Little wins Teretonga trophy for 6th time

Alex Little, of Lower Hutt, won the Mobil Delvac 1 Trophy for the sixth time when the NAPA Auto Parts NZ Super Truck Championship visited Teretonga Park in Invercargill for the annual Southern Thunder meeting last weekend.

Little drove his Freightliner Century to two wins and a third across the three races and stood on top of the Kings House Removals event podium with 60 points. The championship leader coming into the round, Shane Gray, of Wellington (Kenworth), was second overall with 47 points and Brent Collins, of Pareora in South Canterbury, was third in another Freightliner after copping a penalty in the second race of the round.

Little first won the trophy in 2018 and has won it every year since, apart from last year. Gray accumulated results of a second and two thirds across the weekend and Collins a second, fifth and sixth. Troy Wheeler, of Gisborne, won the other race during the round.

In the Flying Farewell race for the Super Trucks, Tim Wheeler of Gisborne took the win in another Freightliner.

The UDC V8 Utes were the other headline category and provided four superb races for the big crowd. Championship leader Glen Collinson, of Ohaupo in Waikato, and current New Zealand champion Brad Kroef, of Hamilton, were the key figures in their Ford Falcon FGs with Kroef narrowly taking the round and Collinson a new lap record for the class of 1 minute 08.486 seconds.

A small turnout of Mainland Muscle Cars meant they ran with NZ Six Saloons. Ross Wylde, of Westport (Commodore), Paul Clarke, of Dunedin (Mustang), and Peter Templeton, of Cromwell, in another Commodore took the race wins. John Smolenski, of Invercargill, was prominent with two second placings and a third in his Falcon while Marty Russell, of Dunedin, took the NZ Six class honours in a Commodore.

Smolenski backed up his Muscle Car form winning the first Pre 65 Saloon race last Saturday while Wayne Tuffley, of Invercargill (Mustang), Garry Price, of Cromwell (Chevrolet Nova), and Corey Ross, of Rolleston (Mustang), were the other winners.

Mike Hall, of Queenstown, topped the Noel McIntyre Drainage Club Saloons podium with consistent performances in his Volkswagen Golf ahead of Steve Dent, of Queenstown (Ford Falcon SuperTourer), and Steve Ross, of Dunedin, in a Ligier JSP3 LMP3 car.

Bradley Rule, of Queenstown, in a Holden Commodore VE SuperTourer, won one Class A race with Steve Ross and Kyle Dawson, of Invercargill (Jaguar XKR), taking the others.

Peter Bennetts, of Queenstown, in his Seat Supercopa, and Kevin Underwood, of Invercargill, in a Falcon, won the Class B races. Donovan Isted, of Mosgiel (Honda Civic), set a new 1601-2500cc class lap record of 1min 04.907secs, breaking the mark set by Rick Michels which had stood since September 2004.

Rule also won the annual One Hour race, while Dent won the Flying Farewell.

By Lindsay Beer