Pitstop: Home turf edge for Pedersen

By BOB PEARCE

Paul Pedersen will have happy memories when he takes to his home track at Taupo this weekend chasing the national V8 touring car title.

The Ford driver put himself in contention for last year's title by qualifying on pole and winning all three races at the tight circuit.

He finished second in the championship to the unrelated Mark Pedersen, who clinched the crown in the final round at Manfeild.

Mark Pedersen has glandular fever and is an unlikely starter at Taupo, while Paul Pedersen is in third place, 76 points behind leader Andy Booth in a Holden.

There are 96 points available for the winner of the three races and, with Booth adopting a conservative approach, Paul Pedersen and Holden driver Angus Fogg, nine points ahead in second place, have the chance to close the gap.

Aucklander Tim Edgell comes to Taupo with a four-point lead over Chris Pither (Palmerston North) in the Formula Ford championship with another Manawatu teenager, Brendon Hartley, not far away.

There will also be national championship races for Formula Firsts and Porsches and among the support races will be Superbikes and 600cc production motorcycles.

* * *

On a motorsport-laden weekend, which sees a Formula One Grand Prix in Malaysia and Scott Dixon's second race of the season at Phoenix, Auckland-based Team Kiwi could have the busiest programme.

At Taupo, they will have Holdens for Andy Booth and Nick Ross in the V8 national championship.

In Adelaide, Craig Baird will compete in the Clipsal 500 V8 Supercar first round, while at the same meeting Mark Porter will carry the team colours in the second round of the Konica V8 series.

The V8 Supercars will have a 250km race on both Saturday and Sunday. Jason Bright's Holden won two of the three races at the non-championship Melbourne meeting.

The other went to Kiwi Greg Murphy, who will want a strong result at Adelaide as he begins his quest for the Supercar title to add to his Bathurst victories. Ford's Marcos Ambrose is defending champion.

Dixon will be keen to make amends this weekend at Phoenix after his crash in the season-opener at Homestead.

And everybody but Ferrari will be hoping that the red cars' embarrassing dominance at Melbourne doesn't continue at Kuala Lumpur. If it does, it's a safe bet that Formula One will be in for another change of rules.

* * *

Te Awamutu teenager Nic Jordan will have an impressive launch today for his upcoming campaign in the Australian Formula Three championship.

The Mayor of Waipa, Alan Livingston, will host a gathering at the council chambers this evening to rally support for the Hamilton Boys' High pupil.

Jordan, after three years in Formula First, will drive for the Adelaide-based Team BRM.

Jordan turns 16 tomorrow, the minimum age to drive a Formula Three car in Australia. His first race is at Oran Park, Sydney, on April 18.

* * *

World karting champion Wade Cunningham will make his car-racing debut in the United States this week at Sebring, Florida.

The 19-year-old Aucklander will contest the Formula Ford 2000 Zetec championship with the Cape Motorsport team.

* * *

With Rally New Zealand no longer part of the national championship, only six local entries have been received for next month's world championship event compared with 28 last year.

Among the 58 total entries confirmed are 10 world championship contenders, four privateer world championship cars, 20 production world championship entrants and a mixed bag of privateers.

* * *

Bidders at the auction in support of the Possum Bourne Family Trust will be able to fit themselves out in some distinguished race gear.

Among items donated to the auction at 6pm on Monday, April 12, at Sky City are a helmet and overalls from Scott Dixon, overalls from Formula One star Ralf Schumacher and overalls from rally stars Petter Solberg, Tommi Makinen and Sebastien Loeb.

World champion Solberg is expected to attend along with many former team-mates of the Kiwi rally legend.

* * *

Markko Martin and the Ford team took the honours in the Rally of Mexico, but the outstanding driving feat came from Solberg in his Subaru.

He was penalised 5m 40s after he received unauthorised assistance when his battery failed, but finished fourth, only 3m 14.7s behind Martin. The Norwegian won nine of the 15 stages in the rally.