New Zealand’s richest prize in motorsport was paid out last weekend when the final round of the ASKO Appliances SI Endurance Series wrapped up at Levels Raceway in Timaru.

Graeme Rhodes and Paul Rickerby of Markhams Racing took out the 3501 cc+ Class 1 series with a position of eighth overall in the final round in their Mazda RX7 V8. An excellent result for a new team! The other main contenders for the win, Bruce Davidson and Dave Garden in a Chev C5 Corvette, retired from the race, leaving second place in the series to John Wadsworth and Warren Croft.

Meanwhile, the overall winners of the third and final round of the ASKO Appliances SI Endurance Series were Paul Kelly and Kevin Bell in their Porsche 997 GT3 – a feat that earned them a clean sweep across the series. Saturday’s win was undoubtedly their toughest. Kelly and Bell took the lead for the final time just four minutes from the end of the race – when the Ferrari F430 of Craig Innes (Taupo) and Sam MacNeill (Palmerston North) struggled with a vibration thought to be a damaged wheel bearing. Good tactics earlier in the race, when they went into the pit just 43 minutes into the race during a safety car period, had put them a lap ahead of the field. But another safety car period allowed Bell to make up the difference and when racing resumed he caught Innes and took the win by just 3.567 seconds. As well as a cheque for $10,000, Kelly and Bell were awarded the South Canterbury Toyota Cup.

Meanwhile the 2001 – 3500 cc Class 2 (and the spot prize of an original watercolor painting by Norman Sinclair valued at $10,000) was won by Shane Helms and Rob Bolland of Auckland in their BMW.  

The 0 – 2000 cc Classes 3 & 4 were won by Steve Parker and Matt Jackson in their Honda S2000.

Levels Raceway Timaru was the setting for the final round of the ASKO Appliances SI Endurance Series last weekend; another new track for both of us. Again, more You Tube in-car videos helped us prepare. Can be a little disconcerting when the first videos contain the most spectacular accidents, though! You Tube can’t prepare you for the tight nature of the circuit with the very technical infield section having us scratching our heads over the best driving lines for most of Friday’s practice. Once again the weather gods smiled on us, with rain threatening but staying away on race day. We qualified the car in 11th amongst our V8 competitors but behind the front-running 911s and the beautiful Ferrari 430 Challenge car. This track seemed to really suit the 911s with their mid-corner speed advantage proving frustrating for us. We got our own back on the straights, where there is no substitute for horsepower, of course, but the straights are modest at Levels, meaning we had to be patient and realistic about what was possible. We worked our way through to 8th and held this position through to the end. The car, planned pit stop, crew and drivers all did their thing with no hiccups – brilliant! Not quite such a surprise when you think of the heroes who have helped us – Wayne (and son Mike) as crew chief, Brent our mechanic, Grant the engineering guru, and Graeme and Mark from AMT Mechanical Ltd, as well as George from Charton International and all of our sponsors and helpers over the various rounds. And we can’t forget Andy Neale who got us into this adventure in the first place.

8th was good enough to clean-sweep all three rounds in our class and finish 4th overall in the series. A big thanks to everyone who helped us, especially our very patient principal sponsor – Markhams – thanks guys!

This Saturday, Levels Raceway in Timaru plays host to the third and final round of the 2011 ASKO Appliances South Island Endurance Series. It’s going to be an exciting event, with the $30,000 dash for cash to be decided, and the South Canterbury Car Club has come to the party and made gate entry free!

Markhams Racing is currently leading Class 1 (the 3501 cc and above), with the RX7 V8 driven by Graeme Rhodes and Paul Rickerby edging out Bruce Davidson and Dave Garden in their C5 Corvette and John Wadsworth and Warren Croft in their VY Commodore, but it’s a race to the finish because the class could still be won by any of these teams.

Perry Scarfe and Stu Black in their XR8 Ute and Dean Perkins and Grant Silvester in their BA Falcon are also dangerous. With engine failures in previous races, both will be seeking the redemption of a class win. The Supra-powered Levin driven by Craig and Scotty McDermid has yet to really fire in this series.

With the richest prize money pool in New Zealand Motorsport up for grabs – a total of $30,000! – Saturday 15 October is going to be an exciting day. As well as a cheque for $10,000, the overall three-hour series champion will be awarded the ‘South Canterbury Toyota Cup’ and there are also numerous other trophies, prizes and awards for the series. 

It’s all on tomorrow, so make sure you get down to Timaru and support the team!

For more information on the ASKO Appliances SI Endurance Series, visit www.facebook.com/southislandenduranceseries.

