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March 28, 2015 | General

TWO FROM TWO FOR JUNIOR JOHNSON

STEVEN JOHNSON completed a Saturday sweep in the ENZED Touring Car Masters at Symmons Plains today – claiming two victories pole position and the lap record in the Dunlop Super Dealer Ford Mustang.

On his debut in the category Johnson broke free of the chasing pack in the early stages of both 12-lappers and lowered the lap record with a 56.82s in the opening race.

The only hairy moment for the ex-V8 Supercar pilot occurred on the opening lap of race one where Gavin Bullas almost took out both front-running Mustangs on cold brakes at turn three.

Tasmania’s Greg Crick flew the local flag strongly in the afternoon race after spinning from 3rd in the closing stages this morning. The Mopar Performance Chrysler Charger was scored as the runner up in race two.

Eddie Abelnica piloting the Melbourne’s Cheapest Cars XB Coupe continued his strong start to the year with a pair of 3rd place finishes around the 2.4 kilometre course.

Brett Youlden was a mainstay in the top-5 during both races with the Autoline Spark Plugs Monaro suited well to the tricky Tasmania circuit.

After brushing the fence in the early stages of race one the Valiant Pacer of Cameron Tilley crossed the line 5th in race two for his second top-10 finish of the weekend.

Jason Gomersall was a picture of consistency in both of today’s 12-lap sprint races and finished 7th twice in his iSeek-backed Holden Torana.

Bill Pye Andrew Fisher and Keith Kassulke also recorded top-10 finishes during the Saturday running– banking all-important championship points early in the season.

After a strong run to 2nd place in the opening race this morning Gavin Bullas suffered a mechanical issue mid-way through race two and was forced to pull into the pits. The Victorian appeared to be Johnson’s closest competitor this weekend; however he will have his work cut out starting from the rear of the field in race three tomorrow.

It was a case of mixed fortunes for Mark King and Tony Karanfilovski – with both failing to finish the second race despite competing for the top-5 throughout race one and the majority of race two.

Karanfilovski was en route to another top 6 finish in race two; however a spin at turn three late in the race put his Ford Mustang out of contention.

Following an engine change this morning championship-leader Andrew Miedecke started at the back of the pack in both races. Miedecke impressively picked his way through the field in the afternoon race after failing to finish the first heat with a distributor issue.  

Turning his first laps at Symmons Plains since 2005 Glenn Seton endured a tough day in his Thunder Road Racing Ford Mustang after suffering almost identical spins in both races at turn 6.  

Jim Richards’ crew appear to have resolved the throttle issues that plagued the Shannons Insurance entry during qualifying – with Richards seeing the chequered flag in 8th place in race two.

After two races Steven Johnson heads the ProMasters class ahead of Abelnica and Crick respectively. In the ProAm class Brett Youlden leads the way from Jason Gomersall and Cameron Tilley whilst Tony Hunter holds the ProSport ascendancy from Leo Tobin.

The Shannons Tasmania Tourist Trophy continues tomorrow with two more races on the program. The final race for championship points gets underway at 12.30pm local time whilst the race four exhibition kicks off after the 84-lap V8 Supercar finale.

You can catch all of the Sunday action live on FOX Motorsport.

Results – Race 1

Pos Car  Competitor/Team                Driver                   Vehicle              Cap   CL Laps     Race.Time Fastest...Lap1    18  Dunlop Super Dealers/Wilson Se Steven Johnson (QLD)     Mustang Trans Am     5800       12    11:34.2554   3 0:56.8212R2    16  Rain City Industries/Prodrive  Gavin Bullas (VIC)       Ford Boss Mustang    5800       12    11:37.8743   3 0:57.2557r3    48  Melbournes Cheapest Cars       Eddie Abelnica (VIC)     Falcon XB Coupe      5800       12    11:45.7915   5 0:57.7297 4    56  Autolite Spark Plugs           Brett Youlden (VIC)      HQ Monaro Coupe      5800       12    11:47.4805   2 0:58.1292 5    85  Whiteline Transport Racing / K Mark King (QLD)          Chevrolet Camaro RS  5800       12    11:47.5669   5 0:57.8409 6    88  TIFS - Warehousing & Distribut Tony Karanfilovski (NSW) Mustang Trans Am     5800       12    11:48.2252   6 0:57.9556 7    35  iseek Racing                   Jason Gomersall (QLD)    Torana SL/R 5000     5047       12    11:49.0384   5 0:58.1370 8    52  Outbound Racing / wheels.com.p Keith Kassulke (QLD)     Falcon XB Coupe      5800       12    11:54.5539   5 0:58.0191 9    75  Mopar Performance              Greg Crick (TAS)         Chrysler Charger E55 5570       12    11:56.1422   2 0:57.2007r10   60  Glennan's Transport            Cameron Tilley (NSW)     Valiant Pacer        4390       12    12:04.0674   3 0:58.4375 11    7  Mick Webb's SVO / calga.biz    Bill Pye (NSW)           Chevrolet Camaro     5800       12    12:06.8994   9 0:58.6556 12   25  Freestones Transport/Freestone Paul Freestone (VIC)     Chevrolet Camaro SS  5800       12    12:11.2875   4 0:58.1058 13    2  Shannons Insurance             Jim Richards (VIC)       AMC Javelin          5890       12    12:13.8273   6 0:58.4273 14   20  Palmer Promotions              Ian Palmer (QLD)         Pontiac Trans-Am     5800       12    12:13.9280   8 0:59.7651 15   46  THD Motorsport                 Leo Tobin (VIC)          Ford Boss Mustang    5000       12    12:23.2761   4 0:59.6909 16   30  Thunder Road Racing Australia  Glenn Seton (QLD)        Ford Mustang Coupe   5000       12    12:25.5997   3 0:57.4703r17    9  Jesus Racing                   Andrew Fisher (NSW)      Falcon XY GTHO       5800       12    12:27.0533   4 0:58.6257 18   10  Sunliner RV                    Tony Hunter (VIC)        Chevrolet Monza 2+2  5000       12    12:27.6779   4 0:59.8978 19   11  Lion Mill Solutions/Ultra Perf Tony Edwards (VIC)       Ford Falcon XA GT    5768       12    12:28.8445   5 1:00.2228 20   38  Shearwater Storage/Penrite Oil Leon Bell (TAS)          HQ Monaro Coupe      5800       12    12:37.2121   6 1:00.9388 21   74  Mick Webb's SVO / Lyndways Bui Wayne Mercer (VIC)       Falcon XY GTHO       5800       11    11:42.5408   6 0:59.3779 22   72  BMR Industries                 Bruce McLeod (NT)        Falcon XA Superbird  5550       10    12:32.7980   2 1:04.4553 DNF  95  Whiteline Transport Racing / L Andrew Miedecke (NSW)    Chevrolet Camaro SS  5800        9     9:00.4930   7 0:57.4519rDNF   5  Light Car Club of Tasmania     John Talbot (TAS)        Ford Mustang Coupe   4992        8     8:27.3491   7 1:01.5202 

