Motorsport: Phil Campbell pips rival

A gravel autocross event at the new TECT All Terrain Park provided a close contest for Motorsport BOP competitors on Sunday.
Postponed from the previous weekend due to heavy rain, the event went ahead in fine weather with 21 competitors in a wide variety of competition and road-going cars.
Having battled for two-wheel drive honours at recent hillclimb events, the autocross provided Tauranga drivers Phil Campbell (Ford Fiesta) and Shane Wright (Nissan Skyline) with a chance to fight out the overall win.
The combined times from three runs decided the overall result and, in spite of clocking the fastest time of the day on the final run, Wright was just 0.40s behind Campbell at the completion of the day.
Katikati's Chris Flegg in his Hillman Imp was third just over 5secs back and Peter Housham finished fourth in his Subaru Impreza WRX.
Motorsport BOP Autocross (TECT all Terrain Park) - results:
1 Phil Campbell (Ford Fiesta ST) 6m 07.24s; 2 Shane Wright (Nissan Skyline) 6m 07.64s; 3 Chris Flegg (Sunbeam Hillman Imp) 6m 12.68s; 4 Peter Housham (Subaru Impreza WRX) 6m 24.49s; 5 Shane Tofts (Toyota Corolla) 6m 31.96s; 7 Dave West (Toyota Corolla) 6m 34.75s; 8 Nick Flegg (Toyota MR2) 6m 37.11s; 9 Ian Carroll (Ford Escort) 6m 38. 47s; 10 Nick Scanlon (Mitsubishi V3000) 6m 44.37s.
Endurance test
Tauranga drivers Wayne Moore and Maurice O'Reilly with their German teammates, Heiner Immig and Maximilian Hacklander, finished eighth in class and 73rd overall at the Nurburgring 24 Hours at weekend.
While almost the entire 24 hours were completed in good race weather - with only light drizzle briefly in the night - the race proved an eventful one for the Kiwi endurance veterans.
The team made a good start in their SEAT Leon Supra Cupra Turbo and climbed to fifth in class mid-race (from 23 starters) in spite of being involved in four different incidents.
"It was exciting stuff with sixth and seventh hard on our heels and it was hard to sleep between drives," said Moore.
Later in the race, the passenger door window and frame needed removing and the left drive shaft needed replacing at the same time which cost two laps and dropped the team to seventh in class.
A gear selector problem late in the race then cost a further couple of minutes in the pits.
"We finished the race eighth in class and 73rd of the 135 finishers. There had been 202 cars at the start," said Moore.
"A finish is so good here," said Moore who was competing at the Nurburgring for the 18th time.
"Roll on number 19 and maybe lap 1000 of this demanding 25.3km circuit. I'm now sitting on 937."
Crews in contest
It was a tough weekend for the leading Bay of Plenty crews contesting the Taranaki Tarmac Rally on Saturday.
Tauranga's Wayne Pittams and co-driver Shayne Eaton started strongly in their Subaru Impreza and had moved up from 18th seeding to be running second at the lunch break.
"I was aiming to finish and was driving conservatively all day," said Pittams. "I was pleasantly surprised to be so far up considering."
Former national rally champ Joe McAndrew (Mazda RX7) had edged ahead of Pittams in the afternoon but he retained third place - and was only 28secs behind rally leader Jason Gill (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo) when the Impreza was halted by lack of oil pressure with only 8km remaining in the final special stage.
The Taranaki event also saw Tauranga drivers Ben Thomasen (Subaru Impreza) and Brent Emerson (Holden Commodore SS) completing the withdrawal paperwork.
It was the first time in seven starts that Thomasen had failed to finish a rally.
Seeded 22nd Thomasen and co-driver Rachel Pittams had started strongly with the third fastest time in the opening Pukeiti stage.
He was running in fourth place when his day ended with engine problems at the end of stage three.
After his strong showing at the recent Rotorua Targa event, Emerson was chasing more tarmac success but his Commodore was a retirement with diff problems after stage three.
Aucklander Jason Gill won the Taranaki event by 13.5 seconds from McAndrew. But the fastest driver - winning seven of the eight special stages - was Hawera's Glenn Smith in his highly developed Mitsubishi Lancer EvoX.
However, a brake issue, which delayed him after stage one, cost 4m30s in penalties and dropped him to seventh place.
Quagmire conditions
Mount Maunganui's Mason Phillips battled through the mud to finish sixth overall at the most recent round of the Canadian Motocross Nationals last weekend.
Round four was raced at Shadow Valley Raceway near Morden, Manitoba, with heavy rain on Saturday turning the black-loam soil into a thick quagmire up to 600mm deep in places.
Phillips' placed seventh and sixth in the two MX1 (450cc) motos on his Kini Red Bull KTM SX350 and has now advanced to eighth place in the Canadian title standings.
Young Cambridge rider Kieran Leigh, who is Phillips' teammate on the Kini Red Bull KTM squad - was 12th at the weekend in the MX2 (250cc) class and is now eighth overall in the championship standings.
The Canadian Nationals now have two weekends off before resuming at Gopher Dunes near Norfolk, Ontario, on July 17.
On the Australian MX scene, Papamoa's Cody Cooper (Suzuki) and Mt Maunganui's Michael Phillips (Honda) are back in action this Sunday contesting round seven of the Australian Nationals near Albury-Wodonga on the NSW-Victoria border.
Club prize-giving
The Waihi Beach Dirt Track Club recently wrapped up its 2010-11 racing season with an end-of-season prize-giving function. Escort V6 driver Rick Purcell, the six-cylinder class points champion for the season, won the "Driver of the Year" award while Trent Amrein was named Mini Stock Driver of the Year.
Top overall points from the season and the most consistent driver trophy went to Honda CR-X racer Shane Hamerton who won the Production Class.
Having finished a close second in the 2-litre Classic class, former ministock racer Darcy Webb also won Most Improved Driver as well as the Best Presented Car trophy for his Mk IV Ford Cortina.
The club is finalising a calendar for the 2011-12 season with racing expected to begin in late-November.
Waihi Beach Dirt Track Club - 2010-11 season class points:
Altered: 1 Glen Paris.
Six-cylinder: 1 Rick Purcell; 2 Doug Giddy; 3 Malcolm Coleman.
2-litre Modified: 1 Dale Brown; 2 Russell Corbett.
2-litre Classic: 1 John Evetts; 2 Darcy Webb; 3 Neville Gray.
1600cc: 1 Warren Sharp; 2 Paul Way.
Production: 1 Shane Hamerton; 2 Peter Gray; 3 Liam Kenealy.
Ladies: 1 Chris Evetts; 2 Toni Ross; 3 Julie Way.
Mechanic: 1 Craig Corbett; 2 Josh Keene; 3 Alan Jamieson.
Open mechanic: 1 Steve Purcell.
Mini Stocks: 1 Trent Amrein; 2 Kane Hansen; 3 Jordan Latham.
Feature Final: 1 Doug Giddy; 2 Rick Purcell; 3= John Evetts and Dale Brown.