October 2, 2018 | General

BUMPER GRID READY FOR BATHURST

THE BEST Paynter Dixon Touring Car Masters field of the season will front for the series’ eleventh visit to Mount Panorama this weekend at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

The 30-strong grid includes all of the series favourites title contenders and several drivers making a return to the track for the first time in several races.

The return of seven-time Great Race winner Jim Richards adds further punch to the field his famous Shannons Insurance Falcon Sprint to race for the first time since the trip to Darwin in June.

Richards has twice won the Bathurst TCM round – both times in the Falcon.

A host of drivers bolster the grid this weekend and are set to make the four races scheduled to be amongst the most competitive of the year.

Regular frontrunner Brett Youlden returns with his HQ Monaro GTS 350 while Queenslanders Ian Woodward (Camaro) and Rob Hackwood (Pontiac Firebird) make their first starts since Townsville.

Wayne Mercer (Falcon GTHO) Ben Dunn (Chevrolet Monza) and Sven Burchartz (Porsche 911 IROC) also return to the series.

Seven Aussie-built Ford Falcons will tackle the weekend in a weekend that marks the final Bathurst 1000 for the model.

The weekend marks the official Bathurst debut of the XD Falcon in Touring Car Masters competition – though it’s actually not the first time that model Falcon has raced in the category at Bathurst.

Several XD Falcons competed as part of the New Zealand Central Muscle cars contingent that joined the TCM pack in Bathurst in 2016 – Dean Perkins’ red example a regular frontrunner amongst the visitors that weekend.

Marcus Zukanovic will be looking to build on momentum created on the debut of the first truly TCM-specification XD at Sandown despite his weekend-ending crash on Saturday.

The car has been rebuilt between rounds with the experienced Victorian ready to impress again this weekend.

Steven Johnson enhanced his chances of sealing back-to-back TCM titles at Sandown last time out returning to the top of the standings thanks to a dominant weekend at the Melbourne circuit.

He was aided by an error from Bowe in tricky conditions during opening race that saw him fail to finish.

The margin between the pair stands at 55-points heading into this weekend’s penultimate round of the championship.

Adam Bressington’s strong Sandown weekend saw him retain third in the title race edging away slightly from Jason Gomersall in fourth.

Mark King powered to fifth place in the championship while Cameron Tilley dropped to sixth.

The Sydney driver however remains the leader in the ProAm battle with a reduced margin over closest rival Ryan Hansford.

Tony Karanfilovski sits eighth while Andrew Fisher and Jim Pollicina sit ninth and tenth respectively tied on 558-points.

Last year Steven Johnson dominated the Bathurst weekend winning both championship races and setting up his thrilling final-round showdown with Bowe at Newcastle a month later.

Johnson also smashed the TCM qualifying record on his way to pole his 2m16.61s a full second faster than Adam Bressington who was second in qualifying.

Bowe finished second overall last year and holds the Bathurst TCM lap record at 2m17.44s while Adam Bressington competed the podium.

Eddie Abelnica won the Trophy race denying Cameron Tilley his first win on the final lap in a thriller.

The Paynter Dixon Touring Car Masters field tackles four races this weekend each of them shown live on FOX Sports 506.

The schedule includes Races 19 20 and 21 of the championship proper and another short sharp Dometic Trophy Race.

Following practice and qualifying on Thursday Race 19 will be held on Friday afternoon following Supercars qualifying.

A four-lap jumbled-grid Trophy Race will be held on Saturday morning while the 20^th race of the 2018 series will be held on Saturday afternoon and shown live on both FOX Sports and Network Ten.

The traditional curtain-raiser on Sunday morning will see Race 21 of the year commence at 8:35am shown both on FOX Sports and Channel Ten.

