[William Dale Jr]

Tooheys 1000
Mount Panorama, NSW (2/10/1989)

Circuit Length: 6.216 km
Race Distance: 161 laps
Weather: Sunny

All the contenders and pretenders from Sandown were at Bathurst for the big dance. Bond, Moffat and Seton had expanded to run two cars. Once again, Ruedi Eggenberger returned to run the Moffat operation, with a brand new car for Niedzwiedz, Moffat and Frank Biela. Other internation arrivals were Andy Rouse, slotting into the co-driver role for Peter Brock; his BTCC rival Robb Gravett, arriving to drive the second DJR car; after rumours of Stefan Johansson or Keke Rosberg, it was Alain Ferte that came down to pilot one of Glenn Seton's cars; Anders Olofsson was back for Nissan; and Gianfranco Brancatelli returned to join Robbie Francevic in the Whittaker's Peanut Slab Sierra. Toyota Team Australia had their new turbo Supra ready to make its race debut, with John Smith and Drew Price at the helm. The circuit was due for resurfacing in early 1990 and the kerbing had been redone in preparation. Some new kerbs had been installed while others were raised in profile. A few of the drivers were concerned about the height and placement of the new kerbs, but it would only be a problem for one year. Also, the traditional standing start made a return, now that the race was back under the overall control of the ARDC.

Sierras took up nine of the top ten places in qualifying, Richards' Skyline the interloper in the group of Fords. Andrew Bagnall was first cab off the rank, but planted the Gulliver's Travels Sierra in the wall at Reid Park. The hit was worse than it first looked, and the TAFE Smash Repair crew did a good job to get the car ready to start from pit lane on Sunday. Johnson was fastest heading into the Top Ten, but it was Brock that took pole and the prizemoney, dipping into the 2m15s. Controversy, though, when scrutineers find a fire extinguisher system nozzle pointed at the intercooler. The popular suggestion was that the extinguisher squirted halon onto the intercooler during the top ten lap, keeping it extra cool to boost horsepower. Nothing was proven, but Brock copped a $5000 fine from the entrant's group.

With six cars starting from the pits, the rest of the field arrived at the grid at the end of the formation lap and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Although the standing start was a return to tradition, this was the first time the cars did a formation lap immediately prior to the start of the race. Previously, two warm up laps were done, the cars formed up, and the engines switched off while more ceremonies were performed; then, with a couple of minutes to 10 o'clock, "Gentlemen start your engines." It was suspected organisers were waiting on the clock to strike 10... meanwhile temperature gauges were starting to rise, and several cars would later retire from the race as a result of the long hold.

When the lights eventually went green, Brock made a terrific getaway to lead into Hell Corner, followed by Johnson - who smoked the tyres to avoid making the same mistake he had at Sandown - Niedzwiedz, Brad Jones and Miedecke. Sadly, this was about as far as Miedecke got, a broken gear selector shaft jamming the car in fifth. The Yokohama Sierra got as far as Reid Park, another disaster in a year full of them for Miedecke. As the leaders came down Conrod for the first time, Johnson blew past Brock to take the lead. Apart from those first five-or-so kilometres, car #17 would lead for the whole day. Longhurst had dropped back on the run up Mountain Straight for the first time to be down in 13th at the end of lap 1. Niedzwiedz passed Brock going into Hell on lap 3, while Longhurst and Brancatelli began to charge their way through the field, Branca setting the second fastest lap of the race. Brock soon pitted complaining of a loose rear wheel, just the start of the troubles for the Mobil Sierra team.

Brancatelli got as high as third before a wheel fell off across the top of the mountain, retiring the car after it ground the bottom off the radiator on the way back to the pits. Behind him, Seton had lost the #30 Peter Jackson Sierra on patch of oil coming over Skyline, backing the blue Sierra into a tyre barrier. Although he drove back to the pits, it was some laps before the car was ready to return to action, by which time Seton and Ferte had switched to car 35. The final victim of this sequence was Brad Jones. Debris from Seton's off had cut Jones brake lines, giving the Albury youngster a fright when he braked for Caltex Chase. The 105 car lost several laps repairing the damage.

Longhurst was the next to fall, pitting earlier than planned with a blown headgasket. He would soon jump into the #20 car. Next to retire with overheating issues was Pierre Dieudonne. With Bond also in trouble by this stage, and the second Johnson car struggling with electrical issues all the major Sierra teams were down to one competitive car, if that. Meanwhile, the factory Skylines and Commodores were just trucking along, each running in tandem and without any dramas. Not much changed after the first round of stops. Allan Grice had snuck into the top five on fuel strategy, but would soon lose several laps with gearbox problems.

It was plain sailing up front for Johnson and Niedzwiedz, while Brock made his way back into the top three by half distance before rear wheel dramas struck again. This time wheelnut wouldn't budge, and eventually the team had to cut it off. The hub was too badly worn to fit a new one, so that was that for car 05. Johnson and Bowe had pulled out the best part of a lap on the second-placed car. However, they weren't doing it easy. The turbo was dropping boost pressure, and Bowe was having to press on to keep up the lap time. Biela was slowly catching the the red car, but the Moffat challenge evaporated soon after their final planned stop. The ANZ car was blowing smoke as it returned to the track, Niedzwiedz bringing the car back in a couple of laps later because a wheel felt loose. The German emerged from the pits directly in front of Bowe, nearly one lap down.

