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JOHNSON STREAK CONTINUES WITH FIRST WINTON WIN
STEVEN JOHNSON has won his fourth straight Paynter Dixon Touring Car Masters series race leading John Bowe in a straightforward battle for the lead in race seven of the year.
Starting from pole Johnson led Bowe into turn one and was never headed across the 12-laps though the pair were pushing hard out in front.
Johnson’s fastest lap was just 0.3 seconds behind Bowe’s Winton Raceway lap record as he edged away to a two-second lead for much of the race.
Bowe closed the margin in the closing laps but never looked to challenge the otherwise dominant WM Waste Team Johnson Mustang.
His fifth win of the year was also the first for a car with an engine bigger than five litres at Winton since 2014 when Tony Karanfilovski won in his similar Mustang.
Johnson’s win coupled with his five bonus points for pole position was the 24th of his TCM career (equalling Jim Richards tally for third on the all-time winners list) and closed the points margin to series leader Bowe down to just 30 markers.
Ryan Hansford had a lonely race to third in the Multispares Torana while Adam Bressington had a similarly quiet run to fourth in his VDC / Whiteline Racing Camaro.
Bressington was tailed home by teammate King – the only dramas the yellow pair suffered was the lightest of contact between the pair on the opening lap rush through the first chicane.
The battle of the race was the one waged for sixth and seventh between Andrew Fisher and Cameron Tilley.
Though slightly faster Tilley’s Valliant Pacer was unable to work his way past the Jesus Racing Falcon despite multiple attempts – the falcon better out of the corners and the Pacer quicker through them.
Their battle also dragged the ACDelco Torana of Bruce Williams into the mix.
Williams went down the inside of Tilley at turn three the pair running side by side through the exit on the run to turn four.
With Tilley holding his ground with no road remaining on the outside the two made contact Williams spinning across the front of the blue Valliant and into the sand at turn four.
He quickly extracted himself and recovered to finish tenth behind Jason Gomersall and Tony Karanfilovski.
Outside the 10 a highlight included an entertaining battle between the Ford Escort RS of Nathan Geier and Rob Burns’ considerably more powerful HQ GTS – in it’s first TCM race.
Aaron McGill also completed his first TCM race as his XW GT Falcon made it’s first start from the back of the grid running consistently to finish 16th.
Cameron Mason and Graham Crawford failed to finish – Mason’s Mustang cutting out with an electrical issue after 11 laps.
The Paynter Dixon Touring Car Masters series continues on Sunday with races eight and nine of the 2018 championship.
Earlier John Bowe charged from 19th to first in the Dometic Trophy Race on Saturday morning.
While other ProMasters runners took a more conservative approach Bowe went all-out in the Wilson Security Torana and carved his way through the field.
Tony Karanfilovski led the race early from the outside of the front row though he was soon passed by Jason Gomersall’s BigMate A9X Torana.
The pair held station at the front however were quickly chased down by Bowe as he stormed through the field the five-time champion ultimately passing Gomersall with a bold move around the outside of turns three and four on the final lap.
Gomersall and Karanfilovski maintained their positions relative to each other in second and third while Williams charged his way to fourth and Andrew Fisher fifth.
Jim Pollicina (Who broke a clutch in the series race later on) Ian Woodward Graham Alexander Mark King and Cameron Tilley completed the top-10 in another entertaining affair.
