Pitstop: Top riders heading for Wanganui road races

As Auckland rejects a street race, Wanganui is looking to make its Boxing Day motorcycle race meeting on the city streets bigger and better.

Racing on the Cemetery Circuit began in 1951 and, with a few gaps on the way, this Sunday's meeting will be the 50th.

Event manager Ray Whitham intends to make it special. Wanganui's own Rod Coleman, a legend in the two-wheeled sport, will do a lap of honour on a 1954 AJS7R similar to the one on which he became the first New Zealander to win an Isle of Man TT 50 years ago.

On hand to join him will be our latest TT winner, Bruce Anstey, who will compete at the meeting, and newly crowned world motocross champion Ben Townley on his KTM.

But Whitham's plans go far beyond this year's ceremonial. He hopes to inaugurate an international series next year, starting with the New Zealand TT races at Pukekohe in early December, with a finale at Wanganui.

"The Aussies are all keen to come for more than one race and the TT would give them a title to put on their CVs," he said. "It is also a good time of year to get young riders from Britain and Malaysia."

Five Aussies have entered this year, mostly in the post-classics but including former champion Dick Chivas on a sidecar.

Many of the national road race championship leaders will compete in the seven Battle of the Streets classes in 23 races, including two Robert Holden Memorial races restricted to the fastest riders from any class. Anstey on his Irish-built Suzuki leads the Superbike class after two rounds of the national road race championships.

But the man to beat may be local hero Brian Bernard, who won the Superbike races at Wanganui last year.

The second round of the Battle of the Streets series is at Paeroa at the end of February. 


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Greg Murphy fans will have no difficulty recognising his car next season despite his switch from Kmart to the PWR team in the Aussie V8 Supercar championship.

The Kiwi Bathurst winner is taking his trademark 51 car number with him to the new team, while his team-mate, Paul Weel, will take over the number 50 used this season by Jason Bright.

The 51 has carried Murphy to two second places in the championship but only one of his four Bathurst wins - last year. This year he and Rick Kelly displayed Kelly's 15 on their winning car.

Should Murphy win the championship he will have the opportunity to display the number 1, worn at the moment by Marcos Ambrose.

Some drivers cling resolutely to their favourite numbers. Kenny Smith will appear in a new Toyota at Timaru displaying 11. Peter Brock stuck with 05 for years and Dick Johnson retained 17. 

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Scott Dixon's search for 20-20 vision has led to implant surgery on his left eye, which will flatten the cornea without damaging it.

Dixon says that for some time he could only get perfect vision from that eye by squinting.

He has been able to test a new Toyota engine at Sebring in Florida, but has been told the improvement in his vision will take time.

Macneall for WRC Subaru's choice of 25-year-old Aussie Chris Atkinson to join Petter Solberg and Stephane Sarrazin in their world rally team for next season has meant a fulltime job for Glenn Macneall.

The Dunedin-based Aussie, who partnered Atkinson to finish fifth and first production car in Rally Australia, will be co-driver for the 15 events Atkinson will contest, starting with Rally Sweden in February.

The 32-year-old Macneall has partnered Dunedin driver Emma Gilmour in New Zealand championship events and this season also worked with Aussie Dean Herridge. He previously had world championship experience with Toshi Arai. 

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David Coulthard will have plenty of incentive to win points for his new Formula One team, Red Bull.

The Scot's $6 million salary will be a big drop from what he earned with McLaren but he receives a bonus of $300,000 for every point he wins.

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Veteran Kenny Smith is unlikely to defend the New Zealand Grand Prix title he won for the third time last season. The 63-year-old Aucklander won the race in a Formula Ford last January after previous wins in Formula 5000 and Formula Pacific cars.

Next month he will be one of the competitors in the inaugural Toyota single-seater races at Timaru.

He has sold his Grand Prix-winning Ford and says that was the only car he would want to use to defend his Grand Prix title at Teretonga on January 16.

Smith's hope is that the Grand Prix will be contested in Toyotas in 2006 so that he can win in a fourth type of car.

An 18-year-old American will join the Formula Fords for the South Island championship races next month.

Emerson Slade Miller, from Oklahoma, who is the mid-western Formula Ford champion, has won the Team USA Scholarship.

He will drive the same Stealth/Van Diemen that scholarship winner Charlie Kimball used to win the International Formula Ford Challenge here last January.

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Kiwi Supercar team owner Kieran Wills is going right to the top with his appeal against fines and penalties imposed on Team Dynamik for alleged illegal testing at Woomera in August. The FIA Court of Appeal will hear the case on February 24 in Paris.