Whakatane driver Clive Thornton put in a storming drive to win the 2008 SFL Woodhill 100 on Sunday June 1, fighting his way through a swarm of the fastest drivers in the sport on the way to his career-biggest win.
The race shaped up to be a battle between the two most successful Woodhill campaigners in the 28-year history of the race, Tony McCall and Ian "Faster" Foster.
Though these two set the early pace, they were both to drop out of the running, McCall's car breaking its Porsche transmission on the second lap and Foster having an "off" in the forest that put him out of contention for the win.
Also out on the second lap was Grant Ferguson, who was third on the road. His car also damaged its transmission.
"Tony and I were very close on speed, but I put it into first for a slow corner and something broke, it was jammed in first gear so that was that."
 Close behind as the early leaders struck trouble were Thornton, Rob Ryan and local racer Rick Sciarone, with ThunderTruck driver Lyndsay Dowler of Kumeu also in the hunt for a podium position.
Thornton seized the lead when he and Rob Ryan went wheel to wheel into a tight corner, the big Australian Southern Cross getting the best of Ryan's self-built single-seater.
"Rob had been holding us up in the rough, which is what this car's built for. Once we got past him I pulled away pretty quickly and established a good lead."
Rick Sciarone in the Maddren Homes Eagle single-seater also got past Ryan in the early laps and ran as high as second but went out on the final lap.
Lyndsay Dowler had forced his crowd-pleasing V8 Toyota Hilux through to chase down Ryan, and was also frustrated not to be able to overtake.
"We were a lot quicker in the rough, which is unusual for a truck like ours – you'd expect an unlimited class buggy to get away from us in the rough under the trees. Then out on the fast roads we just couldn't get close enough to make a good pass."
On one lap, Dowler narrowly avoided overturning the truck on the fast downhill road leading to the start-finish area. Pushing the Lowery Hilux out wide in an attempt to overtake into the braking area, the truck slid sideways into the rough at more than 100 km/h. Dowler said he only avoided rolling by staying hard on the accelerator, letting the truck's four wheel drive claw it back onto the road.
"That was a bit exciting."
Thornton, meanwhile, was extending his lead to more than five minutes over the battle for second.
"By this time we were into lapped traffic, which was a bit of a test. Some of the drivers either didn't hear us behind them or were choosing not to get out of the way, and there aren't a lot of passing places on narrow tracks like these. We did have a bit of contact getting past a few of these guys."
Thornton said the Australian-built Southern Cross two seater was the "perfect' car for a fast but tough enduro like the Woodhill 100. Reliable and strong, it would shrug off the battering conditions where lighter single-seater cars would falter.
"Those guys up front would have been hard to beat if they hadn't broken, but that's what a race like this is about – endurance."
As the race reached its mid-distance, the tussle for second place become a three-way affair between Rick Sciarone, Rob Ryan and Lyndsay Dowler.
In the Leader products Super 1600 class, Richard Crabb of Albany had fitted a new Toyota race engine to his mid-engined single-seater car, and had been aiming to challenge Sciarone, Malcolm Langley of Whakatane and Lindsay Pointon. A damaged fuel cell forced him out, leaving Pointon chasing Sciarone but unable to close in and Langley pursuing Pointon. A late-race rollover put an end to Langley's charge.
Ian Foster had managed to return to the race, and put in a dramatic drive over the final four laps to claw his way back to fourth overall at the finish.
At race end, though, Clive and Max Thornton had dominated the race. They finished more then five minutes clear of eventual second-placed driver Rob Ryan, who still had Lyndsay Dowler hard on his heels in third.
Fourth was Ian Foster, with a safe gap to Lindsay Pointon in fifth.
Shawn Dickins was first the VW 1600-powered Hair Magic Challenger class, while Hamilton's Nigel Newlands won the Lowery Supercutters production truck class and Muriwai's Darryn Bell took out Performance Metalworks class six for modified four wheel drives.
The SFL Woodhill 100 is 28 years old this year, the sport's longest-established and toughest race.
Results, 2008 SFL Woodhill 100
Clive Thornton, Whakatane, 1 (first in Pine Harbour painters class 1)
Rob Ryan, Auckland, 2
Lyndsay Dowler, Kumeu, 3 (first in Performance Metalworks class 8)
Ian Foster, West Auckland, 4
Lindsay Pointon, Auckland, 5 (first in Trevor French Radiators class 3)
MOTOR MOUTH: Have your say!
|
|
| No comments yet for this item. |
|
The views, opinions and content displayed on this webpage are not necessarily those of Pacific Motorsport Limited. Pacific Motorsport Limited takes no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies or omissions.
|
|
|
