvester will have them both seeking a class win for redemption, along with the Craig McDermid/Scotty McDermid Supra powered Levin that has yet to fire in the 2011 series.

The 2001-3500cc Class 2 also has 3 cars with a chance for class honors and they are all from the BMW Marque with Brent Esler/Andy Neale, Shane Helms/Rob Bolland & Warren Good/Arron Black, the latter with a terrific job to even make round 2 after suffering heavy damage after making contact with the Teretonga main straight wall. The series has lost a contender in Class 2 with the ITM BMW of Allan & David McCormick suffering a major engine blow at Powerbuilt Ruapuna and will be a non starter at the Levels finale.

The 0-2000cc Classes 3 & 4 sees the rapid Honda S2000 of Steve Parker/Matt Jackson currently leading from the ever reliable Peugeot 106 of Ken Sinclair/Dennis Ham. Third in class will be a great battle between the Mike Driver/Jarrod Parmenter Integra and the factory built Renault Megane Cup car of Brent Beatson/Grant Waters, who have both suffered problems in the first rounds of the series.

The ASKO Appliances One Hour Race Series will also be decided at Levels Raceway and is even a closer battle than the 3hr with an amazing 18 cars that still have a mathematical chance of winning the overall series! The current series leader is Grant Molloy (Mtsi Mirage), after Teretonga winner Stu Black (Starlet) expired on the start line for the Ruapuna race. As the fastest cars from Ruapuna all have a points disadvantage, having not completed the first round of the series at Teretonga, it is the smaller class cars that fill the top positions on the leader board. However a problem during the race or DNF can easily turn the point score for both the series and each class on its head. In Class 1 3501cc+ Grant Williams/Brent Buist (RX7 V8) lead from Tim O’Connor (Ferrari F430). Ian Clapperton (RX7) leads Class 2 2001-3500cc from Scotty McDermid (Toyota AE86). Class 3 1601-2000cc is lead by Marc Denton (BMW E30) from Dougal MacGibbon (Starlet S2000) and series leader Grant Molloy (Mirage) leads class 4 (0-1600cc) from Jeremy Dawson (Starlet).

Thanks to Series sponsor ASKO Appliances as well as class sponsors Southern Finance, Burnside Contractors, Hagley Aluminum, Southern Demolition and Allied Petroleum / Mobil 1, the Series will have the richest prize money pool in NZ Motorsport, with $30,000- that will be paid out at the Levels Round. With $10,000- up for grabs for the overall 3hr Series winners, the balance will be paid out on class points across both the 3hr & 1hr Series. As well as a cheque for $10,000- the overall 3hr series champion will be awarded the ‘South Canterbury Toyota Cup’ and there are also numerous other trophies, prizes and awards for the series, including an original watercolor painting by High Country artist Norman Sinclair valued at approx. $10,000- which will be given away at the Series prize giving as a spot prize to a competitor in either the 3hr or 1hr Series

www.facebook.com/southislandenduranceseries. For more information on series sponsor ASKO, please visit www.asko.co.nz.

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