SPORT sundayterritorian.com.au Ford one-two in Tassie RACE 1 RESULTS MOTORSPORT finished third to keep Winterbottom said he was 1. (Ford) . . 52:30.5485 ’s points tally on track. confident his ankle strength 2. (Ford) 52:31.1880 WILL Davison and Mark Davison scored by just half would return but it continued 3. (Holden) 52:39.6513 4. (Ford) 52:43.9288 Winterbottom both shrugged a second from Winterbottom to hinder his starts. 5. (Holden) 52:44.3273 off foot injuries to produce a with Whincup a further nine ‘‘Maybe I’ve lost my 6. David Reynolds (Ford) 52:49.4116 7. (Holden) 52:50.7661 Ford one-two in the V8 Tas- seconds back. reflexes but I just can’t modu- 8. (Ford) . . 52:50.9812 mania Challenge yesterday. Davison said he had been late (the clutch) off the line,’’ 9. (Ford) 52:57.8858 Davison clinched his given no proper diagnosis of Winterbottom said. 10. (Holden) . . 53:01.7111 11. Steve Johnson (Ford) 53:07.0791 second race win of the year his recurring right foot issue. ‘‘I’m just wheel-spinning all 12. Taz Douglas (Holden) 53:07.6798 and stretched his series lead, ‘‘I’ve worked on trying to the time when I used to modu- 13. Steve Owen (Ford) . . 53:09.6346 14. James Moffat (Ford) 53:10.1466 despite fighting a mystery get on top of it and we’ve im- late the clutch quite a bit. 15. Michael Caruso (Holden) 53:10.9143 foot problem. proved the situation, no ‘‘Once you get going it’s 16. (Holden) 53:19.3565 And Winterbottom, who doubt,’’ Davison said. fine, but it’s just the starts — 17. Alexandre Premat (Holden) 53:22.3911 18. (Holden) . . +1 lap qualified on pole position, ‘‘The last 20 laps today was it’s very important around a 19. (Holden) ...... +1 lap fought against an ankle bro- a nightmare to be honest, just track like this to get a 20. Michael Patrizi (Holden) . . . . +1 lap 21. David Russell (Holden) . . . . +1 lap ken in a water skiing accident trying to focus on not making good start. 22. Dean Fiore (Ford) ...... +1 lap in the off-season. a mistake. It happened here ‘‘I lost two positions so it is 23. Karl Reindler (Holden) . . . . +1 lap The pair led throughout the last year when I ran wide costing but it will only 24. Russell Ingall (Holden) . . + 2 laps 25. (Holden) . . +8 laps race and continued Ford’s with three laps to go. I was get better.’’ 26. Tony D’Alberto (Ford) . . +10 laps early dominance of the cham- just thinking back to that mo- Davison sits on 438 points 27. (Holden) . . DNF 28. David Wall (Holden) . . . . DNF pionship, although defending ment and thinking, ‘don’t from Whincup on 399 and champion Jamie Whincup make a mistake again’.’’ Winterbottom on 360. Will Davison on the way to victory at Symmons Plains PUB:

TNEWS NT Dragons breath fire to run over Uni Pirates

RUGBY UNION By IAN BUTTERWORTH SCORES DRAGONS 19 (G Edwards, J Cole, DARWIN Dragons hit the A Munro tries; L Ika 2 con) d ground running and snuffed UNIVERSITY 10 (J Hess try; D Carter con, J Tuisuva pen). DATE: out Uni Pirates in their NTRU season opener at Rugby Park yesterday evening. CASUARINA 43 d SOUTH DARWIN 0. Coming off a Round 1 bye,

1-APR-2012 the men in gold held the aces and their nerve and trumped Pirates 19-10 in an five minutes later, Dragons error-riddled but entertain- had some breathing space. ing game. Dragons continued to live Dragons skipper George dangerously by playing Edwards was a relieved man instinctive rugby. after the game saying that it While their ball handling

PAGE: was hard to stick to struc- didn’t complement the flair, tures in their first hit-out of they managed to take a 12-3 the season. lead into the half-time break. ‘‘That was tough and, try as A succession of attacking

