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4 Jan 2011, 17:19 (Ref:2811089) | #1 | ||
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1989 Australian Group A Touring Car Races - Discussion & Results
With the current pace, entries for 1989 are open. The Dick Johnson Sierras are once more the cars to beat, but new Ford man Peter Brock works up plenty of speed over the season in former Andy Rouse equipment. The Longhurst/Gardner B&H RS500s prove very fast, if less reliable. The HR31 Skyline proves very reliable, but not fast enough, and looses their Peter Jackson sponsorship to former team driver Glenn Seton and his new RS500 team. No involvement from BMW Australia so the M3 are reduced to a class car for privateers. Meanwhile the Holden factory team spends the entire ATCC season working out its status within the GM conclomerate.
Thank you, William, for remind me of the nead of these Aussie threads - you most have been preparing for them for a while! Jesper |
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5 Jan 2011, 00:19 (Ref:2811277) | #2 | ||
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The highlight of that season for me was 2 race in particular. The first being the winton round of the championship were Nissan were very much on the pace. In the wet race though it wasn't Richards who did the business, he was out after a first lap crash with Glenn Seton, but George Fury who won his last ATCC round in a great drive. The other highlight of the day was the Grice Longhurst incident were Grice punted Longhurst off at the Racing Car News esses. Then back in the pits Longhursts team manger went up to tell Grice he wasn't happy with the comment "YOU NEVER CHAGE DO YOU" and proceeded to jab him with a golf unbrella.
The other race was the Sunday Group A race at the Adelaide Grand Prix were Longhurst and Colin Bond had a fantastic battle in appalling conditions. Bondy had had a dreadful year trying to get his Motec Management System working on the Sierra but showed all at Adelaide that day the talent that bought him 3 Australian Rally Championships with awesome car control |
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BAZINGA! |
5 Jan 2011, 06:20 (Ref:2811335) | #3 | ||||
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Quote:
Crompton had also done alot of miles around Calder during the off-season in the #20 TWR Commodore from Bathurst 1988. Of course it all came to naught Quote:
It really was a ripper performance from Grice though that day, a 4th place, and leading for abit. He was also the only car not to pit for better tyres during the race, running the whole thing wets that twere pretty second hand on the dry-ish track at the end. |
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"The Great Race" 22 November 1960 - 21 July 1999 |
5 Jan 2011, 08:57 (Ref:2811368) | #4 | ||
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It was a great race I still remeber it too this day
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BAZINGA! |
5 Jan 2011, 11:20 (Ref:2811422) | #5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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5/3/1989 - ATCC1 - Amaroo Park, NSW
1989 Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship
Round 1 - Amaroo Park, NSW (5/3/1989) also Round 1 of the James Hardie Building Products AMSCAR Series Circuit Length: 1.946 km Race Duration: 1 hour (66 laps) Weather: Sunny Lots of changes in the off-season, led by Brock's defection to Ford. With BMW's withdrawal from Australian touring car racing, the Mobil team was free to run two ex-Rouse Sierras for Brock and Brad Jones. Richards had left to join Nissan, who by Amaroo had sorted their handling and reliability issues with the HR31 Skyline. The other Mobil BMW driver, Neil Crompton, was signed to drive for the factory Holden team alongside Win Percy. Unfortunately, that's as far as the team got. The factory team never showed, finally appearing in time for the enduros, but more on that later. Larry Perkins appeared to be on the outs with the factory and only ran his privately-entered car at Sandown and Winton. Benson & Hedges Racing had expanded to two cars as had Colin Bond's team, Ken Mathews having acquired Longhurst's Bathurst-winning car from the year before, while the coffers at Miedecke Motorsport were now flush with funds from Kenwood, Yokohama, and Blast Dynamics. Meanwhile, down in the little car class, Toyota ran a Star Search competition that would see new young talent from all around Australia racing alongside John Faulkner in the second TTA Corolla throughout the ATCC, with the best two racing the car at Bathurst. Calder and AIR were off the calendar after Bob Jane signed a sponsorship deal with Vic Health for the Calder facility that prevented the display of cigarette advertising. Mallala was added as the South Australian round of the series. The biggest change was made to the races themselves. The races were now to be 1 hour in duration, rather than consisting of a set number of laps, deferring to the wishes of series broadcaster Channel 7. Some things hadn't changed, though: Dick Johnson qualified on pole, with Bowe 3rd. Brock qualified on the front row but team-mate Jones would start from the back, having been caught out in the wet first session. Joining him down the back was Miedecke, who had engine management dramas through qualifying. Bowe got a cracking start to shoot past Johnson and Brock into the lead as the field crested Bitupave Hill for the first time. Brock - running on Dunlops since Bridgestone didn't have Sierra tyres ready yet - held third but was holding the field up, his slowing pace foreshadowing a turbo failure. Richards had already snuck through and was chasing down the leading Shell cars. He soon flew past Johnson - passing him around the outside at Honda corner! - but there was nothing he could do about Bowe. Fury passed Johnson for 3rd just before Dick headed to the pits for new tyres. He charged back within 3 seconds of Fury; had he pitted a couple of laps earlier, the race could have been very different. A very good race, giving hope for a close championship.
