Fisher takes lead in Suzuki series

Round three: 2010/2011 Suzuki Swift Sport Cup – The Zoagn 500 – Teretonga Park, Invercargill 14 – 16 January 2011.
Fisher takes lead in Suzuki series

An eventful weekend of racing in the Suzuki Swift Sport Cup at Southland’s Teretonga circuit resulted in Dane Fisher taking over the championship lead and end fellow Aucklander Mike Turley’s early season dominance.

The third round of the one-make Suzuki series saw the 1600cc Suzuki field in action at the world’s most southern race circuit, outside Invercargill over the weekend of 15 and 16 January. Fine, cool and windy conditions on the Saturday become blustery and increasingly wet throughout Sunday.

New series leader Fisher turned a mid-field qualifying position into a race victory in during Saturday evening’s 30-lap mini-enduro race – the first race of its kind for the popular small car class – courtesy of a swift pit-stop from his Winger Suzuki crew. That race win set the 31-year-old general manager up to secure a second placing in Sunday morning’s 10-lapper, and he rounded out the weekend with a solid performance in the reverse grid 22-lapper, finishing eighth among the 17 competitors.

“It was an interesting weekend,” said Fisher. “I’ve only had two seasons with Suzuki and two round wins – both times here at Teretonga. So I came in here pretty confident about the weekend. Things couldn’t have gone any better; the Winger Suzuki team did an amazing job in the endurance race pit-stop, which helped me with the first race win. And then in the second race it was clean sailing. Then in the final I just had to bring it home – in horrific conditions.

“Overall if you said me if I could have come out with the lead I would always say I’d give it a go but to be at the other end of it I’m pretty ecstatic. It’s a great thanks to Trinity Media and Placemakers for their help in making it happen this weekend.”

Early indications were that Turley would continue his top run of form when the Coatesville-based driver set the quickest lap time during qualifying. Lining up beside Turley on the front row for the endurance race was Lower Hutt’s Grant Ryan. Two 15-year-olds had the second row – Castrol Suzuki scholarship winner Tom Barker, from Christchurch, and LG Motorsport’s Jamie Gaskin, from Lower Hutt – while eventual race winner Fisher started in tenth.

Turley and Ryan led the 30-lapper initially, with Barker and then Fisher entering the fray for the lead. Having to cope with strong winds, the 17 competitors were continually swapping places, at times running four-wide down Teretonga’s long front straight. Barker briefly took the lead in the latter stages, but was then passed by Fisher and Ryan the run to the chequered flag.

Fisher commented: “With four laps to go there was a bit of argy bargy, with guys making silly mistakes that allowed me to come through and take the win.”

Sunday morning’s race, with Fisher on pole, saw brisk winds dry the circuit from overnight rain. Ryan got the run on Fisher into Teretonga’s infamous left-handed turn one sweeper, and the resultant pressure down the field ejected Timaru’s Daniel Liemburg and he hit the tyre wall with force, resulting in a three-lap safety car period. At the restart Turley ran three-wide around the leaders entering turn one, before running wide and in to the gravel trap. With the safety car out again, Turley was retrieved before the second restart which saw Christchurch’s Ben Erickson take an early advantage to eventually lead home Ryan and Fisher.

Race three on Sunday afternoon started in heavy rain. Gaskin, in the LG-ZM Suzuki, was on pole with Liemburg alongside. The entire field safely negotiated the first turn, with Taupo’s Rob Gibson moving to second as Gaskin established a comfortable lead. Then Gibson lost second to Takapau’s Sam Barry before both Barry and Gaskin spun, leaving the lead to Gibson. However, then Gibson made a mistake that allowed Turua’s AJ Lauder, Auckland’s Marc Spring and Hamilton’s Shaun Lawrence through. After Spring slid into the tyre wall, Lauder and Lawrence duelled down the front straight for the lead in to the last lap, with Lawrence making one final pass to take his first race win.

In the championship standings, Fisher tops the table with 539 points with early season leader Turley now in second with 536 points. AJ Lauder moves into third, with Ryan and Lawrence rounding out the top five.

Suzuki New Zealand motorsport manager Darren Stevens commented: “The changes on the championship points-table show the talent that’s within the class in a sense. They all went out there, they focused, and they understood the conditions. The weekend result again shows how close the racing is. Just when Mike Turley seemed to have the measure of the field again early this weekend it all changes and a lot of that is credited to the teams and drivers with how they conducted themselves in Saturday’s endurance race.”

The Suzuki Swift Sport Cup has another round of racing next weekend as the series heads to Timaru and the popular Levels Raceway for three more races.
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Race 1 (30 laps), Round 3, 2010/11 Suzuki Swift Sport Cup
1, Dane Fisher, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, 43:04.206
2, Grant Ryan, Lower Hutt, Suzuki Swift Sport, +2.411
3, Shaun Lawrence, Hamilton, Suzuki Swift Sport, +2.737
4, Tom Barker, Christchurch, Suzuki Swift Sport, +3.015
5, Mike Turley, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, +3.811
6, Marc Spring, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, +5.457
7, Chris Cox, Rangiora, Suzuki Swift Sport, +7.664
8, Sam Barry, Takapau, Suzuki Swift Sport, +13.488
9, Amy Vincent, Papakura, Suzuki Swift Sport, +17.931
10, AJ Lauder, Turua, Suzuki Swift Sport, +17.992
11, Rex McCutcheon, Waiuku, Suzuki Swift Sport, +39.818
12, Rob Gibson, Taupo, Suzuki Swift Sport, 2 laps
Not classified as finishers
13, Jamie Gaskin, Upper Hutt, Suzuki Swift Sport (completed only 16 laps)
DNF, Brad Lauder, Turua, Suzuki Swift Sport (out lap 30)
DNF, Ben Erickson, Christchurch, Suzuki Swift Sport (out lap 28)
DNF, Daniel Liemburg, Timaru, Suzuki Swift Sport (out lap 27)
DQ, Mark Gibson, Taupo, Suzuki Swift Sport