54 we did, it was difficult to keep forays by Dragons forwards, our structures but we will Edwards and hefty hooker work hard on the track dur- Matt Cole failed to add COLOR: ing the week,’’ he said. to the score and some sound ‘‘We were our own worst Pirates defence was up to enemies — we butchered so the task. much ball, but that will im- Against the run of play — prove in time.’’ and with a man down after With as many as 18 players Tuisuva was marched for a C unavailable, it took Uni time dangerous tackle — Uni

M to settle and Dragons had all scored through Josh Hess. the early possession with When Donovan Cater

Y halves Jason Cole and Alex converted, the scholars were

K Munro directing proceedings. back in the hunt. But poor ball security But the Dragons held their stalled the roll and a penalty nerve and when Ika and goal to former Cougars Munro combined for a premiership player Joe long-range try it was Tuisuva put Uni in front at game over. the 13-minute mark. In yesterday’s other game, The penalty lifted Dragons Casuarina Cougars racked up and Edwards cruised over for their 38th game without a loss a try to the left of the uprights when they set about a demo- which was duly converted by lition job on South Darwin. the trusty boot of fullback Leading 12-0 at half-time, Leaofa Ika. the Cougars ran as they liked When Cole danced across after the break and recorded a the line and touched down convincing 43-0 win. Speedy Dragon Trevor Nichols breaks away from the Pirates in their NTRU match last night Picture: BRAD FLEET Locals ready for raiders in Darwin event Pike stutters in third round GOLF To his credit, Pike hung TRIATHLON has attracted competitors Vander Bruggen, who is com- Justin Tranter and Glen tough and did not drop a shot from all states and territor- ing off a third place in his age Woodrow. TERRITORY golf export from then on — improving DEFENDING champion ies. ’s Stephane group at the Mooloolaba Last year’s women’s sprint Aaron Pike carded a 76 in his position with a well-made Grant Preddy and local Vander Bruggen is one who Triathlon last Sunday. champion Ali Fitch races an yesterday’s third round of birdie on the par-three 16th sprint series leader Brett will be out to spoil the locals’ Also vying for top places invitational event in the the New Zealand PGA Cham- following a superb tee shot. Verity will be among hold on the title. over the 750m swim, 26km Philippines this weekend, pionship in Queenstown. Pike was in a tie for 52nd the Territorians taking Vander Bruggen has a bike, and 5km run course will leaving 2011 Arafura Games The Palmerston product position going into today’s on a strong interstate con- number of impressive results be NSW trio of Tom Luding- winner Claire Johnson to went into the day hoping to final day of play at three-over tingent in the NT Sprint this season, including a win ton, Liam Rapley and carry local hopes. consolidate his position in par 219 — 17 strokes off Distance Triathlon at Lake the male 35-39 years category Mitchell Robertson. They will Darwin’s Stef Puszka, the NZ$450,000 Tour of Aus- the pace set by Victorian Alexander today. of the 2012 Australian Sprint be joined by Victoria’s Tyler Shaye Hatty, Tara Worby and tralasia event, but was be- Andrew Martin. The event has national Distance Championships. Allen in the male under-20 Emma Winterflood along hind the eight-ball early. Martin signed for a 71, but status as a selection points ‘‘I’m looking forward to category and are expected to with Victorian Meg Gubbins Bogeys on holes two and saw his advantage cut from event for Triathlon Austra- checking out the Darwin place highly overall. are in good form. three were followed by a dis- five shots to one by Western lia’s age group team for ITU course and hope to add the Others favoured to be in The event starts at 7am astrous triple bogey on the Australian Brody Ninyette, World Championships in NT Sprint race to my contention include Darwin’s with first athletes expected to par-four fifth — a hole he bi- who shot a 67 yesterday. Auckland in September and season’s tally of wins,’’ said Lee Wilson, Tim Green, finish in about an hour. rdied the previous day. — GREGOR MACTAGGART

54 Sunday Territorian. Sunday, April 1, 2012. www.sundayterritorian.com.au