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"Our traction control was kinda how much your last crash was still hurting you." - Kevin Schwantz |
5 Jan 2011, 11:24 (Ref:2811424) | #6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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12/3/1989 - ATCC2 - Symmons Plains, TAS
1989 Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship
Round 2 - Symmons Plains, TAS (12/3/1989) Circuit Length: 2.41 km Race Duration: 1 hour (61 laps) Weather: Overcast Brock beat Johnson to the pole, the first time he'd topped the timesheets since the 1986 Sandown 500. Richards, Jones and Terri Sawyer flew back to Melbourne after qualifying to participate in the Moomba 200 AUSCAR race, before flying back to Tasmania for the ATCC race. Longhurst decided to use extra hard brake pads for the race, and worked really hard to get heat into them on the warm up and formation laps. He did the job too well; the pads welded themselves to the discs on the start line, and he travelled all of 20 metres before the clutch gave out. Moffat capped off a rough week by breaking a wheel and steering arm when trying to sneak past the stricken B&H car. Moffat had been lucky to even get to Symmons Plains after his Sierra was badly damaged in a road accident as it was trailered back from Amaroo. Meanwhile, Johnson had beaten Brock to the hairpin, quickly pulling out a gap that he'd maintain to the end of the race. Bowe was holding down a safe third until he pitted for new tyres, a legacy of a bad brake lockup entering the hairpin on lap 2. The Nissans weren't as competitive on the long straights of Symmons Plains, Richards finishing lapped in sixth while Fury lost another lap after clashing with Matt Wacker early in the race. Jones was having a solid race in the top 5 before his timing belt broke. Bond crossed the finish line just before Johnson took the chequers, but fortunately he had the presence of mind to complete the lap to classify himself as a finisher.
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"Our traction control was kinda how much your last crash was still hurting you." - Kevin Schwantz |
5 Jan 2011, 11:28 (Ref:2811428) | #7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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16/4/1989 - ATCC3 - Lakeside, QLD
1989 Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship
Round 3 - Lakeside, QLD (16/4/1989) Circuit Length: 2.41 km Race Duration: 30 minutes (33 laps; 1 hour scheduled, race duration reduced due to accident during first start) Weather: Sunny The meeting was postponed for two weeks after unseasonally heavy rainfall in south-east Queensland caused the adjacent Lake Kurwongbah to flood the racetrack. One qualifying session had already been completed, but the times were scrubbed and the restarted from scratch. Andrew Miedecke was fastest early, before Johnson came through on the Saturday to take pole on home ground. Terry Finnigan destroyed his car in a fiery accident exiting the kink, backing the Trojan Boats commodore hard into the earth-filled tyre barrier. Terry emerged the burning car unscathed through the drivers' side window, the once immaculately-presented car a write-off. There were question marks over the durability of the the D15 Dunlops chosen by Johnson and Longhurst. Johnson took off from the start while Brock held up the field. First Longhurst, then Bowe, then Richards made their way past the Mobil Sierra but Miedecke was trapped, along with Seton, Hansford and Fury. They weren't helped by yellow flags at the main passing spot - heading into the Karussell - after contact between Ken Mathews and Superbike racer Michael Dowson in the second TTA car. On lap 10 the train of cars came up to lap Graham Lusty... Brock made it past okay, but Miedecke ran wide into the Commodore, both crashing hard into the armco and catching fire under the Dunlop Bridge. The Lusty car stopped under the armco, but the Kenwood Sierra bounced back into the path of Seton, which wiped out the Peter Jackson car. Miedecke's car ended up broadsides in the middle of the track on fire, Andrew hiding behind the car until a break in the traffic allowed him to sprint across the track to safety; the race still hadn't been stopped. Marshalls had begun to attack the fire in the Lusty car with cars still coming through at racing speeds. Murray Carter, unsighted behind two Commodores and the smoke and the flame, and the powder from the extinguishers, slammed into the side of the burning Miedecke car. Eventually the race was red-flagged, but the Seton, Lusty and Miedecke cars were destroyed; the former Kenwood car now just a burnt-out shell. A restart was delayed by almost two hours while the race while the armco under the bridge was replaced. Apart from the four cars involved, Brad Jones would also miss the restart after debris smashed the oil cooler on his Sierra. The restarted race was shortened to a duration of 30 minutes which eased the Dunlop runners worries about making their rubber last. On the restart Johnson led away from Brock, Longhurst and Bowe. Brock's hard Bridgestones worked against him over the shorter distance. Longhurst moved past the Mobil car on lap 8 but by that point Johnson had already legged it. Brock would spin off at the Karussell but came back to hold off Hansford and Richards for fourth.
