Quote:
Originally Posted by brendonwood1
Finally, there was in December-January there was a four round New Zealand Touring Car Championship held over December 1985-January 1986.
Round 1 was at Baypark and was won by Trevor Crowe (BMW 635CSi) from Graeme Cameron in the Petch Volvo.
Round 2 was a Pukekohe in support of the New Zealand Grand Prix. The evolution version of the Commodore VK was homologated and Graeme Bowkett took pole and won ahead of Crowe and Cameron.
Round 3 was at Manfield. Francevic was back in the Volvo and diced throughout with Bowkett in the Commodore before the Volvo got through to win.
Round 4 was at Wigram in support of the Lady Wigram Trophy meeting. There were two heats, with Crowe and Bowkett winning one heat each.
Of interest, David Oxton debuted the ex-Rouse Sierra during the series. Although the Raceyear annual doesn't mention this, I remember that Oxton got at least one pole.
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Thanks to the Dunlop Book of New Zealand Motorsport and the Bathurst 1986/87 yearbook, I now have extensive results of the NZ Touring Car Championship. So I have now put it in table form as follows:
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29-12-1985 Baypark Park Round 1 New Zealand Touring Car Championship |
Pole: David Oxton Ford Sierra XR4Ti |
Results: |
1st Trevor Crowe BMW 635CSi |
2nd Graeme Bowkett Holden Commodore VK |
3rd Graeme Cameron Volvo 240 Turbo |
4th Graeme Crosby BMW 635CSi. |
The Sierra's turbo blew on the warm up lap, so Oxton was a did not start.
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05-01-1986 Pukekohe Round 2 New Zealand Touring Car Championship |
Pole: Graeme Bowkett Holden Commodore VK Evo |
Results |
1st Graeme Bowkett Holden Commodore VK Evo |
2nd Trevor Crowe BMW 635CSi |
3rd Graeme Cameron Volvo 240 Turbo |
4th Graeme Crosby BMW 635CSi |
5th Charlie O'Brien BMW 635CSi |
Oxton qualified the Sierra second for this race and ran second until a half-shaft broke.
The race saw the Evolution Commodore VK take pole and win on its World Debut.
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12-01-1986 Manfeild Round 3 New Zealand Touring Car Championship |
Pole: Robbie Francevic Volvo 240 Turbo |
Results |
1st Robbie Francevic Volvo 240 Turbo |
2nd Graeme Bowkett Holden Commodore VK Evo |
3rd Denis Hulme Holden Commodore VK Evo |
4th Trevor Crowe BMW 635CSi |
Mark Petch and Robbie Francevic agreed that the "order had to be restored", so Francevic was back in the Volvo for this race. This was the most exciting race of the series, with the Francevic and Bowkett exchanging paint several times in their battle for the lead.
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19-01-1986 Wigram Round 4 New Zealand Touing Car Championship |
Pole: Graeme Bowkett Holden Commodore VK Evo* (needs confirmation) |
Results Heat 1 |
1st Trevor Crowe BMW 635CSi |
2nd Graeme Bowkett Holden Commodore VK Evo |
3rd David Oxton Ford Sierra XR4Ti |
Results Heat 2 |
1st Graeme Bowkett Holden Commodore VK Evo |
2nd Trevor Crowe BMW 635CSi |
3rd David Oxton Ford Sierra XR4Ti |
Many teams skipped this race due to the fact it was just a week before the Nissan Mobil 500 at Wellington. Oxton finally found some reliability and finished both heats on the podium.