“The New Zealand organisers saw that with Covid it would be very difficult, and they called it a day early on. “We’re very pleased to be back. The rally is the third round of the New Zealand rally championship. “We’ve got 10 stages. We used to have 11 but 10 is easier to handle. The final stage will be at Levels which everyone thinks is awesome.” The make-up of the stages could be tweaked but, subject to council approval, the first would be held on McKinnon Rd near Temuka. The club said property owners who would be affected had been consulted.
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The regatta was expected to start on Tuesday for more than 800 rowers but due to Covid-19 restrictions the lake area was declared off limits and the rowing course, which would normally be thronged with rowers and supporters, was left almost deserted. “The hardest part has not knowing what was going to happen,” Milne said. Craighead’s Elsie Talbot will contest the first race of the day, on Thursday, an intermediate single scull and then Milne said it would be non-stop action through to about 5pm. “All the heats will be rowed on the first day, the semi-finals and repecharges all Friday with the finals on Saturday.”
Bejon Haswell/Stuff
Troy Wheeler follows Tony Brand through a corner closely in the Super Trucks class at the Thunder Down Under.
Thousands of people gathered at Levels Raceway for a taste of the annual Thunder Down Under meeting that organisers are calling a record breaker. South Canterbury Car Club president Kevin Pateman estimated 8000 people turned over the two days with a record 210 entries in saloons, F1600, Pre 65, NZ6/Mazda RX7 and RX8, Mainland Muscle Cars, SS Cup, Mini 7, 2K Cup, OSCA and the popular Super Truck classes. “It was a massive turnout, fantastic, given the environment we are living in, it was reflected in our spectator attendance.
He has raced every year in Timaru since Super Truck Racing started 20 years ago. “Timaru always supported us when our numbers were low. They helped keep the sport going.” Wheeler has won the New Zealand Super Truck championship for the past five years and leads the championship this season on 62 points after the first round at Manfeild. Timaru is the second round with the last two rounds at Teretonga and Ruapuna in March. Racing Super Trucks, he says, all comes down to reliability. The monster trucks have to be operational otherwise any championship hopes go out the window. “Reliability is the big thing with trucks. You can’t afford to drop a race to let the others catch up.