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"Our traction control was kinda how much your last crash was still hurting you." - Kevin Schwantz |
5 Jan 2011, 11:30 (Ref:2811429) | #8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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30/4/1989 - ATCC4 - Wanneroo Park, WA
1989 Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship
Round 4 - Wanneroo Park, WA (30/4/1989) Circuit Length: 2.41 km Race Duration: 50 minutes (44 laps) Weather: Rain clearing to overcast Although depleted by the carnage at Lakeside the entry for Wanneroo was boosted by the addition of local runners, including the new Barbagallo Motor Sport Commodores of Alf Barbagallo and Tim Slako. Wanneroo would only be a 50-minute race to fit in with Channel 7's 1 hour telecast time slot, a change that would become very significant on Sunday afternoon. In qualifying, Brock was again the only one able to get close to the pace-setting Shell duo. Rain throughout the day had subsided by race time but the track was still very wet. Wets were clearly the order of the day, the only question being how long they would last. Johnson once again took off into a clear lead from Richards, Brock, Longhurst, Fury and Bond. Bowe had made a bad start, compounded by a touch from Brock at the first corner which sent him off. He finished the first lap in 7th but immediately started to regain ground. He carved his way back through the pack to be past Bond and into 3rd by lap 10. Dunlop's wets were clearly the order of the day as Richards and Brock fell back. With the track drying out Longhurst came in for slicks on lap 25, followed soon by Bowe. Johnson maintained his lead and did his best to preserve his now-ailing wet Dunlops. In the waning minutes, and with Bowe and Longhurst taking huge chunks out of his lead, Johnson pitted. Dick didn't realise the race was almost over, forgetting the race was only 50 minutes long. He made short of others struggling on worn wets but there was no catching Bowe or Longhurst. Bowe now headed the championship from Johnson with everyone else trailing.
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"Our traction control was kinda how much your last crash was still hurting you." - Kevin Schwantz |
5 Jan 2011, 11:59 (Ref:2811442) | #9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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7/5/1989 - ATCC5 - Mallala, SA
1989 Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship
Round 5 - Mallala, SA (7/5/1989) Circuit Length: 2.6 km Race Duration: 1 hour (49 laps) Weather: Sunny The ATCC made its first stop in Mallala since 1971 but not everyone was satisfied by the facilities at the circuit, Johnson in particular was outspoken about them. The Nissan team expanded to three cars, Fury debuting a new Skyline while his old car was driven by Mark Skaife. Johnson was on pole once again, but this one hadn't been quite so easy. Dick had picked up a stomach bug during the week and couldn't be in the car for long periods of time. Dick joked that the pole lap came because he had to get back to the pits really quicky! Alongside him was Bond, while championship leader Bowe had engine issues in the only dry session that left him down in eighth. Johnson led Bond and Longhurst through the first turn kink, but Brock ran wide off the track and scattered the field as he rejoined out of control at turn two. The Mobil Sierra hit Bowe and went into a half-spin, to be hit by Fury and Jones. Richards saw the Mobil car coming and ran wide in avoidance. Meanwhile, Longhurst skated up the inside of Bond at the hairpin, locking up and running off into the dirt. He rejoined in fifth behind Skaife and Moffat and immediately ahead of the remarkable Slako in the pink and black Barbagallo Commodore, having avoided the melee at turn two. All this action left Johnson in a clear lead which he maintained until the end, but behind him though was all action. Bond was struggling with fluctuating boost, causing him to loop the Caltex car exiting the final corner. He'd later retire to avoid ruining the engine. Bowe's charge was briefly halted when he was shown the mechanical black and orange flag to rectify a loose rear bumper trim knocked loose by Brock on the first lap. Brock struggled on with an ill-handling car, finally put out of his misery when the diff broke - a legacy of the hits from Fury and Jones - just after half distance. Longhurst was in tyre trouble, partially caused by his lap one lockup, pitting from second for a new set of rubber. Bowe and Richards had made their way past the battling Skaife and Moffat into second and third, but the championship leader was now in gearbox trouble. No fourth gear left Bowe defenceless against Richards in the closing laps. The finishing order read Johnson, Richards, Bowe, Longhurst, and Moffat, who'd snagged fifth from Skaife on the line. Skaife would eventually get the place, though; the ANZ car was found to be underweight at post-race scrutineering and was disqualified. Also of note, this was Gerald Kay's last race for his venerable, old, HDT-built VK Commodore. It went out in a plume of smoke, crossing the line with a dying engine! He would have a nice, new fuel-injected VL for Sandown.
