News

19 June 2015 | General

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