Pitstop: Sandown gives Murphy a shot at No 3 ranking

By BOB PEARCE

Man of the moment Greg Murphy goes into the final round of the Australian V8 Supercar championship at Sandown this weekend with a chance of snaring third place for the season.

Fresh from his hat-trick of wins on home territory at Pukekohe this month, Murphy lies 73 points behind third-placed Jason Bright.

There are enough points at stake in the three races on the Melbourne track for the Kiwi to overtake his fellow Holden driver, but Russell Ingall's second place may be out of reach.

Champion Mark Skaife, who clinched the title at Pukekohe, will be racing without points pressure.

Murphy can expect a hurry-up from fourth-placed Steve Johnson, the leading Ford driver, on a track which the Fords enjoy.

Fellow Kiwi Paul Radisich, languishing in seventh place after a disappointing time at Pukekohe, won at Sandown last year and is looking for a repeat performance.

"Sandown is a circuit where the Ford power comes to the forefront," Radisich said.

"It's the last blast for 2001 and I know all the Ford teams are keen to go into the summer break with a victory to their names."

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Seventeen-year-old Auckland karter Wade Cunningham has won the international A class of the Ayrton Senna Memorial race in Suzuka, Japan.

The King's College sixth former qualified third in a Maxter-engined CRG kart on Bridgestone tyres.

He then had a win and a second placing in his heats.

After finishing second in the pre-final, he won the final with a last-corner dive to the front.

Cunningham has campaigned in Australia before heading to Japan for one of that country's premier events.

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Young New Zealand racing driver James Cressey finished third in the final race of the Australian Formula Three championship at Oran Park in Sydney.

In a one-off drive for the Melbourne-based RCH International team, Cressey was forced out of the first race of the day with gear problems.

In the second, he chased home Darren Palmer and Peter Hackett.

Hackett, who was seventh in the international event at Macau, had won the first race to clinch the championship.

Cressey, the reigning NZ Formula Ford champion and McLaren Scholarship winner, had scarcely had a competitive drive since March.

Another Kiwi, Daynom Templeman, who has run prominently in Australian Formula Three all season, opted to miss the last round to compete in Korea.

In a strong international field, he did not finish one race and was 17th in the other.

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Reigning champion Michael Shepherd will compete in the third round of the Formula First championship at Pukekohe this weekend with a good lead in the standings after winning two of the three races at Manfeild last weekend.

The third was won by 14-year-old Christina Orr who, in her second year in the class, is leaving most of the boys in her wake.

The Formula Firsts are part of a 190-car entry for the two-day Pukekohe meeting.

Other classes include SS2000, Super Mini, Pro 7, Pre-65, Super Grand Touring, HQ Holden, Commodore Cup, Kiwi Sports Sedan and Intermarque Classic.

There will be 10 races on Saturday and 20 on Sunday, beginning at 10.30 am both days.

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After another dominant Ferrari year, the other Formula One teams are desperate to find the edge which will topple Michael Schumacher and the prancing horse next season.

They received some encouragement with the news that Ferrari are doubtful they can have their 2002 car ready for the Australian Grand Prix in March.

New winter testing bans mean they cannot fully test major new developments in their engine and gearbox, leading to possible unreliability for the opening grand prix.

They reserve the option of starting with last year's model.

Ferrari's reliability has been a key factor in their eclipse of McLaren over the past couple of seasons.

So good was this season's car that it could remain a winning package for a few more races whatever the other teams do.