Dunedin brothers Arron and Stuart Black experienced reversals in racing fortunes at the second round of the South Island endurance series at Ruapuna Raceway.
Arron and co-driver Warren Good recovered from a first-round crash to win their class in the three-hour race but Stuart's opening outing victory in the one-hour event could not be repeated as his Toyota Starlet expired on the warm-up lap.
Its burst oil line seemed minor in comparison to the dose of double trouble that saw the 427 cubic inch Ford Falcon ute - in which he shares the three-hour race drive with Sydney's Perry Scarfe - throw its front belts off the dry sump pump.
Although he was yet to ascertain yesterday whether the ute's motor had been destroyed, Stuart was confident he would have both racers ready for the third and final round at Levels Raceway on October 15.
"We will just box ahead and see what we can make out of our bad luck," he said.
It had been Arron's turn to make rapid repairs last week between the first two rounds and it was a late-night effort getting the BMW E46 to the Christchurch start grid, after it sustained heavy panel and suspension damage at Teretonga Park.
"I was up until 2.30am Friday morning, had two hours' sleep then jumped in the truck and shot off to Ruapuna," he said.
He and Good qualified 11th overall and worked their way up to eighth by the finish flag to collect the 2001-3500cc class honours.
Christchurch Porsche 997 GT3 driver pairing Paul Kelly and Kevin Bell made it two from two when they backed up a hard-fought victory at Teretonga with a win on their home circuit, bringing their points haul up to 180.
The closest challenge came from a new addition to the field, the Ferrari F430 driven by Craig Innes, of Taupo and Palmerston North's Sam MacNeill.
Reigning series champion Allan Dippie (Dunedin) and Grant Aitken (Queenstown), in their Porsche 996 GT3, were sixth, which was still good enough for second-equal, alongside Porsche 997-driving father and son combination Mike and Seadon Baker on 129 points.
Dippie said they had a smooth race in the 2003 model Porsche but their rivals, in quicker and newer cars, were too hard to catch.
"It's just that the pace was really terrifically fast."
