Motorsport: Glenbervie 'holds true'

Dave Strong in his Ford Fiesta finished second overall in the Glenbervie Forest ABC Pipefitters Rallysprint. Photo / Scott Davison

The recent ABC Pipefitters Rallysprint event ran smoothly, albeit with a frosty start, and proved to be a successful day for Graham Featherstone in his Mitsubishi Evolution 7, after he secured overall class honours.

Thirty-one competitors took part in the rallysprint event held in the Glenbervie Forest, which was run and organised by the Northland Car Club.

After the competitors did a reconnaissance run of the 5km course, racing action got under way and the drivers put on a good display for spectators.

The first run was won by Featherstone, in his Mitsubishi Evolution 7, in a time of 3 minutes 49 seconds, followed closely by Grant Liston in his Integra R-type and Steve Goodare in his Nissan Sunny V6.

Dave Strong, racing in his Honda-powered 4WD Ford Fiesta, won the next run in 3 minutes 42 seconds, ahead of Featherstone and Warwick Redfern.

Featherstone took control in the third run and increased his overall position in the standings. Strong and Lee Stringer followed close behind but were several seconds off the pace.

The results did not change for the fourth run although Featherstone performed a little slower than he would have liked, submitting a time of 3 minutes 33 seconds; less than a second slower than his previous run.

The fifth run of the rallysprint event was between Strong and Featherstone, the two fastest competitors out of the six individual classes racing in the event.

Featherstone pipped Strong by three seconds in the race-off to finish the event in first overall, followed by Strong, Stringer, Redfern and Ben Huband.

Overall, the event went well and the Glenbervie Forest track held true despite loose gravel on the early runs making for a slippery surface.

This was eventually swept off and produced some good racing lines and faster times.

Though no crashes occurred throughout the day, competitors had to battle sunstrike as well as their fellow racers, which proved to be a nervy experience at high speed.

-The next event for the Northland Car Club is a Club Night on July 22.