[William Dale Jr]

1989 Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship
Round 3 - Lakeside, QLD (16/4/1989)

Circuit Length: 2.41 km
Race Duration: 30 minutes (33 laps; 1 hour scheduled, race duration reduced due to accident during first start)
Weather: Sunny

The meeting was postponed for two weeks after unseasonally heavy rainfall in south-east Queensland caused the adjacent Lake Kurwongbah to flood the racetrack. One qualifying session had already been completed, but the times were scrubbed and the restarted from scratch.

Andrew Miedecke was fastest early, before Johnson came through on the Saturday to take pole on home ground. Terry Finnigan destroyed his car in a fiery accident exiting the kink, backing the Trojan Boats commodore hard into the earth-filled tyre barrier. Terry emerged the burning car unscathed through the drivers' side window, the once immaculately-presented car a write-off.

There were question marks over the durability of the the D15 Dunlops chosen by Johnson and Longhurst. Johnson took off from the start while Brock held up the field. First Longhurst, then Bowe, then Richards made their way past the Mobil Sierra but Miedecke was trapped, along with Seton, Hansford and Fury. They weren't helped by yellow flags at the main passing spot - heading into the Karussell - after contact between Ken Mathews and Superbike racer Michael Dowson in the second TTA car. On lap 10 the train of cars came up to lap Graham Lusty...

Brock made it past okay, but Miedecke ran wide into the Commodore, both crashing hard into the armco and catching fire under the Dunlop Bridge. The Lusty car stopped under the armco, but the Kenwood Sierra bounced back into the path of Seton, which wiped out the Peter Jackson car. Miedecke's car ended up broadsides in the middle of the track on fire, Andrew hiding behind the car until a break in the traffic allowed him to sprint across the track to safety; the race still hadn't been stopped. Marshalls had begun to attack the fire in the Lusty car with cars still coming through at racing speeds. Murray Carter, unsighted behind two Commodores and the smoke and the flame, and the powder from the extinguishers, slammed into the side of the burning Miedecke car. Eventually the race was red-flagged, but the Seton, Lusty and Miedecke cars were destroyed; the former Kenwood car now just a burnt-out shell. A restart was delayed by almost two hours while the race while the armco under the bridge was replaced. Apart from the four cars involved, Brad Jones would also miss the restart after debris smashed the oil cooler on his Sierra.

The restarted race was shortened to a duration of 30 minutes which eased the Dunlop runners worries about making their rubber last. On the restart Johnson led away from Brock, Longhurst and Bowe. Brock's hard Bridgestones worked against him over the shorter distance. Longhurst moved past the Mobil car on lap 8 but by that point Johnson had already legged it. Brock would spin off at the Karussell but came back to hold off Hansford and Richards for fourth.

Position	Number	Entrant	Driver	Car	Class	Race Time/Laps	Retirement Cause	Fastest Time	Qualifying Time	Grid Position
1	17	Shell Ultra-Hi Racing	Dick Johnson	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	0h30m57.09s		0m55.36s	0m54.06s	1
2	25	Benson & Hedges Racing	Tony Longhurst	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	0h31m02.24s		0m55.80s	0m54.58s	4
3	18	Shell Ultra-Hi Racing	John Bowe	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	0h31m11.07s		0m55.82s	0m54.62s	5
4	05	Mobil 1 Racing	Peter Brock	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	0h31m21.07s		0m56.04s	0m54.18s	2
5	9	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Gregg Hansford	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	0h31m21.31s		0m56.24s	0m55.10s	9
6	2	Nissan Motorsport	Jim Richards	Nissan Skyline GTS-R HR-31	A	0h31m38.36s		0m56.30s	0m54.23s	3
7	3	Nissan Motorsport	George Fury	Nissan Skyline GTS-R HR-31	A	0h31m40.97s		0m56.70s	0m54.77s	7
8	20	Benson & Hedges Racing	Neville Crichton	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	32 laps		0m57.24s	0m56.27s	15
9	4	Caltex CXT Racing	Colin Bond	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	32 laps		0m57.51s	0m55.72s	12
10	23	Beaurepaires Motorsport	Chris Lambden	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	31 laps		0m58.96s	0m57.66s	18
11	24	Jagparts Racing	Gerald Kay	Holden Commodore VK	A	31 laps		0m59.69s	0m58.67s	19
12	39	David Sala	Ross Burbidge	Nissan Gazelle	C	31 laps		1m00.34s	1m00.13s	22
13	32	Toyota Team Australia	John Faulkner	Toyota Corolla AE82 Hatch	C	30 laps		1m01.04s	1m01.21s	25
14	28	Joe Sommariva	Joe Sommariva	BMW 635CSi	A	29 laps		1m02.00s	1m01.34s	26
15	68	Blue Haven Pools	Garry Willmington	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	29 laps		0m57.53s	0m56.15s	13
16	78	Team Madison Racing	Geoffrey Full	Toyota Corolla AE86 Liftback	C	29 laps		1m03.07s	1m02.86s	28
DNF	48	Wayne Park	Wayne Park	Holden Commodore VL (HDT)	A	10 laps	crankshaft	0m58.75s	0m57.48s	17
DNF	8	Miedecke Motorsport	Andrew Bagnall	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	8 laps	turbo	0m57.74s	0m55.23s	10
DNF	69	Blue Haven Pools	Reda Awadallah	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	3 laps	engine	1m05.12s	0m58.87s	20
DNF	13	Bob Holden Motors	Bob Holden	Toyota Corolla AE86 Liftback	C	3 laps	withdrew	1m04.76s	1m02.11s	27
DNS	6	Miedecke Motorsport	Andrew Miedecke	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A		accident - first start		0m54.64s	6
DNS	30	Peter Jackson Racing Pty Ltd	Glenn Seton	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A		accident - first start		0m55.02s	8
DNS	14	Murray Carter	Murray Carter	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A		accident - first start		0m57.46s	16
DNS	21	Lusty Engineering Pty Ltd	John Lusty	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A		accident - first start		0m59.86s	21
DNS	105	Mobil 1 Racing	Brad Jones	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A		oil cooler - first start		0m55.39s	11
DNS	33	Toyota Team Australia	Michael Dowson	Toyota Corolla AE82 Hatch	C		accident - first start		1m01.13s	24
DNS	19	Caltex CXT Racing	Ken Mathews	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A		accident - first start		0m56.20s	14
DNS	40	Terry Finnigan	Terry Finnigan	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A		practice accident		1m00.45s	23