DOMETIC TROPHY RACE
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Pos Car Competitor/Team Driver Vehicle Cap CL Laps Race.Time Fastest...Lap1 18 Wilson Security / PAYCE John Bowe Holden Torana A9X 10 15:21.4208 8 1:29.2122*2 35 Bigmate Racing Jason Gomersall Holden Torana A9X Ha 10 15:23.0629 7 1:31.4234 3 88 TIFS - Warehousing & Distribut Tony Karanfilovski Ford Mustang Trans A 10 15:23.5303 6 1:31.2411 4 5 ACDelco / Auto Action Bruce Williams Holden Torana SL/R 5 10 15:23.6869 8 1:30.5465 5 9 Jesus Racing Andrew Fisher Ford Falcon XY GT HO 10 15:26.9835 9 1:30.3539 6 27 MOCOMM Motorsport Communicatio Jim Pollicina Holden Torana A9X 10 15:27.9654 7 1:31.4638 7 69 Fataz Competition Engines Ian Woodward Chevrolet Camaro SS 10 15:33.5831 7 1:31.7832 8 57 Graham Alexander Graham Alexander Chevrolet Camaro SS 10 15:36.7974 10 1:32.3946 9 85 Whiteline Racing / King Spring Mark King Chevrolet Camaro RS 10 15:37.1299 9 1:31.4684 10 60 Glennan Transport / ANGLOMOIL Cameron Tilley Valiant Pacer 10 15:40.8337 10 1:31.1125 11 6 Multispares Racing Ryan Hansford Holden Torana SL/R 5 10 15:41.2419 10 1:30.2251 12 17 WM Waste / Herrod Performance Steve Johnson Ford Mustang Fastbac 10 15:41.6309 10 1:30.1148 13 95 Whiteline Racing / vdc.com.au Adam Bressington Chevrolet Camaro SS 10 15:42.4252 10 1:29.9310 14 46 THD Motorsport Leo Tobin Ford Boss Mustang 10 15:50.8346 6 1:31.8207 15 4 Northern BM Nathan Geier Ford Escort RS 1600 10 15:56.9304 5 1:34.1884 16 3 F3 Motor Auctions Cameron Mason Ford Mustang Fastbac 10 15:58.6608 10 1:32.3014 17 8 Bendigo Retro Muscle Cars Rob Burns Holden Monaro GTS 10 16:12.9481 6 1:34.9964 18 11 Pitman Trucks / Halkin Develop Graham Crawford Ford Falcon XA GT 10 16:16.0288 8 1:35.4447 19 48 Rod Hotchkin Rod Hotchkin Ford Falcon XY GT HO 10 16:18.7530 6 1:35.7329 DNF 44 Brett Hotchkin Brett Hotchkin Ford Falcon XY GT HO
2018 RACE 7
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Pos Car Competitor/Team Driver Vehicle Cap CL Laps Race.Time Fastest...Lap1 17 WM Waste / Herrod Performance Steve Johnson Ford Mustang Fastbac 12 17:56.3410 4 1:28.3835*2 18 Wilson Security / PAYCE John Bowe Holden Torana A9X 12 17:56.9015 3 1:28.7667 3 6 Multispares Racing Ryan Hansford Holden Torana SL/R 5 12 18:09.4349 2 1:29.3730 4 95 Whiteline Racing / vdc.com.au Adam Bressington Chevrolet Camaro SS 12 18:11.8025 2 1:29.8916 5 85 Whiteline Racing / King Spring Mark King Chevrolet Camaro RS 12 18:16.0470 2 1:30.4336 6 9 Jesus Racing Andrew Fisher Ford Falcon XY GT HO 12 18:18.8325 3 1:30.3812 7 60 Glennan Transport / ANGLOMOIL Cameron Tilley Valiant Pacer 12 18:19.2833 4 1:30.3315 8 35 Bigmate Racing Jason Gomersall Holden Torana A9X Ha 12 18:22.1297 5 1:30.1996 9 88 TIFS - Warehousing & Distribut Tony Karanfilovski Ford Mustang Trans A 12 18:26.2262 7 1:31.0195 10 5 ACDelco / Auto Action Bruce Williams Holden Torana SL/R 5 12 18:39.3562 6 1:30.6752 11 69 Fataz Competition Engines Ian Woodward Chevrolet Camaro SS 12 18:42.6367 3 1:32.4848 12 46 THD Motorsport Leo Tobin Ford Boss Mustang 12 18:43.0524 6 1:31.6295 13 57 Graham Alexander Graham Alexander Chevrolet Camaro SS 12 18:57.5483 4 1:32.4401 14 8 Bendigo Retro Muscle Cars Rob Burns Holden Monaro GTS 12 19:06.2226 4 1:33.8729 15 4 Northern BM Nathan Geier Ford Escort RS 1600 12 19:07.5957 5 1:33.6978 16 75 Ranger Lifting-Rigging-Safety Aaron McGill Ford Falcon XW GT 11 18:02.9811 11 1:36.1873 17 48 Rod Hotchkin Rod Hotchkin Ford Falcon XY GT HO 11 18:03.5827 2 1:36.9218 18 44 Brett Hotchkin Brett Hotchkin Ford Falcon XY GT HO 10 18:51.6202 8 1:50.1618 DNF 3 F3 Motor Auctions Cameron Mason Ford Mustang Fastbac 11 17:03.6560 4 1:31.2857 DNF 11 Pitman Trucks / Halkin Develop Graham Crawford Ford Falcon XA GT 10 16:12.0727 2 1:36.0294