Two-time Bathurst 1000 champion John Bowe has claimed Race 1 of the Touring Car Masters at Mount Panorama today.
Bowe was kept on his toes by his title rival Jim Richards, who was just 0.254s behind Bowe as they greeted the chequered flag.
The race was concluded two laps short of full race distance when Gary Treloar crashed his Chrysler Charger E55 at The Esses on Lap 5.
After taking his 14th TCM victory of 2012 in his 1969 Ford Mustang, Bowe had nothing but praise for Richards while shifting his focus to the reverse top 10 Race 2.
“It’s really good to have another win, and to have it here is better than a win anywhere else,” Bowe said.
“Mount Panorama is a place where you need to be sensible but tough, there’s just no room for mistakes without big damage, so I’ll need to be a bit more sensible with the reverse grid tomorrow.
“It’s an absolute pleasure to race here against Jim Richards, I never told him this, but he was always my hero, so racing here as I have for so many years against is another part of our lives in motor sport.”
Andrew Miedecke, Brad Tilley and former V8 Ute racer Adam Bressington rounded out the top five.
Another former Bathurst 1000 hero, Glenn Seton, did not fair as well as his rivals.
Seton struck trouble on Lap 4 when the water pump on his Ford Falcon GTHO failed, causing him to drop through the field and finish 20th.
TCM will be back on track tomorrow for Races 2 at 0920 AEST, followed by Race 3 at 1545 to conclude TCM action for the weekend.
