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2008 BIANTE Touring Car MastersRICHARDS, BOWE AND TALBOT WINNERS ATPHILLIP ISLANDRound Six, Phillip Island, Vic, September. 12-14.
John Bowe and Jim Richards shared the round win for Division One and Trevor Talbot scored victory in Division Two as the BIANTE Touring Car Masters Series Round Six action thrilled fans at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit over the weekend.
Talbot was very quick in his Dukes Body Works XU1 and recorded one of his best results to date in a car that has surprising speed compared to some of his at times more fancied rivals.
Jim Richards’ consistency was enough to keep him in the round points hunt and John Bowe might have exited spectacularly in Race Two but he won in style for Race Three and that certainly vaulted him into the joint win with long time rival Jim Richards.
“This is without a doubt the most fun racing I’ve had that I can remember. Any body in this category thinking of going somewhere else with their racing needs to understand that they will never have as much fun anywhere else as we do here. It’s magic,” grinned Richards at the presentation.
RACE ONE
John Bowe was expected to be an enormous handful for the rest of the field after his stunning qualifying effort that saw the Sunliner RV Chev Camaro on pole with a 1.44.8918 – a staggering 1.9 seconds quicker than fellow front row starter Gavin Bullas in the Raincity Industries Boss Mustang.
But qualifying is a different situation to racing and Brad Tilley proved that beyond a doubt when he shot the #28 Tilley Engineering Falcon GT from the second row around Bullas and Bowe to move into the lead by turn one.
A position he maintained until the chequered flag flew, though at times his point position was under serious threat from John Bowe, Gavin Bullas and Jim Richards in no particular order.
“I was busy,” Tilley said later, “but we managed to hold on. I hope we can make Race Two because we’ve cracked the hell housing. It’s going to be touch and go.”
Gavin Bullas was the biggest threat to Tilley’s supremacy but the Melbourne speedster had to settle for second in a narrow finish with John Bowe in third, Steve Mason coming from sixth to fourth, Jim Richards getting relegated from third to fifth in 50 metres in what looked like a gearbox issue and Eddie Abelnica’s Boss home in sixth.
Richards later diagnosed fuel problems with the Falcon Rallye Sprint, he ran out, as they changed to a shorter diff ratio and thus used more fuel than calculated.
Bowe later admitted that he wasn’t entirely happy with the car and that ‘we’re still chasing the set up a bit.’ But a broken front sway bar linkage might not have helped!
Seventh home was Alastair MacLean in the Top Shelf Motor Company Chev Camaro ahead of Tony Hunter’s Sunliner RV Holden Monaro, Trevor Talbot in the potent XU1 Torana, Gary Young in the Chris Stillwell Mustang, Greg East in the “Black Betty” HQ, John Woodbury in the Graham Alexander Monaro, John Nelson in the Nelson Architects 911 Porsche, Steve Makarios in the 351 Motorsport GTHO, Rory O’Neill in the Blackcat Racing Porsche 911 and Cameron Mason in the Datsun 510 rounding out the finishers.
RACE TWO
Brad Tilley began this one from the front row alongside Gavin Bullas with John Bowe and Steve Mason on the second row and again it was the green Tilley Falcon GT that led into turn one.
For the rest of the race Tilley was a busy man as he fought off the passionate advances of John Bowe and Gavin Bullas in particular with Bullas’ one inside lunge into Honda corner ending badly with the Raincity Boss 69’ Mustang out braking itself and winding up briefly on the grass.
Bullas fought back to make it a three way battle for the lead with John Bowe and the occasional pressure from Jim Richards’ immaculate Shannon’s Insurance 64’ Falcon Rallye Sprint thrown in for good measure.
Eventually something had to give and it did on the final lap with Bullas making a desperate move on the inside of Bowe’s Westrac CAT Chev Camaro and the former V8 Supercar hero spun around in a cloud of his own tyre smoke and out of podium contention.
Jim Richards placed second ahead of Steve Mason in the Hercules Engines Chev Camaro, Alastair Maclean, John Bowe (who soldiered back to fifth after an enormous burnout when he re-joined the field) Eddie Abelnica (Melbourne’s Cheapest Cars Boss Mustang) Gavin Bullas, Greg East in the Ron Poysner Motors HQ, Trevor Talbot in the Dukes Body Works XU1 Torana, John Woodbury in the Corio Auto Parts Holden HQ, Steve Makarios, Rory O’Neill, Gary Young (who spun twice in the Stillwell 68’ Mustang much to his chagrin) Richard Fairlam, Tony Hunter, John Nelson and Cameron Mason.
Drew Marget again had further motor issues in the Marget Engineering Mustang Transam and would miss the final race of the weekend as a result.
RACE THREE
With Brad Tilley on the front row and Jim Richards alongside many tipped that the Tilley Falcon GT (which comes off the line like it has been fired out of a cannon) would lead into turn one and that’s exactly what happened.
Richards though was swamped off the line in his Shannon’s Insurance sponsored 289ci powered Falcon Rallye Sprint and the veteran master blaster was forced to fight back from fifth place before two corners had been completed.
John Bowe powered his Sunliner RV through to second and hunted down Tilley to take the lead and draw away in his grunty Sunliner RV Chev Camaro.
Tilley would slow soon after and crawl into the pits, ending a sparkling weekend on a whimper.
Gavin Bullas, who had started well back in the field after his 39 second penalty from the previous race when he made contact with John Bowe, also developed engine problems in his immaculate Ford Mustang and wound up with a disappointing end to a lively sixth round hat-trick attempt.
Steve Mason was a picture of consistency and for many laps looked like he was going to hold on to second in his Hercules Engines Chev Camaro behind Bowe but Jim Richards squeezed through over the top of Lukey Heights and the Novocastrian slipped back to third for the chequers.
It was a lonely ride for Eddie Abelnica in the Boss Mustang as he trailed Mason distantly to get fourth in the Melbourne’s Cheapest Cars entry ahead of the Top Shelf Motor Company Camaro of Alastair Maclean ahead of John Woodbury in the Corio Parts Graham Alexander Monaro, Trevor Talbot in the Dukes Body Works XU1 Torana, Gary Young in the Stillwell Motorsport 68’ Mustang, Greg East in the ‘cobbled together’ Waddington Engines HQ, Rory (Birthday Boy) O’Neill in the Blackcat 911 RS Porsche, Steve Makarios in the 351 Motorsport GTHO and John Nelson rounded out the finishers in the Nelson Architects Porsche.
Division One points for the Round
1st Jim Richards 157 1st John Bowe 157 3rd Steve Mason 152 4th Eddie Abelnica 132 4th Alastair Maclean 132 6th Brad Tilley 120 7th John Woodbury 108 8th Gavin Bullas 95 9th Tony Hunter 72
Division Two points for the Round
1st Trevor Talbot 176 2nd Greg East 164 3rd Gary Young 157 4th Steve Makarios 142 5th Rory O’Neill 138 6th John Nelson 129 7th Cameron Mason 75 8th Richard Fairlam 42
The naming rights sponsor of the Biante Touring Car Masters Series is the Biante Model Car Company – Australia’s leading Model Car Company. For all the information on their stunning range visit biante.com.au
Commentary sponsor for the Biante Touring Car Masters is Rare Spares. Rare Spares is undoubtedly the most recognised name in the Australian Automotive Aftermarket, which includes the growing restoration industry. Visit rarespares.net.au for more…
The 7th round of the Biante Touring Car Masters will be held at Symmons Plains Raceway on November 21-23.
Season Results BIANTE TCM Divisions To Date 2008
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