Last edited by William Dale Jr; 5 Jan 2011 at 12:07. |
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__________________
"Our traction control was kinda how much your last crash was still hurting you." - Kevin Schwantz |
6 Jan 2011, 04:12 (Ref:2811751) | #10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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21/5/1989 - ATCC6 - Sandown Park, VIC
1989 Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship
Round 6 - Sandown Park, VIC (21/5/1989) Circuit Length: 3.1 km Race Duration: 1 hour (47 laps) Weather: Cloudy "Big Bad Sandown is Back!" proclaimed the pre-race promotion, the LCCA deciding to ditch the unpopular Grand Prix loop and go back to using the old high-speed esses section. The series' first Victorian stop saw a lot of privateers make their first appearance, including Larry Perkins, Garry Rogers and Tony Noske, while those involved in the Lakeside carnage were all back save for Murray Carter. The Miedecke crew would have more work on their hands, though, after Andrew Bagnall rolled his Sierra in practice. The car wouldn't appear again until Bathurst. Another person missing was George Fury, his Skyline more damaged than first thought after the first lap dramas at Mallala. Brock had replaced the differential with the locally-developed spool unit and felt the handling had improved as a result, putting #05 on the front row alongside Johnson, on pole yet again. I feel this race signalled the beginning of the end of DJR's domination of Australian touring car racing. While Johnson was never headed once the lights turned green, Brock stuck with him the whole way, at one point getting alongside down the front straight. This, in hindsight, was the first time someone was able to challenge Johnson over a race-long basis, Brock only one second behind the Shell car at the flag. Half a minute behind them was Bowe, hampered by a down-on-power engine and a spin at Dandenong Road corner. Miedecke made a fine start on his return to racing, making a fine start to be running as high as third before dropping out with an overheating Sierra.
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__________________
"Our traction control was kinda how much your last crash was still hurting you." - Kevin Schwantz |
6 Jan 2011, 04:18 (Ref:2811752) | #11 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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28/5/1989 - AMSCAR2 - Amaroo Park, NSW
James Hardie Building Products AMSCAR Series
Round 2 (28/5/1989) Circuit Length: 1.946 km Weather: Sunny A wet qualifying session levelled the playing field between the Sierras and the privateers, and it was Brian Callaghan who took the pole. The conditions clearly suited the ex-speedway racer, holding the yellow Commodore in beautifully-controlled lurid slides coming through the final corner. Joining him on the front row was Mark Gibbs. The more tractable normally-aspirated cars were coming to the fore in the conditions, further evidenced by Reda Awadallah qualifying in sixth, and Faulkner qualifying the little Corolla in eighth ahead of Ken Mathews Sierra! Heat 1 Race Distance: 5 laps Callaghan got away best and led; a Commodore in front! He and Longhurst ran away from the field, leaving Gibbs and Bond to dice for third. Longhurst used the power of the turbo Ford to blast past Callaghan as they crossed the line with one lap to go. The battle for third was settled on lap 3 when Bond ran wide exiting the loop, hooked a wheel over the kerb and spun into the side of Gibbs. The Bob Forbes car came off the worst, getting turned hard left into the earth-filled tyre wall. The car was demolished, and Gibbs would play no further part in the meeting.
Heat 2 Race Distance: 10 laps With the finishing positions determining the starting positions for heat 2, Bond had a job ahead of him starting from 9th. Longhurst led Callaghan into the loop for the first time, while Bond started to make his way through the field. He was on Callaghan's rear bumper by half-distance, but locked the rears on the way into Honda corner and spun the car, rejoining to finish fifth. Meanwhile Longhurst ran out a comfortable winner from Callaghan.
Heat 3 Race Distance: 15 laps My copy of the broadcast of this meeting doesn't have the final heat, so I really can't tell you what happened other than the final results
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__________________
"Our traction control was kinda how much your last crash was still hurting you." - Kevin Schwantz |
6 Jan 2011, 04:21 (Ref:2811754) | #12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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4/6/1989 - ATCC7 - Winton, VIC
1989 Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship
Round 7 - Winton, VIC (4/6/1989) Circuit Length: 2.03 km Race Duration: 1 hour (51 laps) Weather: Rain clearing to overcast Winton saw the return to the ATCC of Allan Grice, making his first start since the end of 1987 aboard his Roadways Commodore from the previous year's Bathurst. The big surprise in qualifying was that the Shell Sierras were off the pace. George Fury was back, his car fully repaired after the misadventure at Mallala. The Shell cars couldn't quite get a handle on the circuit, with Bowe in 6th and Johnson - unable to set a quicker time before red flags and rain intervened - down in 9th. On the front row were Brock and Bond, with Seton, Longhurst and Richards filling the first few rows. The aforementioned red flags were brought out after a big accident that badly damaged Bob Holden's Corolla on the exit of the Esses. Larry Perkins came up behind the Corolla on a qualifying lap and accidentally spun the little car into the barriers, coming to rest in the middle of the road. Also missing the race was Neville Crichton, hitting the wall hard enough in the wet conditions to put the car away for the rest of the weekend. Many have said this was one of the best ATCC races of all time. Luckily someone's just uploaded it to YouTube, which makes me especially happy because I haven't seen this race for about 20 years, after my copy of the race was accidentally taped over...
