Jim Richards has taken the lead in the Touring Car Masters presented by Autobarn for the first time this season with three dominant victories at Hidden Valley Raceway last weekend.
In fact, all three classes in the Touring Car Masters were clean-sweeps, with Cameron Tilley (1970 Valiant Pacer, Group 2) and Tony Karanfilovski (Alfa Romeo GTAM, Group 3) scoring maximum points.
Richards, driving his Shannons-backed Falcon Sprint, took a great win in Race 2, passing Gavin Bullas on the final lap to secure what was his first weekend clean-sweep in the category.
“We haven’t had three straight wins in the Touring Car Masters ever before and we haven’t had a win for a while either, so it’s been a great weekend,” he said.
“We’ve come away with only a few scratches at the end of three races and given how hard we’re battling out there, it really is fantastic racing. Really brilliant!”
Entering the weekend as the series leader, John Bowe threw down the gauntlet on day one, setting the fastest times in both practice sessions and then went on to claim pole. He finished second in Race 1, third in Race 2 but a spectacular oil line break on the penultimate lap saw smoke belt out of his Mustang, costing him a certain podium finish.
Bullas took second overall for the round ahead of Brad Tilley, Tony Edwards and Andrew Miedecke.
The Touring Car Masters presented by Autobarn now heads into its mid-season break and will return as the headline category for Australia’s largest muscle car event, Muscle Car Masters at Eastern Creek Raceway (NSW) on September 4-5.
