Murphy and Cooley take Round 3 and the Championship Lead

Photos courtesy of Matt Smith

Brendan Murphy and Brock Cooley have taken their Seat Leon Supercopa to a second win at Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park with Wayne Leach and Paul Burborough finishing second in their BMW 235i while Todd and Rhys Bawden have taken their BMW 235i to third position.

Ken Hunter would not make the start of the race due to an issue during Qualifying while the Duffy/Brook Honda Integra failed to start when the field went on their warm up lap the car would be able to start but not before retiring in the early stages of the race. The Murphy/Cooley and the Bawden BMW would battle for the lead before the Bawden BMW would spin at Turn 2 22minutes in the race handing second position over to Wayne Leach and Paul Burborough.

The first safety car would be called two minutes later when two Seat Leon Supercopas of Allan Sargeant and Scott Smith had a coming together which resulted in Sargeant retiring from the race.

The Brunton/Parmenter and Driver/Mackie RX8’s would make the opportunity to make their compulsory three minute pitstop while Marco Giltrap would also make the opportunity to hand over his Toyota 86 to Simon Evans and Lindsay Lyons handed the Honda CR-X to car owner Shane Parsons.

When Green Flag conditions resumed the rest of the field would make their pitstops around the halfway mark then Shaun van Beers who had taken over from Scott Smith in 191 Seat Leon Supercopa received a Pit Lane Drive Through Penalty for their involvement in the Allan Sargeant incident.

The Greg and Brad Kroef V8 Ute would spin at the final chicane at the 1hr 10 mark while Ussher/Stoneman V8 Ute would slow down due to an mechanical issue.

The Brunton/Parmenter Mazda RX8 had taken over the lead with Simon Evans in second after the pitstop but both cars would have to make a second pitstop.

The Nik Lowndes Nissan Pulsar would go up the escape round at the end of the back straight while diastater struck for Shane Parsons when he suffered a tyre failure which would result in two more pitstops.

The Driver/Mackie Mazda RX8 would be served a Pit Lane Drive Through Penalty for a Pre-Race incident infringement where Shaun van Beers would be able to snatch fourth place of

Brunton/Parmenter RX8 would suffer a mechanical issue in the dying stages of race which led to them retiring.

Murphy/Cooley would go on to take the win from Leach and Burborough and Todd and Rhys Bawden finishing third with Simon Evans finishing fourth.

Their would be a post-race investigation after a team made an inquiry about the length Cooley/Murphy Pit Stop the Clerk of the Course deemed this as not a breech due to lack of evidence the team did choose to take this further with the Motorsport NZ Stewards. However after the Stewards hearing Brock Cooley and Brendan Murphy where found that they did not breach their compulsory 3minute pitstop   

Murphy/Cooley lead the Championship on 190 points with Leach and Burborough on 180points third is Shane Parsons and Lindsay Lyons on 177 points with Todd and Rhys Bawden on 172 points

Overall

1^st 123 Brendan Murphy/Brock Cooley Seat Leon Supercopa

2^nd 7 Wayne Leach/Paul Burborough BMW 235i Winger Group

3^rd 44 Todd and Rhys Bawden BMW 235i Online Construction

Class 1

1^st 7 Wayne Leach/Paul Burborough BMW 235i Winger Group

2^nd 44 Todd and Rhys Bawden BMW 235i Online Construction

3^rd 99 Stu Monteith/Brett Rudd Holden Commodore VE Ute Trade Depot/Pallet Supplies

Class 2

1^st 123 Brendan Murphy/Brock Cooley Seat Leon Supercopa

2^nd 191 Scott Smith/Shaun van Beers Seat Leon Supercopa

3^rd 66 Mike Driver/Kris Mackie Mazda RX8 Bailey Motorhomes

Class 3

1^st 4 Marco Giltrap/Simon Evans Toyota 86 Giltrap Group

2^nd 8 Mark Mallard/Callum Hedge Toyota 86 Crème Insurance

3^rd 777 Sam Collins/Jackson Lovelady Toyota 86 Collins and Sons Earthmoving