Race 2 (10 laps), Round 3, 2010/11 Suzuki Swift Sport Cup
1, Ben Erickson, Christchurch, Suzuki Swift Sport, 16:58.336
2, Dane Fisher, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, +0.877
3, Grant Ryan, Lower Hutt, Suzuki Swift Sport, +0.880
4, Marc Spring, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, +1.285
5, Rex McCutcheon, Waiuku, Suzuki Swift Sport, +3.969
6, AJ Lauder, Turua, Suzuki Swift Sport, +4.648
7, Rob Gibson, Taupo, Suzuki Swift Sport, +5.288
8, Jamie Gaskin, Upper Hutt, Suzuki Swift Sport, +5.344
9, Mark Gibson, Taupo, Suzuki Swift Sport, +5.530
10, Chris Cox, Rangiora, Suzuki Swift Sport, +6.179
11, Amy Vincent, Papakura, Suzuki Swift Sport, +6.992
12, Brad Lauder, Turua, Suzuki Swift Sport, +10.507
13, Sam Barry, Takapau, Suzuki Swift Sport, +22.917
14, Mike Turley, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1 lap
Not classified as finishers
DNF, Tom Barker, Christchurch, Suzuki Swift Sport
16, Shaun Lawrence, Hamilton, Suzuki Swift Sport (out lap 6)
17, Daniel Liemburg, Timaru, Suzuki Swift Sport (out lap 1)

Race 3 (12 laps, reverse grid), Round 3, 2010/11 Suzuki Swift Sport Cup
1, Shaun Lawrence, Hamilton, Suzuki Swift Sport, 17:56.639
2, AJ Lauder, Turua, Suzuki Swift Sport, +0.208
3, Rob Gibson, Taupo, Suzuki Swift Sport, +1.302
4, Jamie Gaskin, Upper Hutt, Suzuki Swift Sport, +1.372
5, Grant Ryan, Lower Hutt, Suzuki Swift Sport, +2.856
6, Mike Turley, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, +3.078
7, Mark Gibson, Taupo, Suzuki Swift Sport, +3.495
8, Dane Fisher, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, +7.650
9, Chris Cox, Rangiora, Suzuki Swift Sport, +8.155
10, Tom Barker, Christchurch, Suzuki Swift Sport, +18.636
11, Rex McCutcheon, Waiuku, Suzuki Swift Sport, +31.167
12, Amy Vincent, Papakura, Suzuki Swift Sport, +47.222
13, Ben Erickson, Christchurch, Suzuki Swift Sport, 1 lap
14, Brad Lauder, Turua, Suzuki Swift Sport, +1:09.375
15, Sam Barry, Takapau, Suzuki Swift Sport, +1:32.013
16, Marc Spring, Auckland, Suzuki Swift Sport, 2 laps
Not classified as a finisher
17, Daniel Liemburg, Timaru, Suzuki Swift Sport (out lap 7)
Suzuki Swift Sporting Cup points – after round three of six.
Pos Name Hometown Total
1,Dane Fisher,Auckland,539
2,Mike Turley,Auckland,536
3,A.J. Lauder,Turua,505
4,Grant Ryan,Lower Hutt,499
5,Shaun Lawrence,Hamilton,404
6,Marc Spring,Auckland,388
7,Jamie Gaskin,Upper Hutt,384
8,Mark Gibson,Taupo,380
9,Rex McCutcheon,Waiuku,375
10,Chris Cox,Rangiora,350
11,Tom Barker,Christchurch,313
12,Rob Gibson,Taupo,298
13,Sam Barry,Takapau,295
14,Amy Vincent,Papakura,268
15,Brad Lauder,Turua,223
16,Daniel Liemburg,Timaru,188
17,Ben Erickson,Christchurch,183
18,Allan Jarvis,Brisbane,151
19,Ryan Bailey,Auckland,135

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

About the cars:
Road legal, the identical Suzuki Swift cars in the Suzuki Swift Sport Cup are fitted with additional safety equipment (roll-cage, seats, belts, fire extinguisher), performance suspension, brake pads and front differential. Utilising the standard engine computer, they produce 92kW power at 6800rpm with 148Nm torque at 4800rpm from the 1600cc engine (1586cc).
With a minimum weight of 1125kg, the cars have no other modifications, with teams only able to make minor adjustments to suspension alignment to optimise handling and performance for the track and/or conditions. Each team is allocated the use of four Dunlop Direzza 03G (R spec) 215 / 45 – 17”road tyres for each race weekend.

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