By Bob Pearce
Pitstop
Pukekohe Park and its promoters are determined to regain the New Zealand Grand Prix.
Since New Zealand's premier single-seater race was poached by Manfeild early in the 90s and subsequently transferred to Ruapuna near Christchurch, the northerners have hankered after what they consider "their" race.
Now the chance is there and Pukekohe is making every effort to ensure that there are no reasons to take the race elsewhere.
MotorRace New Zealand, the affiliate of the national body which controls the Grand Prix series for Formula Holdens, has always intended that after two years in the South Island it should move north.
Despite strong opposition from the South Island, that course seems likely, particularly as the promotions this season at Teretonga and Ruapuna drew comparatively modest crowds.
Kerry Cooper, the general manager of MotorRace NZ, will not be drawn on which track he favours for the Grand Prix.
All that is certain is that the Holdens will race on November 25 and 26 and December 2 and 3 and that the second meeting will be for the Grand Prix. It is believed Manfeild is happy to run the Denny Hulme race on the first date.
In recent years Pukekohe has been under a cloud because bumps on the front straight have put its international rating in doubt.
Three months out from the Grand Prix it will be inspected by representatives of world motorsport, and Pukekohe general manager Paula Ireland intends that the track will be ready.
"We have resealed part of the front straight and it has been very well received by the drivers," she said. "Now we intend to do the rest, in particular the problem area between the pit crossing and the stable crossing.
"We have had the surveyors in and they are confident we can get rid of the bumps and solve the drainage problems."
Target date is April 17 with four days required to finish the job if the weather is kind. It must be ready for the Northern Sports Car Club's six-hour race on April 29.
The track is so busy these days - it was used 301 days last year - that remedial work must always be slotted into a tight schedule.
Pukekohe has an added incentive to smarten up. IMG, one of the contenders for an Australian V8 Supercar race in Auckland next season, envisages using Pukekohe and the Supercars will not run if the bumps are still there.
Paula Ireland's first concern is the Grand Prix. As she says: "Pukekohe is the home of the Grand Prix. It must come back."
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Hawkes Bay hard man Adam Youren continued his long run in the top echelon of motorcycle cross-country racing when he won the first North Island round of the Suzuki national championship at Huntly over the weekend.
Youren, who has finished in the top three of his championship class for 13 years running, rode a Suzuki RM 250 to victory ahead of Kevin Archer, of Te Kuiti.
Archer was riding a new Suzuki DR-Z400 and won the open four-stroke class.
Lance Sutton, of Drury, on a Kawasaki KLX300 won the four-stroke up to 300cc and Kevin Hermansen from Norsewood took the two-stroke up to 200cc.
Missing from the field was Piopio star Paul Wilson, three times outright winner in this demanding form of two-wheeled sport.
Wilson lost two toes and part of his right foot when a tree fell on it just before Christmas. Earlier last year he had broken his back.
Despite the setbacks Wilson is back on his bike, but not yet fit enough for championship events.
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Television commentator and former Formula One star Martin Brundle has joined the chorus of experts questioning the wisdom of 20-year-old Jenson Button making his debut at the Australian Grand Prix this weekend in Melbourne.
Button, who drove last season in Formula Three, will pilot a Williams in the first race of the season on Sunday.
Brundle, who himself went straight from Formula Three to Formula One, told the Sunday Express: "He is a talented kid with great ability ... However, it is too early for him, not just by a season but by two or three years."
Button had to be chauffeured round the Albert Park circuit on a familiarisation trip, because he is too young to drive a hire car on the open road.
Motorsport: Pukekohe irons out bumps to win back race
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