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SI Endurance Series FINAL Ruapuna 2009
Auckland brothers Matt and Dwayne Carter won the 2009 South Island Endurance Series when the final round took place at Ruapuna Raceway, in Christchurch on Saturday. It was a very close finish however in a day of high drama at the Canterbury circuit. The duo were on target to take an easy race win plus the title as they dominated the Southern 300 in their Ford Falcon V8 Supercar, building a massive seven-lap lead until disaster struck just minutes from the chequered flag. A blown gearbox in the final moments cost them the race, allowing the Christchurch duo of Gary Cliff and Hayden Knighton in a Porsche 911 to snatch a last minute victory by just over 17 seconds from Lindsay O'Donnell and Mark Dwyer in another Porsche. Dunedin duo Warren Good and Arron Black capped a good drive in their BMW with third place. The Carters believed that their failure to complete the race had cost them the championship but disappointment turned to elation when they discovered at the prizegiving that they were indeed the 2009 South Island Endurance Champions. Once the dust had settled it transpired that the Carters, Scott O'Donnell of Invercargill and the Christchurch based team of Dale and Dennis Chapman were all tied on 182 points. A countback was employed to find a winner and while both the Carters and O'Donnell had each taken one victory and one second placing a further countback was used to separate them, the tightest of series finally going to the Carter pairing. O'Donnell had been in second place in the race when the clutch failed on his Porsche RSR after coming into the round equal on points with the Carter car. Meanwhile the Chapmans had been consistent throughout the series and ironically could have taken the championship had it not been for a pitstop that went wrong during Saturday's race. Dale Chapman brought the BMW into the pits only to find Dennis was not ready. The resulting delay cost the team the championship as they finished 8th, 2.8 seconds behind the 7th placed car. Had they been able to gain one more place then the series would have been theirs. To further demonstrate how close it was Bruce Davidson/David Garden in their Chev C5 Corvette were just one point behind the tied trio. Series secretary Chris Dunn summed if up perfectly when he said the series was "tight coming into the round and even tighter as they came out of it." However it was difficult to deny the Carter team. They were on track to blitz the race records for laps covered at both Teretonga and Ruapuna during the series only to be thwarted on each occasion. At Teretonga the race was shortened after a crash and of course at Ruapuna they failed to finish. Ironically, despite their late race retirement at Ruapuna, they still covered one more lap than the eventual winners. The brothers were also under the endurance lap records at every circuit in practice and qualifying. Several drivers had arrived at the final round with a chance of taking the overall series but the two main protaganists were the Falcon V8 Supercar of Matt/Dwayne Carter and the Porsche RSR of Scott O'Donnell, paired again for this round with Andy Neale of Christchurch. The Carters and O'Donnell arrived at the finale with 182 points each and the anticipation of a showdown was further increased when the two cars qualified side by side on the front row, the Falcon on pole and the Porsche alongside. From the rolling start the Falcon, with Dwayne at the wheel, romped away to a huge lead looking to build a gap to allow for an extra pitstop. Scott O'Donnell was chasing in second place although the Porsche was suffering from a slipping clutch. The Porsche was in the pits after 22 laps, and although it returned to the race briefly it retired soon after due to the problem. Already out at that stage was the Wadsworth/Croft Commodore, a seized oil pump ending its race after just seven laps. Behind the Falcon and initially, O'Donnell in the Porsche, there had been some good racing between the Corvette of Bruce Davidson/David Garden, the Lindsay O'Donnell/Mark Dwyer Porsche GT3, Cliff/Knighton, Craig McDermid/Evan Thomas in the Toyota Levin and Allan Dippie/Stephen Grellet in another Porsche GT3. Lindsay O'Donnell worked his way through to third ahead of Grant Williams in his Mazda RX7, the leader of the one-hour race. McDermid/Thomas were next ahead of Davidson/Garden, Cliff/Knighton, Dippie/Grellet, the Chapman BMW and Good/Black. The Lindsay O'Donnell Porsche was second after the demise of his nephew Scott's car while McDermid/Thomas had a stint in third followed by Davidson, Cliff and Dippie. Cliff climbed his way to third place soon after while Dippie too was climbing his way through the pack. The Toyota of Patrick Heagney/Scott McDermid began blowing smoke at around the 30 lap mark and eventually retired with a gearbox problem. On lap 44 Carter put two laps on the Lindsay O'Donnell Porsche before pitting shortly after at