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__________________
"Our traction control was kinda how much your last crash was still hurting you." - Kevin Schwantz |
6 Jan 2011, 04:22 (Ref:2811755) | #13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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25/6/1989 - AMSCAR3 - Amaroo Park, NSW
James Hardie Building Products AMSCAR Series
Round 3 (25/6/1989) Circuit Length: 1.946 km This meeting wasn't broadcast, so there's not that much I can tell you about it. A couple of things I do know is that this marked the reappearance of the Lansvale Smash Repairs Commodore. Ashby and Reed struggled to get a handlen on the new TWR-developed car, unable to get it to go as fast as the car did in the old trim. So what did they do? They reverted it back to the carburetted, HDT version of the VL. Also, this meeting saw the return of the ex-JPS, ex-Brock BMW M3s, now in the hands of John Cotter and Peter Doulman. Heat 1 Race Distance: 5 laps
Heat 2 Race Distance: 10 laps
Heat 3 Race Distance: 15 laps
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"Our traction control was kinda how much your last crash was still hurting you." - Kevin Schwantz |
6 Jan 2011, 04:24 (Ref:2811756) | #14 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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9/7/1989 - ATCC8 - Oran Park, NSW
1989 Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship
Round 8 - Oran Park, NSW (9/7/1989) Missing from this race was Brad Jones. The day after the Winton round, the Mobil team was at the Victorian track trying out drivers for the enduros. Former 500cc motorcycle world champion Barry Sheene was one of the drivers, but unfortunately he spun the car exiting the esses in the tricky, greasy, cold conditions, nosing the car hard into the pit wall. The damage was bad enough for the team to declare the shell a write off, and with Brock's new car not yet ready there was no car for Jones for the finale. Qualifying saw Brock set the pace, taking what was widely reported as his 50th ATCC pole position. Johnson was 3 tenths back in second, knowing he only had to finish third to lock up the title even if Bowe won. Again, this is a race that I once-upon-a-time had on tape, but someone accidentally recorded Tora! Tora! Tora! over it... What I do know is that after an hour of racing, Brock crossed the line to take his first win since Surfers in 1986, while Johnson came across second to wrap up ATCC number five. Circuit Length: 2.62 km Race Duration: 1 hour (49 laps) Weather: Overcast
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__________________
"Our traction control was kinda how much your last crash was still hurting you." - Kevin Schwantz |
6 Jan 2011, 04:54 (Ref:2811760) | #15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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1989 ATCC Championship Results
1989 Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship
Championship Results Interestingly, although the Shell cars were clearly the fastest for the bulk of the ATCC they were nowhere near as dominant as the year before, and not once did they score a team 1-2. Of the challengers, Brock may have been in championship contention had he started the season in better fashion. Despite well-sorted cars - Brock's was Rouse's weapon for 1988, winning the TT and very nearly the BTCC - the team lacked experience with the cars, compounded by a lack of suitable Bridgestones at the start of the year. Longhurst finished down in fifth despite having a quick car all year, not quite managing to challenge for race wins on a regular basis. The Nissan team had recovered well after a terrible 1988 to pose a genuine threat to the Sierras on the tighter, tyre-sensitive circuits. Disappointments of the year included the disasters that befell Miedecke Motorsport, and the absence of a factory Holden effort. Miedecke looked poised to finally capitalise on the potential he'd shown since the Castrol 500 in 1987, with a team of excellent personnel - including Ross Stone - and finally decent sponsorship. Then came the disaster of Lakeside. With almost nothing salvageable off the wreck, the building of a replacement put an unplanned strain on the team's budget, although Kenwood and Yokohama did kick in to help the team out in a crisis. Sadly it was a setback from wich the team never quite recovered, not helped by Bathurst and Adelaide, but more of that later. The no-show of Holden this year helped contribute to the state of touring car racing today. We only have to look to 1990 and 1992 to see what the VL was finally capable of once fully developed. It's not hard to imagine a slightly different picture had any development work been done on the car through 1989. The hole left by their absence wasn't filled by privateers, most of whom didn't have the money or expertise to develop the car, while Larry Perkins busied himself with his engineering business, proving popular with AUSCAR and Formula Holden racers. Although the VL wouldn't have been fully competitive through 1989 perhaps with a cohesive factory development program, suitable driven by challenges from Les Small at Roadways, the car would have been competitive enough to challenge for podiums and even wins at places like Winton (where Larry qualified slower than he had in the old VL the previous year) and in the long distance races. With no Holdens in the top runners, dissent began to grow among fans - stoked along by Channel 7 - over the state of touring car racing, which would eventually lead to the 1991 ultimatum delivered to CAMS by Ford, Holden, and Channel 7... but more on that later.
Points allocation: 20, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1. () indicates dropped score * indicates R3 (Lakeside) worth only half points. Johnson unsuccessfully petitioned for full points to be awarded for the race. Meanwhile, Toyota took out the Manufacturers' Championship, courtesy of George Fury's win at Winton.