Results - Race 2

Pos Car  Competitor/Team                Driver                   Vehicle              Cap   CL Laps     Race.Time Fastest...Lap1    18  Dunlop Super Dealers/Wilson Se Steven Johnson (QLD)     Mustang Trans Am     5800       12    11:49.8546   2 0:57.5550*2    75  Mopar Performance              Greg Crick (TAS)         Chrysler Charger E55 5570       12    11:50.2846   4 0:58.2100 3    48  Melbournes Cheapest Cars       Eddie Abelnica (VIC)     Falcon XB Coupe      5800       12    11:51.7249   2 0:58.1231 4    56  Autolite Spark Plugs           Brett Youlden (VIC)      HQ Monaro Coupe      5800       12    11:58.9590   2 0:59.2083 5    60  Glennan's Transport            Cameron Tilley (NSW)     Valiant Pacer        4390       12    11:59.0150   6 0:58.5486 6    95  Whiteline Transport Racing / L Andrew Miedecke (NSW)    Chevrolet Camaro SS  5800       12    12:02.1670   4 0:57.7701 7    35  iseek Racing                   Jason Gomersall (QLD)    Torana SL/R 5000     5047       12    12:05.5443   4 0:58.6908 8     2  Shannons Insurance             Jim Richards (VIC)       AMC Javelin          5890       12    12:06.7390   4 0:58.3921 9     7  Mick Webb's SVO / calga.biz    Bill Pye (NSW)           Chevrolet Camaro     5800       12    12:08.3266   4 0:58.6939 10    9  Jesus Racing                   Andrew Fisher (NSW)      Falcon XY GTHO       5800       12    12:11.0733   6 0:58.7775 11   20  Palmer Promotions              Ian Palmer (QLD)         Pontiac Trans-Am     5800       12    12:13.1534   4 0:59.7958 12   25  Freestones Transport/Freestone Paul Freestone (VIC)     Chevrolet Camaro SS  5800       12    12:15.8239   7 0:58.6405 13   10  Sunliner RV                    Tony Hunter (VIC)        Chevrolet Monza 2+2  5000       12    12:28.8249   4 0:59.9278 14   11  Lion Mill Solutions/Ultra Perf Tony Edwards (VIC)       Ford Falcon XA GT    5768       12    12:38.2871   4 1:00.7676 15   30  Thunder Road Racing Australia  Glenn Seton (QLD)        Ford Mustang Coupe   5000       12    12:38.6950   4 0:57.9726 16   46  THD Motorsport                 Leo Tobin (VIC)          Ford Boss Mustang    5000       12    12:39.0207   6 1:00.4607 17   38  Shearwater Storage/Penrite Oil Leon Bell (TAS)          HQ Monaro Coupe      5800       12    12:42.3768   3 1:01.4490 18    5  Light Car Club of Tasmania     John Talbot (TAS)        Ford Mustang Coupe   4992       12    12:44.1066   2 1:01.5043 19   74  Mick Webb's SVO / Lyndways Bui Wayne Mercer (VIC)       Falcon XY GTHO       5800       12    12:55.3561   6 1:00.5247 DNF  88  TIFS - Warehousing & Distribut Tony Karanfilovski (NSW) Mustang Trans Am     5800       11    10:51.8930   8 0:58.2779 DNF  85  Whiteline Transport Racing / K Mark King (QLD)          Chevrolet Camaro RS  5800       11    11:40.3359   6 0:58.1582 DNF  16  Rain City Industries/Prodrive  Gavin Bullas (VIC)       Ford Boss Mustang    5800        4     3:54.7233   3 0:57.9281 DNF  52  Outbound Racing / wheels.com.p Keith Kassulke (QLD)     Falcon XB Coupe      5800        3     4:25.5542   2 0:58.9269