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FIRST TOWNSVILLE WIN GOES TO JOHNSON
A LIGHTS to flag win etched Steven Johnson into the record books as the first ever winner of a Paynter Dixon Touring Car Masters race on the streets of Townsville.
The WM Waste Team Johnson Ford Mustang driver led from lights to flag in today’s 12-lap affair the 13th race of the 2018 championship chase.
He headed home John Bowe by less than one second with Adam Bressington completing the podium having charged his Whiteline Racing Camaro through the field from seventh on the grid.
Today’s race saw the top three drivers in the series lock out the top three; Johnson’s pole and victory edging his margin over Bowe to 30 points ahead of races 14 and 15 tomorrow.
Bressington remains third in the standings 170 points behind the dynamic duo leading the way.
Starting from pole Johnson made the perfect start and easily led the field through the flat-out kink at turn one and towards turn two.
Ryan Hansford pushed the Multispares Torana to third place on the opening lap however that was as far forward as the Queenslander would go.
On lap two his car hesitated exiting the second corner and soon slipped through the field Hansford battling gearbox issues.
At the end of the second lap he was tapped into a spin in the final corner by Jim Pollicina who was passing Jason Gomersall at the time – compounding his issues. Pollicina was penalised for the contact and served a drive-through penalty ultimately finishing eleventh.
Hansford retired the car soon afterwards ending an otherwise promising day.
The race settled down with Fisher trailing the two leaders though Adam Bressington was the man on the move.
Bressington had charged to fifth from seventh on the opening lap and inherited fourth when Hansford’s issues became apparent.
He then spent several laps engaged in a competitive battle with Fisher ultimately slipping past on the eighth lap.
Fisher retained fourth for three further laps however a right-front puncture slowed the Jesus Racing Falcon with two laps remaining dropping him down the order.
He lasted one lap before the flailing tyre began to damage the guard Fisher ultimately forced to retire his car as well.
Bruce Williams finished a solid fourth the AC Delco Torana improving after a challenging day of practice yesterday.
Jason Gomersall was a solid fifth scoring a strong haul of points towards his title campaign.
The BigMate Racing Torana driver sits fifth in the championship now just six points behind fourth-placed Cameron Tilley – who finished eighth.
A starring performance from Rob Hackwood saw Wellpro Racing score their best ever TCM result in sixth position on their debut of the Pontiac Firebird.
The Queenslander started eighth and ran seventh for a majority of the race climbing one position further in the final two laps as Fisher slipped back through the field.
Tony Karanfilovski worked his way forward from 12th on the grid to 7th at the line with Cameron Tilley just behind.
Ian Woodward – who charged from 13th to 9th – and Wayne Mercer completed the top-10.
Mark King had run strongly in eighth for much of the race however a mishap two laps from home saw him drop out of the 10 – ultimately finishing 12th.
After a promising start to his second TCM round a broken axle sidelined Aaron McGill’s Falcon early in today’s race.
Two races complete the fifth round of the Paynter Dixon Touring Car Masters series tomorrow.
Race 14 is scheduled for 9:45am and will be shown live on FOX Sports while Race 15 commences at 12:45pm and will be shown live on FOX and on a slight delay on Network Ten.
SERIES STANDINGS FOLLOWING RACE 13
1. Steven Johnson (Mustang) 869
2. John Bowe (Torana) 839
3. Adam Bressington (Camaro) 699
4. Cameron Tilley (Pacer) 651
5. Jason Gomersall (Torana) 645
6. Mark King (Camaro) 556
7. Leo Tobin (Mustang) 462
8. Jim Pollicina (Torana) 453
9. Ryan Hansford (Torana) 442
10. Bruce Williams (Torana) 417
RACE 13 RESULTS – TOWNSVILLE QLD
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Pos Car Competitor/Team Driver Vehicle Cap CL Laps Race.Time Fastest...Lap1 17 WM Waste / Herrod Motorsport Steve Johnson (QLD) Ford Mustang Fastbac 12 16:34.7989 2 1:21.1067R2 18 Wilson Security / PAYCE John Bowe (VIC) Holden Torana SL R 12 16:35.6088 4 1:21.4289 3 95 Whiteline Racing / VDC.com.au Adam Bressington (NSW) Chevrolet Camaro SS 12 16:48.7545 3 1:22.7850 4 5 ACDelco Bruce Williams (VIC) Holden Torana SL R 12 16:54.1861 3 1:23.1416 5 35 Bigmate Racing Jason Gomersall (QLD) Holden Torana A X Ha 12 16:58.7399 4 1:23.3501 6 21 Wellpro Racing Robert Hackwood (QLD) Pontiac Trans Am 12 17:01.7676 3 1:23.5842 7 88 TIFS - Warehousing & Distribut Tony Karanfilovski (NSW) Ford Mustang Trans A 12 17:02.8472 6 1:23.6304 8 60 Glennan Transport / ANGLOMOIL Cameron Tilley (NSW) Valiant Pacer 12 17:04.6449 6 1:23.5720 9 69 Fataz Competition Engines Ian Woodward (QLD) Chevrolet Camaro SS 12 17:09.7631 6 1:23.8979 10 74 Lyndways Builders Wayne Mercer (VIC) Ford Falcon XY GT HO 12 17:17.1831 4 1:24.7685 11 7 MOCOMM Motorsport Communicatio Jim Policina (NSW) Holden Torana A X 12 17:44.8455 8 1:24.1272 12 85 Whiteline Racing / King Spring Mark King (QLD) Chevrolet Camaro RS 12 17:54.1964 4 1:23.7905 13 19 Tincone Industrial Services Darren Beale (QLD) Holden Monaro GTS Co 12 18:02.8651 10 1:27.4673 DNF 9 Jesus Racing Andrew Fisher (NSW) Ford Falcon XY GT HO 11 15:43.3662 3 1:22.6806 DNF 6 Multispares Racing Ryan Hansford (QLD) Holden Torana SL R 2 3:57.5274 1 1:27.2761 DNF 75 Ranger Lifting-Rigging-Safety Aaron McGill (NSW) Ford Falcon XY GT 1 1:35.4325 1 1:35.4325