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BOWE EDGES OLD FRIEND JOHNSON IN DARWIN PRACTICE
THE REUNION of the Bowe and Johnson racing families under the same banner has instantly delivered the tight competition expected during practice for round four of the ENZED Touring Car Masters today in Darwin.
John Bowe edged out Steven Johnson in today’s practice times the Torana beating the Mustang by the tiny margin of 0.07s on a super-fast day at Hidden Valley Raceway.
The new track surface instantly delivered record lap times with Bowe’s fastest of 1m13.5842s a full 0.6s under the existing qualifying record and 1.1s under the old race lap record.
Jason Gomersall had a strong day in his iSeek Racing Holden Torana SL/R 5000 third fastest overall today at a circuit where he has traditionally performed well in the past.
Gomersall qualified 4th at Hidden Valley in 2013 and fifth last year with Bowe’s record pace today proving the pace of the Torana product at the 2.87km circuit just outside of Darwin.
Jim Richards was a competitive fourth overall in the Shannons Insurance AMC Javelin just a fraction ahead of former Touring Car rival Glenn Seton’s Thunder Road Racing Team Ford Mustang Coupe and series leader Gavin Bullas’ Ford Mustang.
Seton however may be unlikely to continue this weekend after a serious engine knock was noted in his Mustang post practice one – ruling him out of the second session and potentially the remainder of the weekend. The team will assess the issue overnight.
Jesus Racing’s Andrew Fisher – doing double duty this weekend with his regular V8 Utes ride – was a competitive seventh while Andrew Miedecke Greg Crick and Mark King a winner here last year completed the top-10.
The day was notable for drivers finding the limits of adhesion on the new surface some pushing too hard in their pursuit of speed.
Tony Karanfilovski brought the second session to a slightly premature close when he hit the tyre barriers at turn 10 kissing the tyre bundle in his Ford Mustang.
The Sydneysider expects to be back on track ahead of qualifying tomorrow.
Teams have also worked hard to fine tune their vehicles to suit the surface a rush of final-drive gear ratio changes being undertaken between sessions as drivers chased top end speed on the long Darwin straight.
The fastest TCM cars hit 262km/hr before braking for turn one today.
Qualifying and race one will be held at Hidden Valley tomorrow both sessions to be broadcast live on FOX Motorsports.
RESULTS – PRACTICE ROUND 4 DARWIN.
Pos Car Competitor/Team Driver Vehicle Cap CL Fastest...Lap Gap1 18 Dunlop Super Dealers/Wilson Se John Bowe (VIC) Torana SLR 5000 5800 P2 1:13.5842R 2 17 Payce/Wilson Security Steven Johnson (QLD) Ford Mustang TransAm 5800 P2 1:13.6552r 0:00.07103 35 iseek Racing Jason Gomersall (QLD) Torana SLR 5000 5047 P1 1:14.2204 0:00.63624 2 Shannons Insurance Jim Richards (VIC) AMC Javelin 5890 P1 1:14.4090 0:00.82485 30 Thunder Road Racing Team Austr Glenn Seton (QLD) Ford Mustang Coupe 5000 P1 1:14.4799 0:00.89576 16 Rain City Racing Gavin Bullas (VIC) Ford Mustang Fastbac 5800 P1 1:14.7138 0:01.12967 9 Jesus Racing Andrew Fisher (NSW) Ford Falcon XY GTHO 5800 P2 1:14.8668 0:01.28268 95 Whiteline Transport Racing/Lub Andrew Miedecke (NSW) Chevrolet Camaro SS 5800 P1 1:14.8902 0:01.30609 75 Mopar Performance Greg Crick (TAS) Chrysler Charger E55 5570 P2 1:15.0492 0:01.465010 85 Whiteline Transport Racing/Kin Mark King (QLD) Chevrolet Camaro RS 5800 P1 1:15.0835 0:01.499311 52 Outbound Racing/wheels.com.pg Keith Kassulke (QLD) Ford Falcon XB Coupe 5800 P2 1:15.6068 0:02.022612 88 TIFS - Warehousing & Distribut Tony Karanfilovski (NSW) Ford Mustang Trans A 5800 P2 1:15.6643 0:02.080113 60 Glennan's Transport Cameron Tilley (NSW) Valiant Pacer 4390 P1 1:15.7486 0:02.164414 3 Hercules Engines Cameron Mason (NSW) Ford Mustang Fastbac 5000 P1 1:16.2816 0:02.697415 48 Darwin Cheapest Cars Eddie Abelnica (VIC) Ford Falcon XB Coupe 5800 P1 1:16.2938 0:02.709616 7 calga.biz Bill Pye (NSW) Chevrolet Camaro 5800 P2 1:16.4182 0:02.834017 74 Lyndways Builders/Mick Webb's Wayne Mercer (VIC) Ford Falcon XY GTHO 5800 P1 1:16.7336 0:03.149418 99 Outbound Racing/Treloar Roses Garry Treloar (VIC) Holden HQ Monaro 5810 P2 1:16.7781 0:03.193919 15 Hercules Engines Steve Mason (NSW) Chevrolet Camaro 5800 P2 1:17.2146 0:03.630420 10 Sunliner RV Tony Hunter (VIC) Chevrolet Monza 2+2 5000 P1 1:17.7108 0:04.126621 46 THD Motorsport Leo Tobin (VIC) Holden HQ Monaro 5810 P1 1:17.7571 0:04.1729