Supercars heading back to Pukekohe, at least for now

The future of V8 Supercar racing in New Zealand is safe - at least for another year, it will be announced today.

Tony Cochrane, chairman of the Avesco, the company behind the series, flew in from Australia last night and will announce his decision this morning.

Officials remained tight-lipped yesterday on the nature of the announcement, but a source told the Herald that a round of the championship would be held at Pukekohe next year.

The south Auckland racetrack's V8 contract ran out this year and Avesco said the event had outgrown Pukekohe.

That put the New Zealand leg of the championship, which attracts a global audience of hundreds of millions, at risk of being being offered to another country.

Plans to stage the V8s as a street-race around Auckland failed, as did a similar bid from Wellington.

A proposal to host it at the Whenuapai airbase is considered too difficult because of strict Government conditions.

The Herald understands Mr Cochrane will announce Pukekohe as a short-term measure, offering promoters and organisers time to come up with plans to secure a long-term future.

It is an about-face from the Avesco boss, who maintained that Pukekohe, which has hosted the event since 2000, was no longer suitable.

The source told the Herald: "It's a short-term solution, but at least we are not losing the V8s."

Avesco spokesman Cole Hitchcock said the organisation had been hamstrung by New Zealand and though there were distinct benefits to staging a race here, "we've come up against hurdle after hurdle after hurdle".

However, he refused to be drawn on the nature of today's announcement.

"We are sworn to confidence for a number of reasons," he said.

The announcement could be little more than a stay of execution unless authorities can come up with a suitable hosting alternative.

New Zealand faces stiff competition from countries such as South Africa, Malaysia, and Bahrain, which are all keen to become involved in the series.

David John, Team Kiwi racing boss, said yesterday that if New Zealand lost the chance to host a round of the Supercars championship, motorsport was likely to "stagnate or go backwards".

Supercars were the drawcard of motorsport and were "absolutely critical" to the future of the sport in New Zealand.

"If your home country cannot secure a championship round we would have to look at the viability of being based here."

Team Kiwi, the only New Zealand team competing, was ready with investment in workshops and jobs, but had been waiting for six months to find whether racing would continue here, Mr John said.

"If you've not got the dollars and the punters how do you grow the sport?"

V8 stop-go

* The New Zealand supercar round of the championship will be held in Pukekohe in 2006.

* The event organisers had said the race had outgrown Pukekohe and sought alternatives but plans to stage it as a street race in Auckland were dropped last November.

* Wellington stepped in, but abandoned its plan in May citing problems with resource consents.

* The proposal to use the Whenuapai airbase is considered too difficult with strict Government conditions imposed.