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Wigzell grabs Australian Super-Modified Crown
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN Speedcar cum super" modified ace, Bill Wigzell, is the new Australian Super-Modified Champion for 1970

Starting from the back-mark at Morisset Speedway, near Sydney, on June 28, Bill stormed through a 19-car field with his fuel-injected Dodge (pictured above) to snatch the lead four laps from the finish. A crowd of more than 4000 people attended the Sunday afternoon meeting and were treated to spectacular racing by some of Australia's top super-mod men. Drivers attended the meet from South Australia, Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales. Wigzell thrilled the large crowd during the o warm-up laps early in the afternoon, by throwing his car sideways into the sweeping turns like no other driver was able to do. In contrast, many other top-rated drivers were all at sea in their warm-up laps and went woodpecking on a number of occasions.

It was clear to the fans from that point on that Wigzell would be the man to beat for the title,

. VERSATILE Adelaide Speedcar and super-modified pilot Bill Wigzell thundered through a 19 car field on June 28 to win the 1970 Australian Super-Modified Championship at Morisset Speedway, near Sydney. Bill showed the super-mod fans during the warm-up that he was more than capable of taking out the big event and thrilled the crowd as he threw his fuel-injected Dodge around Morisset's sweeping turns.

Seven interstate drivers fronted for the title, being Doug Sunstrom (Corvette) and Bill Wigzell (Dodge) from South Australia, Nev Pezutti (Corvette) and Reece Jackson (OHV Ford) from Queensland, and Ron Smith (Corvette), Graham McCubbin's (Valiant) and Les Narrower (Corvette) from Victoria. Sydney fans were pinning their hopes on local idol, Dick Briton in the Bardahl Corvette. Dick told me before the race that he didn't expect to win the title because the track conditions were not at all suitable for his car, Dick predicted Bill Wigzell to win and he planned to follow Bill through the gaps. Les Narrower and John Hensby brought the field around in rows of two behind the bright red Plymouth Fury pace car prior to the start of the big event. At the drop of the flag, Hensby planted the foot and took over the front running from Victoria's Les Harrower and Peter Dickerson.

The first stoppage came in the third lap when Sid Hopping planted his fearsome Corvette beast into the pickets at the end of the back straight. Dick Briton spotted the mix-up a little too late and slammed into the rear of another car coming down the back straight. Dick continued in the event with obvious handling difficulties and watched as Bill Wigzell disappeared into the distance. "Celluloid Sid" Hopping climbed from the bent beast looking resplendent in his silver suit and followed the tow truck onto the Infield as the field charged down the main straight to cover the remaining 27 laps. Hensby was leading the pack in fine style until he lost it on the approach to the main straight and spun onto the infield. Bill Wigzell, Jeff Pickering and Dave Lander were charging through the field as Les Harrower took over where Hensby left off. Dave Lander looked a real danger at this time after coming through to nail down fourth position after an inside pass on Tony Ward in the ex-Ray Skipper Corvette. This hectic action stopped when Victoria's Ron Smith and Sydney's Dennis Farr tangled in the main straight with both cars suffering serious front-end damage. Ron limped from the car with a bad knock to his leg but with a short rest he was as good as gold. resembled an elephant flapping its ears in the breeze as he charged back onto the track chasing after the leaders.

The officials took a dim view of this and gave him the black flag as he came down the main straight and a very dejected Tony Ward pulled onto the infield as Victoria's Les Harrower continued to lead the high speed charge. Les was followed closely by Dickerson, Lander and Wigzell as Jeff Pickering did a 360 degree turn in the back straight and kept the power on. This put paid to any hopes Jeff had of taking out the title and he followed up with another spin in the back straight on the following lap.

With time running out Wigzell took Dave Lander in the back straight and then flashed past Dickerson. "The Wizard" knew that he had only one car to pass to collect the Australian Championship crown and he raced up to Harrower going down the main straight and momentarily ran wheel to wheel with the young Victorian. Wigzell kept the power on, and as Harrower backed off for the first turn, Bill took over the lead. As the yellow flag came out for the flying South Aussie, Sydney's Dave Lander flew past Harrower to snatch second position. With the wind in his face Bill "Wizard" Wigzell flashed across the finishing line well in advance of Dave Lander, Les Harrower, Peter Dickerson and Bob Tunks. Defending champ, Jim Winterbottom, started too far back to make any impression on the leaders in his Valiant powered super-mod. After only 12 months in the super-modified ranks, Adelaide's, Bill Wigzell, had won the "plum" event on the season's calendar.

Eighteen events were scheduled on the programme but due to early darkness and a shortage of speedcars the programme was cut down by three events. The first event on the afternoons programme consisted of a number of warm-up laps for the interstate visitors. Doug Sunstrom and Nev Pezutti were all at sea with the Morisset circuit and both went wood pecking during their respective warm ups. Bill Wigzell was the most impressive driver in the warm-ups throwing his wedge-shaped, fuel-injected Dodge V8 around the track as if he had been driving there all his life.

Australian Speedway news Number 4 July 17 1970 Page 1.