Also worth a mention is the Jim Clark Cup, a very unofficial championship that was devised and awarded by industry journalists and Stuckey Tyre Service. It was specifically for normally-aspirated cars and was named in honour of the seperate Formula 1 Drivers' championship for normally aspirated cars in 1987. Points were awarded in the F1 format of 9,6,4,3,2,1. I've put it together as best I could, but if it's wrong it doesn't really matter anyway since it wasn't an official championship! Funnily enough, it was given better coverage than Manufacturer's Championship points...
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__________________
"Our traction control was kinda how much your last crash was still hurting you." - Kevin Schwantz |
6 Jan 2011, 05:14 (Ref:2811765) | #16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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6/8/1989 - AMSCAR4 - Amaroo Park, NSW
James Hardie Building Products AMSCAR Series
Round 4 (6/8/1989) Circuit Length: 1.946 km Weather: Sunny For once the touring cars were not the headline act in Channel 7's AMSCAR telecast, with a round of the Formula Holden championship for the CAMS Gold Star given prime billing. The touring cars didn't get a look in until very late in the broadcast. Heat 1 Race Distance: 10 laps Callaghan was electric off the line, leading Longhurst and Gibbs into Dunlop Loop. Longhurst got a run exiting the loop, getting down the inside of the Commodore heading into the sweeper. Ashby was black flagged for dropping oil and blowing a large amount of smoke, while at the same time Bond dropped out with electrical problems. Longhurst toyed with the Commodore opposition in the first heat, though Callaghan managed to outbrake the Sierra-driver from a mile back heading into to Stop corner. Longhurst eventually powered past the Commodore in the same spot a few laps later, while Gibbs also found a way past. He didn't stay in second for long, locking the rears into Honda corner but doing a good job to keep the car from spinning, dropping back to fourth. From there the order stayed the same to the flag.
Heat 2 Race Distance: 15 laps (20 laps scheduled) Neil Crompton's start line crash in the preceding Formula Holden race delayed the programme a bit, causing the final AMSCAR heat to be reduced from 20 laps to 15. Don't have the video for this race at hand, but it went much like the first except this time Bond joined in the fun, pushing Longhurst hard but ultimately couldn't get past the B&H car.
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__________________
"Our traction control was kinda how much your last crash was still hurting you." - Kevin Schwantz |
6 Jan 2011, 07:43 (Ref:2811776) | #17 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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20/8/1989 - Pepsi 300 - Oran Park, NSW
Pepsi 300
Oran Park, NSW (20/8/1989) Circuit Length: 2.62 km Race Distance: 1 hour (115 laps) Weather: Cloudy Miedecke wins! The Kenwood Sierra is the only front-running Sierra to last the distance; Brock retires with a suspected blown headgasket, Bond lost many laps fixing a broken camshaft seal, and Longhurst was disqualified. Longhurst closed the door on a Miedecke passing attempt, the B&H car spinning after a clash of wheels. A few laps later the wheel broke stranding the car out on the far side of the circuit. Longhurst ran back to the pits to arrange a replacement, which the crew takes out to the stopped car. Before the new wheel can be fitted, Longhurst is disqualified for outside assistance. The Scott/Bartlett Starion had a strong run, at one point leading the race, before suspension failure ended its race.
* denotes a one minute penalty was incurred for a push start on the warm up lap |
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__________________
"Our traction control was kinda how much your last crash was still hurting you." - Kevin Schwantz |
6 Jan 2011, 08:11 (Ref:2811786) | #18 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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10/9/1989 - .05 500 - Sandown Park, VIC
.05 500
Sandown Park, VIC (10/9/1989) Circuit Length: 3.1 km Race Distance: 161 laps Weather: Sunny There very nearly wasn't a Sandown 500. The circuit's promoters had struggled to find a title sponsor for their marquee race after Castrol's departure after 1987. In the end, like Calder, the LCCA did a deal with Vic Health to sponsor the race. In return, this would mean a ban on tobacco advertising, which upset CAMS and the affected teams. After a lot of debate - and a day in court - the race eventually went ahead with the tobacco-sponsored teams and the full sponsorship of Vic Health. After Oran Park garnered only a thin entry for Pepsi 300, all of the teams serious about winning Bathurst fronted at Sandown. The Holden factory finally made their first appearance for 1989. A late deal with Larry Perkins to run the operation saw one brand new car for Win Percy/Perkins, and Perkins' ATCC car for Crompton/Steve Harrington in a new black and white livery. Brock debuted a new car, as were Toyota Team Australia in the baby class. Former F1 World Champions Alan Jones and Denny Hulme combined in the second B&H car, while Glenn Seton had persuaded John Goss to co-drive the Peter Jackson Sierra. Johnson ended up fastest after Saturday's Top 10 runoff, held on a drying track after a dose of Melbourne "liquid sunshine". Johnson got a bad start from the pole, allowing Brock, Miedecke, Seton and Alan Jones to beat him to the first corner. Allan Moffat lasted all of two laps in what would prove to be the legendary man's last race in his adopted country. Attrition would hit all the Sierra runners; Brock and Radisich led until a suspension issue caused their retirement, both B&H cars quit with engine issues, and the second Shell car was delayed with a misfire. By half distance, Bowe was in front being chased by Charlie O'Brien. O'Brien was throwing everything into the chase of the leader, bouncing the Kenwood car over the kerbs. The kerb-hopping would take its toll, breaking a half-shaft just before the 100th lap. The decimation of the Sierra attack left the way clear for the Nissans and Commodores, and when the Johnson pitted with turbo issues late in the race it was Mark Skaife that went into the lead. Richards elected to let Skaife double-stint to the end, the youngster eventually winning by a lap.
