The Star: January 11, 2018

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday January 11 2018 33
Armstrong eyes Wigram trophy
• By Gordon Findlater
MARCUS Armstrong is a young
man well and truly entrenched
in the pursuit of his dream to
race in formula one. To date he’s
on track to make it a reality.
This weekend the Europebased
Christchurch driver will
get a rare chance to show off
his talent in front of his home
crowd at the opening
round of the
Toyota Racing
Series at Ruapuna.
He starts his second
campaign in
Marcus
Armstrong
the series as a title
favourite.
After finishing
fourth in last year’s TRS, Armstrong
won the Italian formula
four championship, finished
runner-up in the German F4 series,
and was part of the Ferrari
Young Driver Academy.
His stellar season in Europe
has seen the Christchurch driver
picked by Prema Racing to compete
in the formula three European
championship this year.
The racing category is one of
the most highly-regarded feeder
categories into formula one.
“Last year I won F4, this year
I need to win F3 and then win
F2. It’s a continuous cycle,” said
Armstrong.
• By Andrew King
SHIRLEY BOYS’ High School rowers will
have to juggle their boats ahead of the
Canterbury championships on Sunday
after their best craft was destroyed on
Monday.
A 30m poplar tree fell into the Avon
River just as the under-15 crew of Reuben
Bannon, Finley Ocheduszko Brown,
Cameron Maughan, Liam Whitaker and
David Brown rowed underneath.
The boys suffered minor injuries but
were all okay, although the boat was no
longer usable, Shirley Boys’ High head of
RISING STAR: Marcus Armstrong aims to win New Zealand’s
premier single seater racing series before starting his first
season in the European formula 3.
The European formula three
championship starts in May and
has 10 rounds, running until
October. Armstrong will get to
compete on some iconic tracks,
including Spa, Nürburgring and
Silverstone.
On Sunday, Armstrong has a
chance to add his name to the
Lady Wigram Trophy. Famous
names on the trophy include
Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss,
Bruce McLaren, Jackie Stewart,
Jim Clark and Jochen Rindt.
“There’s certainly an extra
pressure that comes with racing
in front of a home crowd,” said
Armstrong.
Shirley BHS goes into
champs a boat down
rowing Rob Wilson-Pyne said.
He said there has been plenty of help
offered from various schools and rowing
clubs in the city, including a loan boat to
keep them competing right up until the
Maadi Cup in March, the biggest high
school rowing regatta of the year.
“This incident has taken away our
best boat, but we have been fortunate
enough to be offered another so we can
keep working towards future races and
Maadi,” he said.
The team has now turned their
attention to the Canterbury
championships in Twizel.
Young athletes set to
sparkle at Colgate Games
CHRISTCHURCH’S junior athletes
are set to take their marks in the 40th
Colgate Games this weekend.
The games at Aorangi Park, Timaru,
have attracted 64 clubs from across the
South Island with 944 competitors.
South Island Colgate Games
chairwoman Diane Smith said the games
have a proud history.
“Some of the competitors in this
year’s games are second or third
generation participants, with parents
and grandparents who’ve competed in
previous South Island events over the
years.”
Colgate New Zealand general manager
John Garside said the game’s anniversary
was about encouraging New Zealand’s
up-and-coming athletes to stay in
athletics. “The 40th anniversary is an
opportunity to celebrate the past, as well
as the future generation of athletes.
“Many kids have been training hard
all summer to beat the benchmarks their
parents, and even grandparents set when
they competed in the Colgate Games in
years gone by – it’s great to watch,” he
said.
Colgate and the New Zealand
Children’s Athletics Association have
provided four scholarships worth $700
each for South Island athletes who give
outstanding performances.
The South Island Colgate Games run
from tomorrow until Sunday at Aorangi
Park, Timaru.
“Maybe that’s a mistake I
made last year. I really wanted
to win that race. At the moment,
I’m not even thinking about the
names on the trophy. If I can
win it, then I’ll get a chance to
take it in.”
Round one of the TRS at
Ruapuna starts with a practice
session tomorrow. Saturday will
feature qualifying and race one,
with races two and three (Lady
Wigram Trophy) on Sunday.
Christchurch’s other entrant is
19-year-old Ryan Yardley, who is
making his TRS debut after winning
the Toyota 86 sports coupe
series last summer.
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Webb’s season looking
up ahead of midget
derby at Ruapuna
• By Allan Batt
A HORROR start to the
speedway season has been
turned around by Christchurch
driver Jeremy Webb
who returned from
Auckland where he took
out several top 10 spots
in the international
world series.
Now Webb is keen to
carry his form into the
K&T Drainage Midget
Derby at Ruapuna this
weekend.
“We had a major
engine blow up very
early in our season. We were
lucky to source another engine
which got us back onto the track.
An opportunity came up to race
up at Western Springs so we
made a decision to give it a go,”
said Webb.
“With a heap of American
and Australians racing up there,
you get to compete against the
best in the world. The biggest
names from midget car racing
in the (United States) were there,
including Nascar star Kyle
Larson, and there’s no doubt that
The biggest range of vehicles in one location
you learn so much from them,
just watching their lines and
then racing wheel-to-wheel with
them.”
Webb emerged from the series
with top 10 finishes in
each of the four feature
races he contested. His
fourth place in the round
at Bay Park, Tauranga,
was his best effort. Webb
eventually finished
eighth in the overall
standings, the fourth
highest New Zealander
Jeremy Webb behind Brock Maskovich,
Michael Pickens and
former national champion
Shayne Alach.
Last Saturday Webb finished
eighth in the 39-lap feature race,
right behind multi-time national
champion, Pickens. He said it
puts him in a “good place” for the
rest of the season.
“We will be pretty busy
over the next three weeks. I
really want to win the race at
Ruapuna on Saturday, as its being
backed by Gordon Kenning who
has been a long-time supporter of
my racing,” said Webb.