Gold Star champ dies

Australian motor sport has been rocked with news of the passing after a short illness of the 1986 Australian Drivers' Champion Graham Watson.

New Zealand-born Watson died on Wednesday, just three weeks after being diagnosed with stomach cancer.

The likeable jockey-sized Watson gave up driving at a relatively early age to concentrate on team management and engineering.

His Ralt Australia operation, based at Wyong, on the New South Wales Central Coast, lists five Gold Star titles on its impressive resume. Watson also worked with some of the biggest names in world motor sport.

This season he agreed to run promising second-generation racer Tom Tweedie, who gave the ailing Watson a fillip when he scored a podium result on debut at the Clipsal 500 meeting, the opening round of this year's F3 championship. Watson only left hospital that same morning.