Liam MacDonald of Invercargill was awarded the Southland Sports Car Club Champions Trophy for the tenth time at the club’s 2022/2023 prizegiving at Teretonga Park on Monday night.
MacDonald won his first Club Championship in 2013 and since then has won it every year apart from 2017.
In the recently completed season MacDonald won the Keith McFadzien Trophy for the Motorkhana Championship from Andrew Kennedy and Craig Allan and the SSCC Speed Trophy for winning the Sprint Championship. He won the Stresscrete 1601cc & over Speed Trophy in ClubSport and took the Warren Robbie Memorial Trophy for winning the overall ClubSport Championship. In the Race Championship he was runner-up in the 2501cc & over class, third in the Flying Farewell Championship and was runner-up in the overall Race Championship, results that gave him his tenth Club Championship.
Josh Cooper of Invercargill was the runner-up in the Club Championship after a strong ClubSport campaign finishing runner-up in the Sprint Championship, winning the Discount Tyres 0-1600cc Speed Trophy and taking third overall in the overall ClubSport Championship behind MacDonald and Allan. Cooper debuted in the race championship at the Classic SpeedFest in February and in just three race meetings accumulated enough points to finish runner-up in the 1301-1600cc class.
The Cooper family enjoyed more success when Josh’s mother, Cindy Cooper, won the Ladies Trophy for the second year in succession after another successful season that saw her finish fifth in the Sprint Championship, seventh in the Motorkhana Championship, and sixth overall in the Club Championship.
Jordan Michels dominated the Race Championship awards winning the Noel McIntyre Trophy for the overall Race Championship for the second year in succession from MacDonald and Harry Wilson. He also won the Erskine Flying Farewell Championship Trophy and the Auto Centre Trophy for the 2501cc & over Race Class. Other class winners in the Race Championship were Warren Kett who took the Maxis Projects Ltd Trophy for the 1601-2500cc class, Dayne McIlwrick of Winton, the Nebulite Windows & Doors Trophy for the 1301-1600cc class and Todd Blackmun, the Turntru Machining Trophy in the 0-1300cc Championship, the seventh time he has achieved the feat.
Gordy Johnston won the Macks Panel & Paint Trophy for the Marshall Of The Year while Nate Mackay was awarded the Ladies Committee Trophy for Junior Driver of the Year and Nieko Scoles the Maxis Projects Ltd Trophy for Novice Driver of the Year.
The club also acknowledged the efforts of Alex Crosbie in taking back-to-back New Zealand Formula Ford Championships with an Outstanding Achievement Award and Joshua La Rosa with a Special Recognition Award for winning the Drift South Development Series. Crosbie was also a recipient of the Peter McMillan Legacy Fund which is managed by Perpetual Guardian.
Header Image: Ten-time Southland Sports Car Club Champion Liam MacDonald with the trophies that he won during the 2022/2023 season including his tenth Club Championship Trophy – Vanessa Adcock
