V8 victory at Pukekohe for Murphy

16 June, 2014

 


Photo: Euan Cameron

Photo: Euan Cameron

Despite intense pressure and a damaged car, Greg Murphy took out the feature BNT V8 SuperTourers race at Pukekohe on Sunday.

After being pushed across a kerb when Ant Pedersen passed him at close quarters, Murphy said something went wrong with his Holden.

“The car sledged at the next corner and I thought it might have a puncture,” the winner said. “It was really bad over the hill and at turn one but I decided to keep going.

“It was probably a broken shock absorber. We certainly didn’t have the fastest car.”

Young Aussie Morgan Haber and Aucklander Richard Moore closed right up and Haber hounded Murphy for several laps before the chequered flag appeared. The three all drive Holdens for the M3 team.

“That’s my best result in a high-level category,” a delighted Haber said. “I had a few cracks at Murph but he’s smarter than me and he held me out.”

Simon Evans took fourth ahead of fellow Aucklanders Tim Edgell and Mitch Cunningham, Evans and Edgell in Holdens and Cunningham in a Ford.

Ant Pedersen won the day’s second race in his Ford and at one stage held a big lead in the feature race, pushing hard on a damp track. But as the track dried he and some other drivers pitted for slick tyres and this proved a mistake, as their speed advantage was not enough to make up for the time lost in the pits.

Pedersen finished seventh after the pit stop, and he was also second to Murphy in the first race.

Race two saw Angus Fogg finish first by a large margin but he and several other leading drivers copped time penalties because of infringements in a chaotic start. Pedersen said he was disappointed for Fogg, who was officially second, but would take the victory anyway.

Pedersen’s grandfather, also a great motorsport enthusiast, passed away during the week and he was on the driver’s mind during the weekend. “He was the man and I’ll miss him,” he said.

Murphy was third in that race, his first defeat this season after seven straight victories. Evans was fourth and Aucklander teenager Andre Heimgartner fifth in his Holden.

Race one saw Murphy start third on the grid but winning after passing first Evans and then Pedersen at the hairpin. Pedersen had to settle for second, with Evans third followed by Heimgartner and Fogg.

Murphy now leads the championship by a huge 159 points from Pedersen.

The fourth round, and final of the sprint series, is again at Pukekohe, as part of the V8 Supercar meeting over the long Anzac weekend. The three endurance rounds start in September.

 

2014 BNT V8 SuperTourers Championship Schedule

Round 1 January 25-26, Fuchs 250, Highlands Motorsport Park, Cromwell

Round 2 February 8-9, Manfeild (New Zealand Grand Prix meeting)

Round 3 March 22-23, Pukekohe

Round 4 April 25-27, Pukekohe (V8 Supercars meeting)

Round 5 September 6-7, Taupo

Round 6 November 1-2, South Island (TBA)

Round 7 November 28-30, Pukekohe

The final three rounds are endurance events

A second dose of Dash

When the car arrived in Wellington in December 2018 it was duly taken along for entry certification. Vehicle Inspection NZ (VINZ) found some wrongly wired lamps and switches — not too bad — but, much more significantly, some poor welding repairs. As the structural problems were probed more thoroughly, we realized the previous owner’s restoration would not do and we needed an upgrade. Dash had made it into the country but it would take some time and money before he would be free to explore any of New Zealand’s scenic highways.
We took the car to our new home in Johnsonville in the northern suburbs of Wellington and I pored over the car in detail to figure out what was next. There were lots of new parts on the car and a very perky reconditioned drivetrain but the chassis needed serious work.

Lunch with… Jim Palmer

In the 1960s, Hamilton’s Jim Palmer won the prestigious ‘Gold Star’ four times and was the first resident New Zealander home in the New Zealand Grand Prix on five consecutive occasions. He shared the podium with Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Denny Hulme, Jackie Stewart, and Chris Amon. The extent of his domination of the open-wheeler scene in New Zealand will probably never be matched or exceeded. Yet he’s always been modest about his achievements.