From there, Bowe made a final stop for fuel and cruised to the flag with Niedzwiedz over a minute behind in second. Cotter/Doulman were the last M3 standing in class B after the demise of both Sax cars and the dominant class-leading Plaspak car of Bill Bryce, while the little car class was won by TTA's Star Search drivers superbike racer Mike Dowson and rally driver Neal Bates.

Position	Number	Entrant	Drivers	Car	Class	Race Time/Laps	Retirement Cause	Fastest Time	Qualifying Time	Grid Position	Tooheys Top 10 Time
1	17	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	Dick Johnson / John Bowe	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	6h30m53.44s		2m19.12s	2m16.58s	2	2m16.79s (Johnson)
2	10	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Klaus Niedzwiedz / Frank Biela	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	6h32m15.06s		2m20.06s	2m17.02s	4	2m17.42s (Niedzwiedz)
3	2	Nissan Motor Sport	Jim Richards / Mark Skaife	Nissan Skyline GTS-R HR-31	A	160 laps		2m21.80s	2m18.86s	7	2m20.09s (Richards)
4	3	Nissan Motor Sport	George Fury / Anders Olofsson	Nissan Skyline GTS-R HR-31	A	160 laps		2m22.92s	2m19.64s	13
5	20	Benson & Hedges Racing	Alan Jones / Denny Hulme / Tony Longhurst	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	158 laps		2m20.96s	2m19.06s	9	2m20.63s (Jones)
6	16	Holden Racing Team	Larry Perkins / Tomas Mezera	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	158 laps		2m23.38s	2m16.16s	11
7	7	Holden Racing Team	Win Percy / Neil Crompton	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	158 laps		2m24.08s	2m22.00s	18
8	18	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	Jeff Allam / Robb Gravett	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	158 laps		2m21.70s	2m19.62s	12
9	105	Mobil 1 Racing	Brad Jones / Paul Radisich	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	153 laps		2m22.90s	2m18.20s	5	2m19.09s (Jones)
10	15	FAI Insurances Ltd	Allan Grice / Peter Janson	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	153 laps		2m23.10s	2m22.44s	19
11	37	Brian Callaghan	Brian Callaghan / Barry Graham	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	152 laps		2m27.08s	2m23.40s	22
12	55	Playscape Racing Australia	Kevin Waldock / Bryan Thomson	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	152 laps		2m25.26s	2m25.10s	23
13	12	Lansvale Smash Repairs P/L	Steve Reed / Trevor Ashby	Holden Commodore VL (HDT)	A	151 laps		2m30.30s	2m27.32s	29
14	22	Lusty Engineering P/L	Alf Costanzo / Graham Lusty	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	146 laps		2m25.58s	2m25.20s	24
15	34	Ray Gulson	Ray Gulson / Graham Gulson	BMW 635CSi	A	143 laps		2m32.52s	2m30.60s	39 (pit lane)
16	52	M3 Motorsport	John Cotter / Peter Doulman	BMW M3	B	142 laps		2m37.08s	2m24.84s	42
17	33	Team Toyota Australia	Michael Dowson / Neal Bates	Toyota Corolla AE92 Hatch	C	141 laps		2m38.86s	2m37.92s	48 (pit lane)
18	44	Sutherland Mitsubishi	Gary Scott / Kevin Bartlett / Terry Shiel	Mitsubishi Starion	A	141 laps		2m28.76s	2m25.94s	26
19	32	Team Toyota Australia	John Faulkner / Peter McKay	Toyota Corolla AE92 Hatch	C	140 laps		2m39.38s	2m36.32s	46
20	30	Peter Jackson Racing	Glenn Seton / Tony Noske / John Goss	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	140 laps		2m23.96s	2m19.06s	8	2m20.52s (Seton)
21	60	The Xerox Shop	Scotty Taylor / Roger Hurd	Mitsubishi Starion	A	139 laps		2m38.14s	2m41.00s	44
22	54	Clive Smith	Clive Smith / Paul Trevethan	Nissan Skyline DR-30	A	137 laps		2m36.34s	2m36.52s	47 (pit lane)
23	78	Team Madison Racing	Michael Adcock / Geoff Full	Toyota Corolla AE86 Liftback	C	136 laps		2m44.12s	2m45.54s	53
24	49	David Sala	Ross Burbidge / Steve Williams	Nissan Gazelle	B	134 laps		2m43.96s	2m41.00s	50
25	38	Mulvihill Motorsport P/L	Tony Mulvihill / Glenn McIntyre / Graham Moore	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	133 laps		2m29.90s	2m29.74s	37
26	4	Caltex CXT Race Team	Colin Bond / Bruce Stewart / Dominic Beninca	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	131 laps		2m24.24s	2m20.44s	16
27	48	Mistic Mould Destroyer	Wayne Park / John Giddings	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	130 laps		2m29.66s	2m25.98s	27 (pit lane)
NC	28	Joseph Sommariva	Joe Sommariva / Warren McKellar	BMW 635CSi	A	118 laps	insufficient laps	2m40.40s	2m36.08s	45