Paul Kelly and Kevin Bell, and their Porsche 997 GT3, have raised the bar high with a second win in the ASKO Appliances SI Endurance Series. After winning the opening round at Teretonga, last weekend they achieved another victory, winning the second round of the series on their home circuit at Powerbuilt Ruapuna raceway in Christchuch.

But Saturday’s victory didn’t come without a battle! They were challenged at Ruapuna by newcomers Craig Innes of Taupo and Sam MacNeill of Palmerston North. Driving a Ferrari F430, they battled it out with the Porsche throughout the first hour of the race. Kelly and Bell gradually pulled away, however, and were two laps ahead by the end of the race. In third place was the father and son team of Mike and Seadon Baker in a Porsche 997 GT3.

Gary Cliff and Hayden Knighton in their Porsche GT3 were fourth across the line, sneaking in ahead of Paul Rickerby and Graeme Rhodes who took fifth place in their V8 Mazda RX7 (beating out reigning series champions Allan Dippie and Grant Aitken in their Porsche GT3). For Paul and Graeme, this placing meant clinching Class 1 (3501 cc and above) honours once again!

Also in the top ten were Peter Van Eekelen and Kane Lawson (Porsche 996 GT3), Arron Black and Warren Good (BMW E46), Bruce Davidson and David Garden (Chev Corvette C5) and Brent Esler and Andy Neale (BMW M3).

The Ruapuna round of the ASKO Appliances SI Endurance Series was an eventful one, with the safety car coming out after the Porsche 997 GT3 driven by Lindsay and Matt O’Donnell went off the circuit late in the race and mechanical issues for a number of teams.

This coming weekend the series takes a break for Bathurst and it resumes again for the third and final round at Levels Raceway in Timaru on 15^th October 2011.

For more information on the ASKO Appliances SI Endurance Series, visit www.facebook.com/southislandenduranceseries.

ASKO Appliances Overall Points
1^st Kelly/Bell – Porsche 997 GT3 – 180 points
2^nd= Dippie/Aitken – Porsche 996 GT3 – 129 points
2^nd= Baker/Baker – Porsche 997 GT3 – 129 points
4^th Rhodes/Rickerby – RX7 V8 – 128 points
5^th Esler/Neale – BMW M3 GTR – 123 points
6^th Davidson/Garden – Chev Corvette – 111 points

GT Class
1^st Kelly/Bell – Porsche 997 GT3 – 180 points
2^nd Baker/Baker – Porsche 997 GT3 – 144 points
3^rd Dippie/Aitken – Porsche 996 GT3 – 139 points 

Class 1 (3501 cc +)
1^st Rhodes/Rickerby – RX7 V8 – 180 points
2^nd Davidson/Garden – Corvette C5 – 164 points
3^rd Wadsworth/Croft – VY Commodore – 135 points

Class 2 (2001 – 3500 cc)
1^st Esler/Neale – BMW M3 GTR – 172 points
2^nd Helms/Bolland – BMW M3 – 139 points
3^rd Good/Black – BMW E36 – 105 points 

Class 3 & 4 (0 – 2000 cc)
1^st Parker/Jackson – Honda S2000 – 180 points
2^nd Sinclair/Ham – Puegeot 106 – 164 points
3^rd Driver/Parmenter – Integra – 20 points

After the unfamiliarity of Teretonga, it was great to return to something we knew – Powerbuilt Ruapuna – on Saturday for the second round of the ASKO Appliances South Island Endurance Series. We qualified the car in 13^th place which was a little disappointing, but our crew chief Wayne reminded us that the car was sporting some well-used tyres (felt like it) and was full of some 100 kg of extra fuel (feels like a swimming pool sloshing around behind you). We did also have a mechanical issue in that we were still suffering a bad shudder through the front under hard breaking. Because the Ruapuna track has a lot more slow-speed corners, the breaking effort required is a lot harder than Invercargill and we were concerned that the car would be hard work. Bert had tried all avenues to track down the shudder and we had concluded that it was the brake pads. We hooked up a new set of Project-Mu brake pads and hoped this would cure it.

Everything went to plan for the first half of the race, with us slowly moving through the field, and we were 5^th at the halfway point. We maintained this through to the end, being beaten only by Porsche and Ferrari factory race cars. The car’s braking did prove to be problematic, with a violent shudder slowly getting worse as the race went on (this week’s job to sort), but we won our class and a trophy for first V8 home. We are now 4^th overall on points and are absolutely stoked! The final round is at Levels Raceway in Timaru on the 15^th of October.