By BOB PEARCE
Hamilton driver Andy Booth won his first motor race yesterday at Manfeild - and he made it one of the country's most cherished prizes.
The 24-year-old took the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy for the 30-lap feature which is part of the Tasman Series, culminating in the New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekohe next Sunday.
With 10 laps to go in the Formula Holden race, Booth's chances looked remote. Aucklander Simon Wills, who had won the first race of the day by the length of the main straight, was cruising along serenely again, with almost as big a gap back to Booth in second place.
But then a safety car intervention tightened the field up and things went horribly wrong for Wills.
He resumed racing at the front, but then suddenly made a dive into the pits to secure his seatbelts which had mysteriously come undone.
Booth inherited the lead and fought off the attentions of Southlander Le Roy Stevenson to take the win.
Third was 17-year-old Australian Rick Kelly.
Wills fought back to take seventh place and leads the Tasman series by one point from Stevenson and Kelly.
Booth, whose car dropped out with a blown clutch soon after the start of the first race, is fourth in the points.
"I had my first race on this track in a Formula Ford in 1995, so it's nice to win my first race here," Booth said. "My car behaved much better after the safety car break and I like to think I could have made it a race even if Simon had stayed out."
Booth has done much of his racing in Europe in the Formula Palmer Audi series, though he did show out in the Formula Holden series here last year.
Booth's team-mate, Matt Halliday, was second to Wills in the first race, but dropped out of the second early with a blown head-gasket.
Kelly, runner-up in the Australian Formula Ford championship, got his Manfeild drive only a week ago and will give up the car to its regular driver, Peter Hill, for the grand prix.
Brett Riley, in a BMW, had a clean sweep of the touring car races, with Barrie Thomlinson, in a Lexus, earning good place points.
Riley's team-mate, Kevin Bell, was second in one race but also had two offtrack excursions.
Kenny Smith, chasing the Formula Ford title yet again in his 60th year, had a perfect start with three wins from three races.
Manfeild is his favourite track and he led almost throughout the races.
Motorsport: Hulme Memorial to Booth
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