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__________________
"Our traction control was kinda how much your last crash was still hurting you." - Kevin Schwantz |
6 Jan 2011, 09:27 (Ref:2811820) | #19 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Quote:
Matthews jumped the start, while Callaghan was creeping, but the order stayed as per the start grid for the top 5 round the first few corners. Longhurst started to skip away pretty easily, while Bond pulled a good move on Francevic at the Lake Corner at the end of lap 1, and started to harrass his teammate He got by Matthews at the Lake Corner on lap 2, and half a lap later dispensed with Callaghan, and set his sights on Longhurst, who by now had a 3+ second lead. Francevic managed to get up to third place before his retirement, presumebly getting past Callagahan at the Dunlop Loop on lap 4 (presumebly because the camera at Dunlop Loop wasn't working, so the only footage was from there was whenever they took Racecam in Bonds car. The race was pretty static from there |
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__________________
"The Great Race" 22 November 1960 - 21 July 1999 |
6 Jan 2011, 16:38 (Ref:2811989) | #20 | ||
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Quick question, not about results but about a driver/car:
When did (and whose was it) Llynden Reithmuller get hold of the Holden that he ran in AMSCAR (didn't see it in ATCC results?) and was this still in partnership with Phil Ward who had helped run the 190's in previous years? |
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"Double Kidney Guv'nah?" "No thanks George they're still wavin a white flag!" |
7 Jan 2011, 01:50 (Ref:2812210) | #21 | ||
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He bought an ex HSV/Perkins car from 88 early in 1989
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__________________
BAZINGA! |
7 Jan 2011, 02:05 (Ref:2812216) | #22 | ||
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Riethmuller (i before e is the correct spelling, according to both the Sephco site and his obituaries) and Ward's partnership had dissolved by the time the 1988 enduros rolled around, both striking out on their own again.
The Commodore was a Larry Perkins-built car, was the spare #40 factory HSV Commodore at Bathurst in 1988, and was the car Denny Hulme drove to 2nd at the Australian Grand Prix support race in November that year. Riethmuller purchased the car and ran it in a couple of AMSCAR rounds, at Winton, and at Bathurst. He ran the car in a couple of races at the start of 1990 before putting the car on the market; possibly another victim of the recession? The car was purchased by Ashby and Reed and used in the 1990 enduros. |
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__________________
"Our traction control was kinda how much your last crash was still hurting you." - Kevin Schwantz |
7 Jan 2011, 03:57 (Ref:2812229) | #23 | ||
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I recently uploaded the Winton round to youtube. I will put links to the Group A races I uploaded in the relevent threads.
Round 7 Winton http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3ulgCnpFVI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6mZIEGtcIc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g53twkbhZUI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuk0Wz3Zg_E |
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7 Jan 2011, 04:12 (Ref:2812238) | #24 | ||
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Cheers, DV_08, like I said in the results post for that round, I haven't seen that race for years so I was rapt when I saw it pop up on YouTube. I don't suppose you've got the AGP support races from that year?