NC	13	Bob Holden Motors	Bob Holden / Joe McAndrew / Tim Hall	Toyota Corolla AE86 Liftback	C	108 laps	insufficient laps	2m46.00s	2m47.64s	54
NC	69	Blue Haven Pools	Reda Awadallah / Ray Lintott	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	106 laps	insufficient laps	2m35.30s	2m41.56s	51
NC	68	Blue Haven Pools	Garry Willmington / Tom Watkinson	Toyota Supra Turbo MA70	A	91 laps	insufficient laps	2m37.20s	2m39.78s	49
NC	23	Beaurepaires	Chris Lambden / Greg Crick	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	90 laps	insufficient laps	2m27.54s	2m25.78s	25
DNF	45	Lester Smerdon	Lester Smerdon / Gary Hinton / Marty Turpin	Holden Commodore VL (HDT)	A	112 laps	broken axle	2m36.56s	2m34.92s	43
DNF	51	Bob Holden Motors	Dennis Rogers / Marc Ducquet / Richard Vorst	Toyota Corolla AE86 Liftback	C	103 laps		2m51.36s	2m51.36s	52
DNF	50	Bryce Racing (NZ)	Brett Riley / Ludwig Finauer	BMW M3	B	101 laps	engine	2m28.02s	2m26.42s	28
DNF	57	Sax Racing	Craig Turner / Lou Vandermeer / Kent Baigent	BMW M3	B	98 laps	crashed	2m35.58s	2m33.00s	41
DNF	8	Miedecke Motorsport	Andrew Bagnall / Graeme Crosby	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	97 laps		2m24.02s	2m19.10s	10 (pit lane)	NTR, crashed (Bagnall)
DNF	35	Peter Jackson Racing	Tony Noske / Glenn Seton / Alain Ferte	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	92 laps	out of fuel	2m21.82s	2m21.44s	17
DNF	24	Jagparts Racing	Gerald Kay / Alf Grant	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	91 laps		2m31.96s	2m30.16s	38
DNF	56	Sax Racing	John Sax / Graham Lorimer	BMW M3	B	82 laps	fuel leak, fire	2m31.40s	2m29.72s	36
DNF	05	Mobil 1 Racing	Peter Brock / Andy Rouse	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	81 laps	hub	2m20.26s	2m16.60s	1	2m15.80s (Brock)
DNF	41	Leeson Civil Engineering P/L	Bob Tindall / Des Wall / John Leeson	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	79 laps	overheating	2m34.88s	2m47.78s	55 (pit lane)
DNF	43	Everlast Battery Survice	Bill O'Brien / Brian Sampson	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	65 laps	accident	2m29.14s	2m28.76s	33
DNF	19	Caltex CXT Race Team	Ken Mathews / Garry Rogers	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	50 laps	engine	2m25.32s	2m22.62s	20
DNF	21	Bob Forbes Corporation P/L	Mark Gibbs / Rohan Onslow	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	44 laps	engine	2m25.52s	2m23.40s	21
DNF	46	Riethmuller Pentecost Racing	Llynden Riethmuller / Ian Green	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	43 laps	overheating	2m29.24s	2m29.28s	34
DNF	31	Team Toyota Australia	John Smith / Drew Price	Toyota Supra Turbo MA70	A	35 laps	suspension	2m28.88s	2m29.60s	35
DNF	9	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Gregg Hansford / Pierre Dieudonne	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	30 laps	head gasket	2m22.12s	2m19.76s	14
DNF	96	Barbagallo Motorsport	Tim Slako / Geoff Leeds / Damon Smith	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	28 laps	head gasket	2m33.24s	2m27.88s	30
DNF	25	Benson & Hedges Racing	Tony Longhurst / Neville Crichton	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	27 laps	split bore	2m20.48s	2m16.98s	3	2m16.98s (Longhurst)
DNF	27	Mark Petch Motorsport	Robbie Francevic / Gianfranco Brancatelli	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	14 laps	lost wheel	2m19.90s	2m19.88s	15
DNF	40	Foodtown Supermarkets	Terry Finnigan / John English	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	14 laps	engine	2m32.86s	2m28.16s	31
DNF	14	Murray Carter	Murray Carter / John Mann	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	10 laps	withdrawn	2m30.12s	2m28.28s	32
DNF	42	Matt Wacker	Matt Wacker / Mike King / Frank Porter	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	4 laps	clutch	2m29.48s	2m23.82s	40
DNF	6	Miedecke Motorsport	Andrew Miedecke / Charlie O'Brien	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	0 laps	gear selector shaft	NTR	2m18.14s	6	2m19.88s (Miedecke)
DNS	39	David Sala	David Sala / Richard Vorst	Toyota Corolla AE82 Hatch	C		piston - warm up
ENT	11	Phil Ward Automotive Services	Phil Ward / Franz Klammer / Garry Jones	Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16	B
ENT	54	Malcolm Rea	Chris Clearihan / Malcolm Rea	Toyota Supra Turbo	A