King of Bathurst outgunned in Taihape

GREG Murphy may have conquered the mountain at Bathurst in his Holden V8 Supercar, but he couldn't beat Taihape's best at the weekend.
Murphy was special guest at the town's second trolley derby, raced down Thrush St, but try as he might, the three-time Bathurst winner couldn't take a trick.
He was there for the derby which was a fundraiser for the Taihape Youth Centre.
One of the organisers, Owen Thomas, said the day was a great success, with Murphy the undoubted attraction responsible for the crowd of about 600 spectators who lined the 250m course.
"We would have had about 600 people at the peak, and they lined the course throughout the day. Some of them even had lounged around on couches they brought to the roadside," Mr Thomas said.
In all 35 competitors lined up in the four different divisions based on age. The eight-to-12-year-olds raced over 150m of Thrush St, while the 13-17 years, the 18 and over and business house sections ran the full 250m.
"Greg challenged the fastest competitor in each class in a head-to-head series. He's certainly a noble competitor, but he was outgunned by a couple of the local engineers," he said.
"Glen Loveridge had a very fast cart running in the 18 and over and business house class. Greg couldn't match him."
The course may only cover 250m, but the fastest drivers on the day were hitting 60kph and covering the distance in about 25 seconds.
Mr Thomas said Murphy enjoyed his time in Taihape and hinted he would like to come back next year.
"Greg drove a locally built "Holden HSV" trolley on Saturday, and, as part of our fundraising, we're going to be auctioning it off on TradeMe," he said.
Mr Thomas said the co-ordinating committee would not be making any alterations to the course for next year but would probably be working to improve the timetabling of the events to ensure smoother running of the programme.
He said Murphy's appearance was made possible by the involvement of the Lion Foundation.