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__________________
"Our traction control was kinda how much your last crash was still hurting you." - Kevin Schwantz |
7 Jan 2011, 04:28 (Ref:2812239) | #25 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2/10/1989 - Tooheys 1000 - Mount Panorama, NSW
Tooheys 1000
Mount Panorama, NSW (2/10/1989) Circuit Length: 6.216 km Race Distance: 161 laps Weather: Sunny All the contenders and pretenders from Sandown were at Bathurst for the big dance. Bond, Moffat and Seton had expanded to run two cars. Once again, Ruedi Eggenberger returned to run the Moffat operation, with a brand new car for Niedzwiedz, Moffat and Frank Biela. Other internation arrivals were Andy Rouse, slotting into the co-driver role for Peter Brock; his BTCC rival Robb Gravett, arriving to drive the second DJR car; after rumours of Stefan Johansson or Keke Rosberg, it was Alain Ferte that came down to pilot one of Glenn Seton's cars; Anders Olofsson was back for Nissan; and Gianfranco Brancatelli returned to join Robbie Francevic in the Whittaker's Peanut Slab Sierra. Toyota Team Australia had their new turbo Supra ready to make its race debut, with John Smith and Drew Price at the helm. The circuit was due for resurfacing in early 1990 and the kerbing had been redone in preparation. Some new kerbs had been installed while others were raised in profile. A few of the drivers were concerned about the height and placement of the new kerbs, but it would only be a problem for one year. Also, the traditional standing start made a return, now that the race was back under the overall control of the ARDC. Sierras took up nine of the top ten places in qualifying, Richards' Skyline the interloper in the group of Fords. Andrew Bagnall was first cab off the rank, but planted the Gulliver's Travels Sierra in the wall at Reid Park. The hit was worse than it first looked, and the TAFE Smash Repair crew did a good job to get the car ready to start from pit lane on Sunday. Johnson was fastest heading into the Top Ten, but it was Brock that took pole and the prizemoney, dipping into the 2m15s. Controversy, though, when scrutineers find a fire extinguisher system nozzle pointed at the intercooler. The popular suggestion was that the extinguisher squirted halon onto the intercooler during the top ten lap, keeping it extra cool to boost horsepower. Nothing was proven, but Brock copped a $5000 fine from the entrant's group. With six cars starting from the pits, the rest of the field arrived at the grid at the end of the formation lap and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Although the standing start was a return to tradition, this was the first time the cars did a formation lap immediately prior to the start of the race. Previously, two warm up laps were done, the cars formed up, and the engines switched off while more ceremonies were performed; then, with a couple of minutes to 10 o'clock, "Gentlemen start your engines." It was suspected organisers were waiting on the clock to strike 10... meanwhile temperature gauges were starting to rise, and several cars would later retire from the race as a result of the long hold. When the lights eventually went green, Brock made a terrific getaway to lead into Hell Corner, followed by Johnson - who smoked the tyres to avoid making the same mistake he had at Sandown - Niedzwiedz, Brad Jones and Miedecke. Sadly, this was about as far as Miedecke got, a broken gear selector shaft jamming the car in fifth. The Yokohama Sierra got as far as Reid Park, another disaster in a year full of them for Miedecke. As the leaders came down Conrod for the first time, Johnson blew past Brock to take the lead. Apart from those first five-or-so kilometres, car #17 would lead for the whole day. Longhurst had dropped back on the run up Mountain Straight for the first time to be down in 13th at the end of lap 1. Niedzwiedz passed Brock going into Hell on lap 3, while Longhurst and Brancatelli began to charge their way through the field, Branca setting the second fastest lap of the race. Brock soon pitted complaining of a loose rear wheel, just the start of the troubles for the Mobil Sierra team. Brancatelli got as high as third before a wheel fell off across the top of the mountain, retiring the car after it ground the bottom off the radiator on the way back to the pits. Behind him, Seton had lost the #30 Peter Jackson Sierra on patch of oil coming over Skyline, backing the blue Sierra into a tyre barrier. Although he drove back to the pits, it was some laps before the car was ready to return to action, by which time Seton and Ferte had switched to car 35. The final victim of this sequence was Brad Jones. Debris from Seton's off had cut Jones brake lines, giving the Albury youngster a fright when he braked for Caltex Chase. The 105 car lost several laps repairing the damage. Longhurst was the next to fall, pitting earlier than planned with a blown headgasket. He would soon jump into the #20 car. Next to retire with overheating issues was Pierre Dieudonne. With Bond also in trouble by this stage, and the second Johnson car struggling with electrical issues all the major Sierra teams were down to one competitive car, if that. Meanwhile, the factory Skylines and Commodores were just trucking along, each running in tandem and without any dramas. Not much changed after the first round of stops. Allan Grice had snuck into the top five on fuel strategy, but would soon lose several laps with gearbox problems. It was plain sailing up front for Johnson and Niedzwiedz, while Brock made his way back into the top three by half distance before rear wheel dramas struck again. This time wheelnut wouldn't budge, and eventually the team had to cut it off. The hub was too badly worn to fit a new one, so that was that for car 05. Johnson and Bowe had pulled out the best part of a lap on the second-placed car. However, they weren't doing it easy. The turbo was dropping boost pressure, and Bowe was having to press on to keep up the lap time. Biela was slowly catching the the red car, but the Moffat challenge evaporated soon after their final planned stop. The ANZ car was blowing smoke as it returned to the track, Niedzwiedz bringing the car back in a couple of laps later because a wheel felt loose. The German emerged from the pits directly in front of Bowe, nearly one lap down. From there, Bowe made a final stop for fuel and cruised to the flag with Niedzwiedz over a minute behind in second. Cotter/Doulman were the last M3 standing in class B after the demise of both Sax cars and the dominant class-leading Plaspak car of Bill Bryce, while the little car class was won by TTA's Star Search drivers superbike racer Mike Dowson and rally driver Neal Bates.
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