Rangiora's Chris Cox takes first Suzuki win
Saturday 22 January 2011, 6:14PM
By Suzuki Swift Sport Cup
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The excitement of scoring his first race victory in the Suzuki Swift Sport Cup in Timaru provided a positive element in what has been a tough week for teenage race driver Chris Cox, from Rangiora.
The 18-year-old’s parents were hospitalised after a road crash while travelling to last weekend’s third round of the one-make Suzuki series in Invercargill.
Cox said the ten-lap race on Saturday afternoon was great fun. “All the guys out there are racing brilliantly so I’m pleased to get my first race win after all we’ve been through. I guess it’s only been a matter of time to get everything sorted and to finally get there and take a race win is just fantastic.”
The Suzuki competitors’ three-day race meeting got underway with testing in drizzly conditions on the Thursday and Friday. Seventeen drivers went out for the Friday session, but only 16 were fit to continue running after the Castrol scholarship Suzuki of Christchurch’s Tom Barker suffered a heavy impact with the tyre wall. The 15-year-old’s team assessed the Castrol Edge-Winger Suzuki race car and confirmed Barker’s worst fears: the car was irreparable.
Saturday’s weather was fine and dry as competitors headed out for their 20-minute qualifying session. Upper Hutt’s Jamie Gaskin, in the LG Motorsport Suzuki, took an early hold at the head of the time standings, recording a pole-setting time of 1:16.029 on his fourth lap around the 2.4km circuit. Cox, current series leader Dane Fisher from Auckland, Taurua’s AJ Lauder and Hamilton’s Shane Lawrence rounded out the top five with just over three-tenths of a second separating Gaskin’s and Lawrence’s times.
From a standing start, Saturday afternoon’s ten-lap race got underway relatively cleanly, with Gaskin making a perfectly-judged start. Cox got swamped by AJ Lauder in the run to the first turn with numerous competitors often ‘rubbing’ before each passing manoeuvre. By the third lap Fisher got a run on Lauder to take second and, on the next lap, put together a sharp slingshot pass on the inside of Gaskin to take the lead. Meanwhile Lauder dropped behind Cox, who applied repeated pressure to Gaskin in second, which allowed Fisher to establish a gap in the lead with a eight-car bumper-to-bumper train following. Waiuku’s Rex McCutcheon and Auckland’s Mike Turley got the inside line on Lauder to move up while Gaskin pulled a similar move on Fisher to give Gaskin the lead again. Then Cox put in a well-timed inside line run on Fisher and then Gaskin at the end of the back straight on the last lap to take the lead and run to the chequered flag.
“Once again it was a thrilling race from a field dominated by first-timers here at Timaru,” said Suzuki New Zealand motorsport manager Darren Stevens. “As predicted there was a lot of overtaking with drivers taking advantage of every opportunity. Even the qualifying results hinted at the racing being very close, when you see the first 11 cars were separated by less than a second. To see Chris do so well early on in the series, we can’t be surprised he translated that in to a race win – it’s a great result for him and his family.”
The Suzuki Swift Sport Cup competitors have two more races on Sunday at Timaru with Fisher still leading the series overnight from Turley, Lauder and Lower Hutt’s Grant Ryan. Gaskin’s second place moved him up the championship standings from sixth to fifth.
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Qualifying, Round 4, 2010/11 Suzuki Swift Sport Cup - Timaru
1, Jamie Gaskin, Upper Hutt, Suzuki Swift Sport 1:16.039
2, Chris Cox, Rangiora, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:16.103
3, Dane Fisher, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:16.227
4, AJ Lauder, Turua, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:16.364
5, Shaun Lawrence, Hamilton, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:16.398
6, Mike Turley, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:16.408
7, Rex McCutcheon, Waiuku, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:16.474
8, Mark Gibson, Taupo, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:16.506
9, Brad Lauder, Turua, Suzuki Swift Sport 1:16.812
10, Ben Erickson, Christchurch, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:16.877
11, Grant Ryan, Lower Hutt, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:17.018
12, Marc Spring, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:17.353
13, Daniel Liemburg, Timaru, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:17.383
14, Sam Barry, Takapau, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:17.426
15, Rob Gibson, Taupo, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:17.662
16, Amy Vincent, Papakura, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1:18.829
No time, Tom Barker, Christchurch, Suzuki Swift Sport
Race 1 (10 laps), Round 4, 2010/11 Suzuki Swift Sport Cup - Timaru
1, Chris Cox, Rangiora, Suzuki Swift Sport, 13:02.706
2, Jamie Gaskin, Upper Hutt, Suzuki Swift Sport, +.215
3, Dane Fisher, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, +0.827
4, Mike Turley, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, +1.154
5, AJ Lauder, Turua, Suzuki Swift Sport, +1.796
6, Grant Ryan, Lower Hutt, Suzuki Swift Sport, +3.561
7, Mark Gibson, Taupo, Suzuki Swift Sport, +3.744
8, Ben Erickson, Christchurch, Suzuki Swift Sport, +3.995
9, Marc Spring, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, +7.559
10, Shaun Lawrence, Hamilton, Suzuki Swift Sport, +10.126
11, Rob Gibson, Taupo, Suzuki Swift Sport, +11.446
12, Rex McCutcheon, Waiuku, Suzuki Swift Sport, +30.843
13, Amy Vincent, Papakura, Suzuki Swift Sport, +1:02.285
14, Sam Barry, Takapau, Suzuki Swift Sport, 2 laps
15, Daniel Liemburg, Timaru, Suzuki Swift Sport, +11.019
16, Brad Lauder, Turua, Suzuki Swift Sport, +30.634
Suzuki Swift Sport Cup calendar 2010/2011
Round Date Venue Inviting Club
1 5-7 November 2010 Pukekohe NZIGP Inc
2 26-28 November 2010 Ruapuna Canterbury Car Club Inc
3 14-16 January 2011 Teretonga Southland Sports Car Club Inc
4 20-23 January 2011 Timaru South Canterbury Car Club Inc
5 11-13 February 2011 Manfeild Manawatu Car Club Inc
6 11-13 March 2011 Taupo Taupo Car Club Inc