SCHEDULE – ROUND 7 BATHURST 1000

THURSDAY 4 October
7:45 – 8:05 Practice (LIVE ON FOX SPORTS)
4:15 – 4:35 Qualifying (LIVE ON FOX SPORTS)

ENTRY LIST – ROUND 7

No	Sponsor Name	Ch Name	Surname	State	Year	Make	Model	Cap	Colour
2	SHANNONS Insurance	Jim	Richards	VIC	1964	Ford	Falcon Sprint	5000cc	White/Green
3	Peter Drayton Wines / Iron Bark Hill Brewhouse	CameronÂÂ	Mason	NSW	1966	Ford	Mustang Fastback	5000cc	Red/White
4	Skye Sands	Rusty	French	VIC	1970	Ford	Mustang Fastback	5800cc	Black
6	Multispares Racing	Ryan	Hansford	QLD	1974	HoldenÂÂ	Torana SL/R 5000	5000cc	Yellow/Blue
7	MOCOMM Motorsport Communications	Jim	Pollicina	NSW	1974	HoldenÂÂ	Torana A9X	5000cc	White
9	Jesus Racing	Andrew	Fisher	NSW	1971	Ford	Falcon XY GT HO	5800cc	Red
15	MOCOMM Motorsport Communications	Dean	Lillie	VIC	1972	HoldenÂÂ	Monaro GTS Coupe	5800cc	Blue
17	WM Waste / Herrod Performance	Steve	Johnson	QLD	1969	Ford	Mustang Fastback	5800cc	Yellow/Green
18	Wilson Security / PAYCE	John	Bowe	VIC	1974	HoldenÂÂ	Torana SL/R 5000	5000cc	Red/White
21	Wellpro Racing	Robert	Hackwood	QLD	1972	Pontiac	Trans Am	5800cc	White/Blue
25	Maxi-Trans Trailers	Paul	Freestone	VIC	1968	Chevrolet	Camaro	5800cc	Maroon
28	Speedgas / ANGLOMOIL Lubricants	Brad	Tilley	NSW	1971	Ford	Falcon XY GT HO	5800cc	Green/Black
29	Burrells Soils & Sand / Brad Tilley Auto Garage	JamieÂÂ	Tilley	NSW	1964	Ford	Mustang Coupe	5000cc	Black/Green
35	Bigmate Racing	Jason	Gomersall	QLD	1978	HoldenÂÂ	Torana A9X Hatchback	5000cc	Red/White/Black
44	Rent-A-Bomb Car Rentals	Brett	Hotchkin	VIC	1971	Ford	Falcon XY GT	5800cc	Red
46	THD Motorsport	Leo	Tobin	VIC	1969	Ford	Boss Mustang	5000cc	Orange
48	Rent-A-Bomb Car Rentals	Rod	Hotchkin	VIC	1971	Ford	Falcon XY GT	5800cc	Blue
52	Angliss Meats	Brett	Curran	QLD	1967	Ford	Mustang Fastback	5800cc	White/Red
56	Atlas Copco	Brett	Youlden	VIC	1972	HoldenÂÂ	Monaro GTS Coupe	5800cc	Green/White/Blue
60	Carry On Victoria / ANGLOMOIL Lubricants	Cameron	Tilley	NSW	1969	Valiant	Pacer	5800cc	Blue
69	Fataz Competition Engines	Ian	Woodward	QLD	1969	Chevrolet	Camaro SS	5800cc	Gold
71	Action Racing / LMF Constructions	Markus	Zukanovic	VIC	1980	FordÂÂ	Falcon XD	5800cc	Dark Grey
74	Lyndways Builders	Wayne	Mercer	VIC	1971	Ford	Falcon XY GT HO	5800cc	Light Blue
75	Ranger Lifting-Rigging-Safety	AaronÂÂ	McGill	NSW	1971	Ford	Falcon XW GT	5800cc	White/Blue
85	Whiteline Racing / King Springs	Mark	King	QLD	1970	Chevrolet	Camaro RS	5800cc	Yellow
88	TIFS – Warehousing & Distribution	Tony	Karanfilovski	NSW	1969	Ford	Mustang Trans Am	5800cc	Orange
90	Kalus Kenny Interlex	Sven	Burchartz	VIC	1974	Porsche	911 IROC	3600cc	Orange
95	Whiteline Racing / Fabre Australia	Adam	Bressington	NSW	1969	Chevrolet	Camaro SS	5800cc	Yellow
97	Century Batteries	Allen	Boughen	QLD	1963	Mercury	Comet	4736cc	Black/Blue
99	Mocopan Coffee / GoBlue AdBlue	Ben	Dunn	NSW	1975	Chevrolet	Monza 2 + 2	6000cc	White