Motorsport: Smith back to lead field at Hampton Downs

Racing veteran Ken Smith will head a bumper Tasman Cup Revival Series field at two New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing meetings at Hampton Downs in January.

Smith, who turned 70 this year, broke a bone in his left foot in an accident in November but is already off crutches and will be out of his moonboot just after Christmas.

Smith's Lola T332 was written off in the accident so he will revert to the later model Lola T430 he used to win the past three MSC F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series.

In his 54 consecutive seasons of motor racing Smith has had only three what he terms "serious" accidents, and the one at Manfeild was the first in which he broke a bone.

Despite that, he will drive two cars at the two Hampton Downs meetings. "And I'll tell you what," he said this week. "I can't wait. I'm itching to get back behind the wheel."

Joining him in the MSC NZ F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series races will be 36 other drivers, including Canadian Hamish Somerville and, for the first time, a three-man contingent from the United States.

Somerville is the second Canadian to join the MSC series after Jay Esterer, who has been a regular visitor now for several years. However, bar US-based Australian driver Bruce Leeson, American drivers have been conspicuous by their absence.

That situation has been changed this year by three members of a group which runs a series for F5000 cars in the United States - Seb Coppola, Harin DeSilva and Eric Haga.