THERE WAS THUNDER IN THE SKY AND LIGHTNING ON THE TRACK FOR ROUND FOUR OF THE ENZED CENTRAL MUSCLE CARS CHAMPIONSHIP AT PUKEKOHE

On a hot and humid afternoon, 23 of these muscle cars returned to Pukekohe Park Raceway. It was great to see the Greg Honnor Mustang back — it was shortened at the last round. It was also good to see Steve Ross in his VK Commodore. However, with the absence of Dr John Elliott in the Torana; Bruce Anderson in the ITM Mustang, due to engine issues; and Colin Meadows’ pristine Camaro, it was a reduced field that perched on the grid waiting for the green. On pole was Dean Perkins’ Falcon, with Shane Wigston in the HQ riding shotgun. Perkins took the inside on turn one, Wigston having a big moment coming in too hot on the outside and nudging Perkins, putting them both off the track; miraculously, both came back on task. With everyone else finishing the first lap unfettered, Perkins had the race lead, followed by Wigston, Honnor, and Clarke Hopkins. By the end of the back straight, Honnor had driven around the outside of Wigston under brakes. John Midgley in the XE Falcon was holding hard in fifth place, with Tony Galbraith in the Charger grasping the back of the Falcon. First of the Group 2 cars were the Camaros of Tristan Teki and Mark Holland. Ross Graham in the Torana pulled off into pit lane with gear-stick trouble, followed by Rick van Swet with an overheating Camaro and Tony Barrow experiencing clutch problems in the VL Commodore. By midway through the race, Honnor was not letting Perkins get away easily; he set the fastest lap of the race — 1.08.8 — in hot pursuit of the lead. Hopkins sat, waiting to capitalize on any Wigston error, as David Hopper in the US Army– tribute Camaro held out Ross in the Commodore. A right-royal battle of Group 2 muscle developed: Teki struggling to keep ahead of Holland; another Camaro pedaller, Bruce Kett, desperate to keep Steve Noyer’s immaculate Mustang firmly in his rear-view mirror; and Steve Scoles’ Camaro not too far yonder. The Falcon of Greg Holden yielded through Jennian to let the faster John Mills Camaro through, realizing this Group 1 car was going a couple of seconds per lap quicker. Holland climbed up the order after passing Teki, and was soon sitting several car lengths behind Ross as he stepped up the pace. With a couple of laps to go, Perkins was well and truly in control of the race as he increased his lead from Honnor, and the lapping of the slower cars began. Mills kept on the charge to keep Andrew Sinclair in the Chickadee-replica Commodore from gaining on him. On the last lap, after Honnor dropped oil on his