Mud flies in Kapuka 1000
The muddied C U Later Racing car says see you later to the rest of the field during Southland’s version of the Bathurst 1000 motor race.
Yesterday’s annual Kapuka 1000 featured six Holdens and five Fords racing around a paddock track at Mokotua, 20 kilometres east of Invercargill, with teams of five taking turns to drive each car.
The Ford pictured, driven by the CU Later Racing team from the Kapuka area, won the event for the sixth time, continuing their dominance.
The annual event coincides with the famous Bathurst 1000 race in Australia.
When the Kapuka racing was done, the competitors watched the Bathurst race on a big screen TV in a kitted-out shed.
Kapuka 1000 race organiser Craig Williams said the racing was clean but the conditions were dirty.
‘‘Mud was flying around which made it a bit interesting.’’
Craig Lowndes had a dream farewell as a full-time Supercars driver by winning his seventh Bathurst 1000 yesterday, alongside New Zealand-born Steven Richards.
The 44-year-old Lowndes had already confirmed this will be his final year in the main game, although he’ll look to come back as a co-driver.
It had been an emotional week for Lowndes as he took it all in, but surely he must have thought there was only an outside chance of him winning the Great Race once again as a primary driver.
However, win it he did, driving a solid race where he stayed out of trouble and was backed up by superb co-driving stints from Richards.
This was Richards’ fifth victory at the Bathurst 1000 and he’s now just two behind his legendary father and New Zealand motor racing icon, Jim Richards.
It won’t go down as one of the most exciting races at Mount Panorama, with David Reynolds, who started from pole position, looking dominant until overtaken by Lowndes with 27 laps to go.
The drought for a New Zealand primary driver to win the Bathurst 1000 continues, although Scott McLaughlin made it onto the podium for the first time in his career, finishing third with Alex Premat, behind Scott Pye and Warren Luff.
Shane van Gisbergen finished fifth, Chris Pither sixth, Fabian Coulthard ninth, Andre Heimgartner 16th and Richie Stanaway 22nd.
Meanwhile, these results mean McLaughlin has closed van Gisbergen’s lead in the championship from 55 points to 19.