There were three different winners at the third round of the Kumho V8 Touring Car Series, while Ray Hislop was the overall winner in his ex-Ford Performance Racing Falcon FG Supercar.
A win and two seconds ensured he had the best aggerate result to finish ahead of fellow Ford drivers Jamie Tilley and Jude Bargwanna.
Bargwanna qualified fastest but bungled the start of Race 1 to be a long last. Tony Auddino (Falcon BF) briefly glimpsed the lead ahead of Jim Pollicina (ex-Triple 8 Holden Commodore VE) and Tilley (ex-T8 built DJR FG).
Auddino soon fell to the newer cars as Tilley had a comfortable lead. Hislop eventually found a way around Pollicina for second. In the meantime, Bargwanna negated the distance lost early and ultimately passed the lone Commodore for third.
Hislop made the best start in Race 2 to head Bargwanna, Tilley, Auddino and Pollicina before Jarred Danaher (FG) spun at Turn 4. The lead changed on the sixth tour when Bargwanna overtook Hislop at Turn 3. The corner would be the leader’s downfall later when he ran wide and allowed Hislop through.
Hislop was able to hold on to the end, while Pollicina took third from Tilley when the Falcon had a clutch failure and limped to the line barely in front of Danaher. Auddino, Jason Foley (BF) and Shane Beikoff (Falcon AU) were next.
In the last longer race over 22 laps, Pollicina pulled one of his renowned starts to lead from Hislop and Bargwanna while Tilley was poorly away.
For four laps, Pollicina led but then succumbed to Bargwanna, who had demoted Hislop to third. Tilley was up to fourth a lap later, and ten passed Pollicina and moved to second when Hislop went off at Turn 3.
That became the lead for the latter when Bargwanna slowed with a rear wheel bearing gone. Pollicina was up to second, but he stopped after Turn 5 with a dead fuel pump. That put Hislop second in front of Danaher, Auddino and Foley while Beikoff had already pulled out.