AUSTRALIAN TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP, ROUND 5, LAKESIDE, 25/04/94.

Round 5 of the ATCC saw what has to some of the best racing in the 
championship in years.  Lakeside is a track which is fast, twisty and 
undulating all at the same time and the sight of these guys wrestling 
their big V8's around there was truly something else...

Qualifying was dominated by the Falcons for a change and the mould seems 
to have been broken after Phillip Island with Mark Skaife not making it 
into the dash for the first time this year.  The dash was easily won by 
Seton from his team-mate Jones who was the only one to improve, muscling 
past Peter Brock.

So the stage was set for a great frist heat.  For the first time this 
season the dash was not used to decide grid positions so Johnson and 
Seton formed the front row.  Dick got off to a flier, but back down the 
field a bit things went a little haywire.  Peter Brock got the start all 
wrong and ended up sliding across the track and nosing into the pit wall.
As he went across Brock got Longhurst caught behind him.  The field made 
it past, but the heat was re-started before the lap had finished.  Glenn
Seton got the better of Dick at the second start and led for probably half
the race with Johnson tucked right under his rear wing before Dick made
a beautifully executed overtaking move.  Once through he never looked like
relinquishing the lead and drove off into the distance.  Bowe had by now
caught Seton and for several laps tried moves in all sorts of places.  A
misunderstanding when Glenn went for the pits without signalling caused
a collision between the two of them that spun Seton off the track and
blew one of Bowe's tyres.  The most spectacular indcident of the heat
occurred as Bowe tried to limp back home to the pits and Paul Morris
squeezed past him.  Tomas Mezera tried to follow but only succeeded in
bouncing straight off Bowe and across the track at 250km/h straight into
a guard rail.  Ouch.  That was towards the end of Heat 1, which was won
by Johnson by a very comfortable margin.  Trevor Ashby drove a superb
race to mix it wit the big boys and finish a superb seventh.

After all that happened in Heat 1, Heat 2 looked very promising with Brock,
Longhurst, Bowe and Seton starting from the back of a full grid.  This time
Johnson got the start all wrong and slipped back down to fourth or fifth
before the first corner.  After his strong showing in the first heat,
Perkins led them away.  For several laps Johnson worked away at the Winfield
cars, finally making it past both of them with a couple of exciting moves
on them.  I can name at least one guy cheering to see Dick back to his best.
The competition between the two Winfield cars was keen and on this day Jim
Richards, very probably one of the best touring car drivers in the world,
looked to have Skaife's measure for sure, easing past him eventually.  
However Jim didn't look like making any inroads in the lead Dick had on him,
while Dick only seemed to be catching Perkins slowly.  That was until a
backmarker, Schembri, blew his engine and dumped oil all through the fast
corner leading onto the main straight.  Then all of a sudden three cars
were off the course, Johnson, Gardner and Seton.  Interestingly they all
slid off backwards in what looked to be close to synchronised crashing.  Of
these only Johnson seemed to sustain serious damage to his car and could
not return to the race.  It was a bitter disappointment for Dick, after what
surely was his best race in years.  The problem seemed to be that the oil
was in such a position as to be masked by the smoke from the blown engine 
and gave some of the drivers no chance.  Perkins and the Winfield cars made
it through unscathed.  A discussion between one of the commentators and
Glenn Seton as he drove flat out through that corner later in the race
seemed to indicate the oil had been dumped right on the racing line.  After
that the main interest was whether Richards could catch Perkins.  He did
this, but for lap after lap, Larry's car seemed to be just a little too
wide in all the right places.  Larry has been round the block a few times,
and he always put his car so Jim really had no chance, barring Larry making
a mistake.  Amazingly Peter Brock was with the leading pair at the end of
the heat after an incredible drive from the back of the field.  This is the
best showing we have seen from Brock in years.  

Whatever nitwit reckoned there was no overtaking in the V8 formula only 
needed to watch this race to see what a load of rubbish that is.  The V8
formula works, the racing is close, there are international class drivers
in the field, and tracks like Lakeside really bring out the best in the
ATCC.  The crowd afterwards, while disappointed at the misfortune of local
legend Dick Johnson, was suitably appreciative of Larry Perkins first
ever round win in his years in the ATCC.  Way to go Larry, and roll on
Winton!

PETER JACKSON DASH (For top six qualifiers)

01 [1] {1} Glenn Seton     Peter Jackson Ford Falcon EB
02 [4] {3} Alan Jones      Peter Jackson Ford Falcon EB
03 [3] {2} Peter Brock     Mobil Mobilenet Holden Commodore VP
04 [5] {4} Tony Longhurst  Benson & Hedges Holden Commodore VP
05 [2] {5} Dick Johnson    Shell FAI Ford Falcon EB
06 [6] {6} John Bowe       Shell FAI Ford Falcon EB

[-] : Original Qualifying Position
{-} : Starting Position As Drawn

HEAT 1  Points Scorers

01 Dick Johnson   Shell FAI Ford Falcon EB
02 Larry Perkins  Castrol Holden Commodore VP
03 Jim Richards   Winfield Holden Commodore VP
04 Mark Skaife    Winfield Holden Commodore VP
05 Trevor Ashby   Lansvale Smash Repairs Holden Commodore VP
06 Wayne Gardner  Coca Cola Holden Commodore VP
07 Tony Scott     Holden Commodore VP
08 Paul Morris    Diet Coke Holden Commodore VP
09 Neil Crompton  Coca Cola Holden Commodore VP
10 Alan Jones     Peter Jackson Ford Falcon EB
..

The finishing order for Heat 1 was the grid order for Heat 2.

HEAT 2  Points Scorers

01 Larry Perkins  Castrol Holden Commodore VP
02 Jim Richards   Winfield Holden Commodore VP
03 Peter Brock    Mobil Mobilenet Holden Commodore VP
04 Mark Skaife    Winfield Holden Commodore VP
05 Paul Morris    Diet Coke Holden Commodore VP
06 John Bowe      Shell FAI Ford Falcon EB
07 Trevor Ashby   Lansvale Smash Repairs Holden Commodore VP
08 Glenn Seton    Peter Jackson Ford Falcon EB
09 Neil Crompton  Coca Cola Holden Commodore VP
10 Bob Jones      Ampol Max 3 Holden Commodore VP
..

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

184 Mark Skaife    Winfield Holden Commodore VP
122 Glenn Seton    Peter Jackson Ford Falcon EB
119 Peter Brock    Mobil Mobilenet Holden Commodore VP
 88 Jim Richards   Winfield Holden Commodore VP
 77 Larry Perkins  Castrol Holden Commodore VP
..

NEXT ROUND : Winton, May 15.

See the ATCC Points Standing post for a full breakdown of the points scored.
If it does not appear at your site feel free to email me for a copy.  If you
want a copy of the race results for any of the preceeding rounds, email me
for a copy.

Posted by : swheeler@lawson.its.utas.edu.au (Steve Wheeler)