Pitstop: Stroud aims to keep national road-racing title

By BOB PEARCE

Andrew Stroud will be back to defend his New Zealand Production Superbike TT title when the national road-racing championships begin at Pukekohe this weekend.

Last year, the peripatetic former Aucklander led a Suzuki 1-2-3 in the 20-lap classic on a drying track.

This time he will be part of the RCM Yoshimura team alongside manager Ray Clee and Dave Lees, all on Suzuki GSXR1000s.

The official Suzuki team, managed by Brian Bernard, will also include Dennis Charlett and former national champion Dean Fulton.

Yamaha will almost certainly be without Tony Rees, who is still recovering from a wrist injury.

But another former champion, Chris Haldane, will be back after a three-year break on a Yamaha R1.

Haldane traded his bike for a rally car, but missed the two-wheels and believes he can go back to rallying later.

"I'll definitely be feeling my way back at Pukekohe this weekend, but I've been testing there and at Manfeild and my times have been coming down quite nicely," he said.

"We've had the task of not only getting me race fit, but also getting a brand-new bike up to speed."

Another former Superbike champion, Jason McEwen from Manawatu, will also be on a Yamaha R1 after sealing a last-minute ride with the Wellington-based Sawyer Motorcycles team. He may be off the pace at Pukekohe as the machine has yet to be fully developed.

In the 600cc sports production class, Taranaki rider Shaun Harris will be on a new Honda CB600.

The Suzuki chargers will include Corey Oxenham, Craig Shirriffs, Andy Bretherton and Jared Love. Jason Easton will carry Yamaha's hopes.

In the smaller classes Steve Ward and Carl Morgan should continue the 125cc battle they started at the Yellow Pages meeting in October.

There will be practice and racing in all classes from 10.30am on Saturday and racing on Sunday from 11am. The major TT races will be over 25 laps.

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Mitsubishi, which had a disastrous season in the world rally championship this year, will contest only selected events next year.

The Japanese manufacturer says it intends to return to a full season in 2004 when it hopes to have a competitive car.

The contracts of its two drivers, Francois Delecour and Alister McRae, will be honoured but they are likely to be free to accept other drives.

It is not known what rallies Mitsubishi will contest.

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The Aussie V8s thrilled the crowds at Pukekohe in November. Now an Italian V8 is poised to do the same thing on two wheels.

The Moto-Guzzi V8, which features in every book of motorcycle history, will make its first journey outside Europe for the Classic Motorcycle Festival at Pukekohe on February 1-2. It will be demonstrated by British rider Sammy Miller.

The 14,000rpm, water-cooled 500cc V8 motor, with eight carburettors and exhaust pipes, four overhead camshafts and a six-speed gearbox, was designed in 1955.

The bike was timed at over 280km/h and was on the verge of major grand prix success when the major Italian factories gave up GP racing because of the expense.

It has been variously described as an engineering masterpiece and a plumber's nightmare.

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Leading Formula Ford drivers Nelson Hartley and Jonny Reid have lined up tests with the Graham Watson team in the Formula Holden championship in Australia.

Hartley drove a car owned by Kenny Smith in Australia last season. However Smith believes he would be better served by a team with an Australian base.

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A special sub-committee of MotorSport New Zealand has reinstated Holden driver Andy Anderson as the winner of the second New Zealand V8 touring car championship race run at Pukekohe on November 10, reversing a decision of the event director.

The West Auckland driver was disqualified and fined for an alleged driving offence. The race stewards later ruled that his disqualification protest was made out of time.

Anderson claimed to have been wrongly advised by a race official on how much time he had to lodge the protest.

The sub-committee reheard the whole matter, with the benefit of video footage. It decided the accident - which occurred at the hairpin at Pukekohe, and resulted in Ford driver Mark Pedersen colliding with the safety barriers - was a racing incident that required no penalty.

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Jason Richards completed a very satisfactory year for Team Kiwi in the Australian V8 Supercar championship by finishing 17th overall in the finale at Sandown.

He qualified 11th and finished 16th and 18th in the two races despite at one stage being sickened by the fumes of a posse of Fords ahead.

His final championship position of 19th left him ahead of Kiwis Simon Wills (20th), Paul Radisich (26th) and Craig Baird (27th).