the 1 hour 8 minute mark. Matt Carter took the wheel and the Falcon retained the lead. Meanwhile the good run of McDermid/Thomas came to an end due to a wheel bearing problem. At the halfway mark came a flurry of pitstops. Lindsay O'Donnell was one of the first to stop, handing over to Mark Dwyer. Then the Davidson/Garden Corvette took their stop followed by Dippie/Grellet and Cliff/Knighton. When the order settled Carter still had a healthy lead from Cliff/Knighton, Davidson/Garden, Dippie/Grelllet, Chapman/Chapman, Lindsay O'Donnell/Mark Dwyer, Good/Black, Matthew O'Donnell/Lee Dwyer, the McFarlane Toyota Altezza and Chris Adams/Dave Stewart. The Matthew O'Donnell/Lee Dwyer BMW was out with a broken halfshaft after 71 laps while Lindsay O'Donnell/Mark Dwyer had the Porsche climbing again to be in third after the two hour mark behind Carter and Cliff. The race looked set to run its course but the final drama awaited the Carter Falcon. The Cliff/Knighton Porsche crossed the line for an unexpected win followed by Lindsay O'Donnell/Mark Dwyer and Good/Black. Dippie/Grellet were fourth followed by Angus & George McFarlane with Davidson/Garden in sixth. The Carters also won the GT Class while the Class 1 (3501cc & over) went to Davidson/Garden. The Chapmans had the Class 2 (2001-3500cc) sewn up prior to the final round while another BMW, that of Good/Black won the Class 3 (0-2000cc). Ken Sinclair/Dennis Ham won the McFarlane Group Class 4 for cars of 0-1600cc. The One Hour Race Series, which has been run in conjunction with the 3 Hour Series, went to Dave McLean of Gore from Stu Black of Dunedin. The Williams/Buist Mazda RX7 took the Class 1 (3501cc & over) title while the Classic Porsche 911 SC of Roger Carter won the Class 2 (2001-3500cc). McLean took the Class 3 (1601-2000cc) title while the Class 4 (0-1600cc) went to Stu Black. The 1 Hour race had seen the Mazda RX7 of Christchurch pair Grant Williams and Brent Buist take victory by two laps from Jeremy Grice of Christchurch in his Subaru Legacy. Dave McLean of Gore was third in his Honda Integra earning him the overall 1 Hour Series. Stuart Black of Dunedin was fourth in his Toyota Starlet followed by Graham Rhodes/Paul Rickerby of Christchurch in a Mazda RX7 and Nelson's Dougal McGibbon in a Toyota Starlet. Final Points: Overall points 1st Carter/Carter - BA Supercar - 182 points 2nd Scott O'Donnell - Porsche GT3 RSR - 182 points 3rd Chapman/Chapman - BMW - 182 points 4th Davidson/Garden - Chev Corvette - 181 points 5th Gary Cliff/Hayden Knighton - 175 points 6th Scarfe/S Black - Falcon Ute - 173 points
1st Carter/Carter - BA Supercar - 182 points 2nd S O'Donnell/O'Donnell - Porsche RSR - 182 points 3rd Cliff/Knighton - Porsche 996T 4WD - 175 points
Class 1 (3501cc +) 1st= Davidson/Garden - Corvette C5 - 242 points 2nd Scarfe/Black - Ford XR8 Ute - 234 points 3rd Wadsworth/Croft - VY Commodore - 175 points
Class 2 (2001 - 3500cc) 1st Chapman/Chapman - BMW SuperTourer - 265 points 2nd Helms/Bolland - BMW E30 - 114 points 3rd= Heagney/McDermid - Toyota Sprinter - 67 points 3rd= Petrie/Petrie - Subaru WRX - 67
Class 3 (0-2000cc) 1st Good/Black - BMW 320i - 150 points 2nd - Sinclair/Ham - Peugeot - 67 points 3rd Greenslade/Murphy - Datsun S2000 - 20 points
Class 4 (0-1600) 1st - Sinclair/Ham - Peugeot - 75 points 2nd - Collinson/Ryan - Corolla - 0 points
One Hour Race Series - Overall points 1st McLean - Honda Integra - 155 points 2nd S Black - Toyota Starlet - 141 points 3rd MacGibbon - Starlet S2000 - 119 points 4th Carter - Porsche 911 - 108 points 5th Dawson/Dawson - Toyota Starlet - 80 points 6th Williams/Buist - Mazda RX7 - 75 points
Class 1 (3501cc & over) 1st Williams/Buist - Mazda RX7 - 75 points 2nd Grice - Subaru Legacy - 67 points 3rd Rhodes/Rickerby - Mazda RX7 - 60 points
Class 2 (2001 - 3500cc) 1st Carter - Porsche 911 - 170 points 2nd Jason Smith - Mazda RX7 - 67 points 3rd Good/A Black - BMW - 20 points
Class 3 (0-2000cc) 1st McLean - Honda Integra - 170 points 2nd MacGibbon - Starlet - 154 points
Class 4 (0-1600cc) 1st S Black - Toyota Starlet - 170 points 2nd Dawson/Dawson - Toyota Starlet - 87 points 3rd Watason - Peugeot - 67points
Hard luck award - Teretonga Cliff/Knighton Hard luck award - Levels VanAalst/McGuigan Hard luck award - Ruapuna Carter/Carter Best performance - Teretonga Chapman/Chapman Best performance - Levels Good/Black Best performance - Ruapuna Heagney/McDermid Biggest Turkey award Dennis Chapman Best presented car - 3hr Series Wadsworth/Croft - Commodore Best presented car - 1hr Series W Good - BMW M3 Best presented team Carter/Carter 1st Family pairing Carter/Carter 1st Hybrid Davidson/Garden 1st Rookie team Helms/Bolland 1st Turbo Cliff/Knighton 1st V8 Carter/Carter 1st Rotary Mann/Tinnelly 1st non-turbo, V8 or GT3 Chapman/Chapman 1st 4-cyl (Matt Heagney Memorial trophy) Chapman/Chapman 1st Lady no award Pole position award Carter/Carter Fastest Lap award Carter/Carter Best round Ruapuna
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