 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
|||||
|
Round 4 - Winton, August 1st - 3rd Race Report BULLAS AND EAST WIN BIANTE WINTON FEAST Gavin Bullas and Greg East were jubilant victors in the fourth round of the BIANTE Touring Car Masters Series at a typically wild and wintery Winton Motor Raceway over the weekend. Bullas sped his Raincity Industries Mustang Fastback to a stout victory in Division One after he successfully avenged his ‘near win’ the day before after a half-lose in turn eleven whilst challenging for the lead with Brad Tilley. Jumping from the second row along with fellow Mustang Fastback star Drew Marget the hard charging Bullas was able to leap into the lead before turn one and never look like handing it over despite a late charge from John Bowe, Jim Richards and the spritely Brad Tilley in the last two laps. Drew Marget had earlier jumped with Bullas past front row sitters Bowe and Richards but the driver of the yellow #17 Marget Engineering Mustang would eventually fade back to sixth by the fall of the chequers, along the way falling into the clutches of a clearly delighted Division 2 winner Greg East in the process. Bullas was able to wrap up the last 12 lap event of the weekend in the fading late afternoon light ahead of a fast finishing John Bowe in the Sunliner RV Camaro, Brad Tilley (who came from 5th) in the Tilley Engineering GT Falcon, Jim Richards in the Shannon’s Insurance Falcon Rallye Sprint and East in the Poynser Motors Bendigo / O’Brien Racing 5 Litre HQ Holden. “Finally,” grinned East at the presentations, “finally we got a win. I’m so pleased for the whole team, this is great. I just loved passing that Mustang I have to tell you.” Bullas was naturally pleased as well. “It’s been a great weekend really. It didn’t start out that way with yesterday’s race but it ended well. We got a great start in that last race and we didn’t look back. I want to thank Bowey (John Bowe) for the little tap in the rear end too.” Bernie Stack was a model of consistency all weekend in the Mark Forgie entered Porsche 911 RS and his eventual second placing overall in Division 2 was a fitting result for a round of perspiration and spirited battles. Third place in Division Two overall for the weekend went to Greg Waddington in the Waddington Engines HQ Holden named affectionately as “Black Betty” ahead of Chris Stillwell’s sweet #3 Mustang and Ray Challis in the Phil Morris entered GTHO. A three-way scrap between John Nelson (Porsche), Ian McAlister (Mustang) and Rory O’Neill (Porsche) broke out for several laps before McAlister eventually led the trio across the line in front in that battle for supremacy. John Nelson had battled a ‘miss’ in the motor for much of the event and was subsequently hamstrung in terms of straight-line speed. Graham Alexander had a lonely old ride in his #57 Holden HQ Monaro though he was able at least to stay away from any unnecessary bump and run action and finished 7th overall in the Corio Auto Parts Holden HQ Monaro in the final race of the day. Eddie Abelnica showed considerable car speed and aggression on a number of occasions in his Melbourne’s Cheapest Cars #75 Ford Mustang but his luck was challenged reliability wise more often than not, however it should be acknowledged that they had built a brand new engine only a week prior to the event and as a consequence didn’t have it fitted until the Friday, thus missing both Fridays practise and the first qualifying session, so in the end Eddie was behind the eight ball for most of the weekend. Both Chris Stillwell and Tony Edwards need a special mention as both scored their first points for the season after a series of issues had prevented them doing so till now. Race Results for Races One:
Race Results for Races Two:
Race Results for Race Three:
Top placings for the fourth round of the BIANTE Touring Car Masters Series from Winton Motor Raceway are as follows:
For more information on the official naming rights sponsor of the event - BIANTE Model Cars please visit www.biante.com.au Please also note that the new sponsor for Wade Aunger’s commentary is Rare Spares – you can’t restore without them! More information on the Biante Touring Car Masters Series can be found at www.touringcarmasters.com.au The next round of the 2008 Championship will be the Muscle Car Masters two-day event at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway on September 6 & 7, 2008, Race One TILLEY’S TOUGH BUT BOWE DOES ENOUGH Race One of Round Four of the Biante Touring Car Masters at Winton Motor Raceway today was one of the most entertaining battles of the season thus far and though John Bowe was the eventual winner it was certainly an eleventh hour victory. Bowe started the Sunliner RV ’69 Chev Camaro on pole position for the event alongside arch rival Jim Richards in his pristine ’64 Falcon Rallye Sprint and after a brief battle ensued between the pair for the opening stanza Gavin Bullas, Drew Marget and Brad Tilley enthusiastically joined in the contest for the point position. Bowe was struggling to pull the big Camaro up on the tighter sections (he conceded the brakes were the Achilles heel of the car before the event) and Bullas took full advantage of that as he moved the red Raincity Industries Ford Mustang into the lead. Jim Richards fell into the clutches of Tilley, the improved Marget and Bowe whilst Eddie Abelnica was a big mover in the Melbourne’s Cheapest Cars Boss Mustang moving up to fifth with some fast laps before having ‘a moment’ and losing touch with the lead quartet. Gavin Bullas made a bold move around the outside of Brad Tilley to briefly take the race lead into turn eleven but the #16 Boss Mustang slewed sideways ‘Steve McQueen style’ in the corner and ran off the track allowing Tilley a clear passage back in front. Bullas was later able to power back to within touch of the leaders but he simply ran out of time to improve his position any further before the fall of the chequers. The last two corners were memorable to say the least as Brad Tilley made a desperate attempt to come away with the race win only to spin the immaculate green Falcon XTGT spun coming into turn eleven and slam into the arresting sand pit where he’d remain until after the chequers. “I’m kicking myself,” he admitted later, “for 98% of the race I was really happy. Shame about the ending.” John Bowe was, typically, cool in a crisis and played the percentages game to steal back into the lead and take the win in one of the best races of the weekend to date. Jim Richards spent most of the race in a battle royale and coolly placed second with Bullas smoking back to third, Drew Marget ahead of Eddie Abelnica in fifth and Alastair MacLean sixth. Steven Hoinville was a revelation in the giant killing Ford RS 1600 Escort taking the win in Division 2 and placing an impressive fifth overall with a sizzling drive in a car that is gaining a popular following amongst fans of all ages. “She’s a little down on horsepower,” Hoinville conceded, “but in the corners we’re all over the bigger cars. It’s a lot of fun and very, very different to the Mustang I drove in Hidden Valley I assure you.” Bernie Stack put in a consistent drive in the Mark Forgie owned Porsche 911 to finish second in Division 2 ahead of Gary O’Brien Racing Holden HQ duo Greg East and Greg Waddington, Trevor Talbot in the Dukes Body Works XU1 Torana, Chris Stillwell’s Mustang, Ray Challis in the Phil Morris Falcon XY GTHO, Rory O’Neill’s Blackcat Racing 911 Porsche, Ian McAlister in his Mustang and John Nelson in the Nelson Architects Porsche rounding out the field. One of the many highlights of the event was the constant scrapping for position amongst both the Division One and Two cars. The event was the first race for newly introduced sponsor Rare Spares. You can’t restore a car without Rare Spares! The official series sponsor for the Touring Car Masters is Australia’s leading model race and road car manufacturer Biante. For the complete range of Biante products please visit www.biante.com.au Results Division 1
Results Division 2
Season Results to date
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
 |