News
BOWE YOULDEN & EDWARDS WINTON WINNERS
A CLEAN SWEEP of the Rare Spares Rose City Trophy has helped deliver the Holden Torana its first ever victory in ENZED Touring Car Masters competition this weekend at Winton Raceway.
A lights-to flag race three victory for John Bowe saw the Ford-turned-Holden driver win the ProMasters class in the third round of the championship – the third winner from as many events so far this year.
Brett Youlden won a tight battle in the ProAm class to edge out Cameron Tilley (Valliant Pacer) and Andrew Fisher (Ford Falcon GTHO) while Tony Edwards (XA Falcon GT) won Pro Sports ahead of Leo Tobin and Garry Treloar.
Bowe beat home Andrew Miedecke by less than one second in the third and final Winton race with Glenn Seton completing the podium – but the race wasn’t that straightforward.
Then running third Miedecke inherited second place from Gavin Bullas on lap three when the Mustang driver slid wide at turn six and ran into the Winton undergrowth – dropping to fifth place.
Miedecke finished second comfortably while Seton held off a chasing battle pack that included Mark King Bullas Jim Richards and by the end of the race Cameron Tilley Brett Youlden and Tony Karanfilovski.
Despite his wild moment Bullas still finished second in the outright ProMasters class with Seton completing the podium.
Earlier Youlden Fisher and Karanfilovski had staged a mighty dice for eighth ninth and tenth place that saw the trio regularly changing positions.
Greg Crick dropped from 6th to 13th after a turn two half-spin and later came together with Rusty French at turn 12 on his way back through the field – French spinning his newly-built Skye Sands Ford Mustang following the contact.
Bruce McLeod retired on lap eight with smoke plumes from his exhaust while a fuel pump sidelined Cameron Mason after just two laps.
Unpredictable results across the first three rounds have conspired to produce close title battles in each of the three main TCM divisions this year – none more so than the ProMaster title fight.
After three of eight rounds just 20 points (provisionally) separates the top four drivers in the standings with Bullas now assuming the series lead – thanks in part to a zero score for former class leader Eddie Abelnica.
Bullas leads the consistent Greg Crick by 12 points with Andrew Miedecke a further two back.
Cameron Tilley continues to lead ProAm standings ahead of Brett Youlden and Andrew Fisher while Leo Tobin leads Tony Edwards and Tony Hunter in ProSports.
The Meguiar’s / Liqui-Moly ‘Looks good – goes great’ award for round three went to two cars – the No. 30 Thunder Road Racing Ford Mustang owned by Don Dimitriadis and Rusty French’s brand new Ford Mustang.
Brett Youlden was awarded the RARE Spares Achievement Award for his strong weekend.
ENZED TCM organisers would like to single out the Winton officials for their efforts this weekend – TCMs three races remaining Safety Car free despite several incidents.
Under the direction of series Racing Manager Peter Wollerman officials conducted a speedy recovery of Ian Palmer’s Pontiac in race two on Saturday allowing the field to continue to race without the need for a Safety Car.
ENZED Touring Car Masters competitors will get a four-week break ahead of the next round of the series the ENZED Thunder in the Valley at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway in the Northern Territory.
The round will be held alongside the wildly popular SKYCITY Triple Crown V8 Supercars event on June 19-21.