By BOB PEARCE
Team Kiwi, the Auckland-based team formed to contest the Australian V8 Supercar championship, will keep a close eye on Aussie legend Larry Perkins when he competes in the Winton round of the championship this weekend.
The team have bought the Holden Commodore Perkins is driving and will take possession of it after the meeting.
From new premises in Penrose, Team Kiwi have unveiled an ambitious $8 million plan to foster local talent from karting to the Supercars.
They have chosen national touring car champion Jason Richards and his closest challenger, Angus Fogg, as drivers of the Perkins-prepared Commodore in the Bathurst 1000 in November.
Fogg is building two Nissan Primeras, which the team will run in the LK500 at Pukekohe on November 5 and subsequently in the national touring car championship.
By the time the 2001 Supercar championship roars into action at Pukekohe in February, Team Kiwi intend to have two Commodores on the grid.
While Richards and Fogg are guaranteed the Bathurst drive, the team will give other New Zealanders trials for the Primera drives and the chance to compete for the Supercar championship season. Original contenders Ashley Stichbury and Shane Drake opted out after failing to reach agreement with the new team.
The three-tiered structure of Team Kiwi will begin with a karting team of two drivers and a number of support crew. They will have the opportunity to progress to two-litre drives and the Supercars.
Team owner David John unveiled the team's striking national colours this week, plus an impressive list of 34 sponsors.
He will take a promotional show on the road around the country in the next few weeks.
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Hamilton teenager Cameron Bates will be the youngest driver to compete in Rally New Zealand when he crosses the start-line tomorrow night in Auckland.
The 18-year-old earned his place in the world championship event by winning the Rally New Zealand North Island scholarship.
With co-driver Laurie Brenssell, he will compete in the Subaru Impreza previously campaigned by Bruce Herbert and Wayne Leach. He is seeded 49th.
Bates, who began competing in karts, is following in the wheeltracks of his mother, Petra, who drives a 1957 yellow Ford Thunderbird in the Dunlop Targa.
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Rally New Zealand, sponsored by hair restorer Propecia, can boast impressive comeback statistics of its own.
Among the 70 starters are all those who have won the event in the past 10 years. Juha Kankkunen, who won way back in 1984, has competed here on 10 occasions. Colin McRae, Carlos Sainz and Kenneth Eriksson have been here eight times.
Eriksson, who will drive for Hyundai this week, has the impressive record of finishing every New Zealand Rally he has started.
Top Kiwi Possum Bourne has competed 19 times, 18 in a row in a Subaru, a record of brand loyalty rare in the sport at this level.
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World championship team drivers completing their reconnaissance for Rally New Zealand know Big Brother is watching their road manners.
Their recce cars carry a monitoring device which tracks every move. If a dispute arises, clerk of the course Morrie Chandler has access to the information. This should settle any arguments.
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New Zealand riders Tony Rees and John Hepburn compete this weekend in the latest round of the Australian Formula Xtreme series at Lakeside, Queensland.
Rees leads the championship by 23 points on his Yamaha 1000. Hepburn, on a Suzuki 1300, lies eighth.
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Melbourne's Australian Grand Prix has retained pole position on the Formula One world championship calendar for the 2001 season, but the event will be a week earlier than normal.
Victoria's Minister for Major Projects and Tourism, John Pandazopoulos, said the Formula One administration had confirmed that the date allocated for the grand prix at Melbourne's Albert Park was March 1 to March 4.
In the five-year tradition of the grand prix in Melbourne, the event has been held on the second weekend of March.
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