[William Dale Jr]

1989 Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship
Round 6 - Sandown Park, VIC (21/5/1989)

Circuit Length: 3.1 km
Race Duration: 1 hour (47 laps)
Weather: Cloudy

"Big Bad Sandown is Back!" proclaimed the pre-race promotion, the LCCA deciding to ditch the unpopular Grand Prix loop and go back to using the old high-speed esses section. The series' first Victorian stop saw a lot of privateers make their first appearance, including Larry Perkins, Garry Rogers and Tony Noske, while those involved in the Lakeside carnage were all back save for Murray Carter. The Miedecke crew would have more work on their hands, though, after Andrew Bagnall rolled his Sierra in practice. The car wouldn't appear again until Bathurst. Another person missing was George Fury, his Skyline more damaged than first thought after the first lap dramas at Mallala. Brock had replaced the differential with the locally-developed spool unit and felt the handling had improved as a result, putting #05 on the
front row alongside Johnson, on pole yet again.

I feel this race signalled the beginning of the end of DJR's domination of Australian touring car racing. While Johnson was never headed once the lights turned green, Brock stuck with him the whole way, at one point getting alongside down the front straight. This, in hindsight, was the first time someone was able to challenge Johnson over a race-long basis, Brock only one second behind the Shell car at the flag. Half a minute behind them was Bowe, hampered by a down-on-power engine and a spin at Dandenong Road corner. Miedecke made a fine start on his return to racing, making a fine start to be running as high as third before dropping out with an overheating Sierra.

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	1h00m51.60s		1m16.15s	1m14.43s	1
2	05	Mobil 1 Racing	Peter Brock	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	1h01m52.86s		1m16.11s	1m14.72s	2
3	18	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	John Bowe	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	1h01m24.95s		1m16.21s	1m14.89s	3
4	2	Nissan Motor Sport	Jim Richards	Nissan Skyline GTS-R HR-31	A	1h02m16.67s		1m17.38s	1m15.77s	4
5	25	Benson & Hedges Racing	Tony Longhurst	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	46 laps		1m17.10s	1m15.85s	6
6	4	Caltex CXT Racing Team	Colin Bond	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	46 laps		1m18.32s	1m17.12s	8
7	9	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Allan Moffat	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	46 laps		1m18.63s	1m17.27s	10
8	11	Perkins Motorsport	Larry Perkins	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	46 laps		1m19.29s	1m17.88s	11
9	20	Benson & Hedges Racing	Neville Crichton	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	46 laps		1m18.30s	1m18.37s	12
10	12	Nissan Motor Sport	Mark Skaife	Nissan Skyline GTS-R HR-31	A	46 laps		1m18.95s	1m16.95s	7
11	22	Lusty Engineering Pty. Ltd.	Graham Lusty	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	45 laps		1m20.70s	1m21.48s	18
12	26	Tony Noske	Tony Noske	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	45 laps		1m21.33s	1m20.02s	16
13	24	Jagparts Racing	Gerald Kay	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	44 laps		1m21.75s	1m23.14s	22
14	96	Barbagallo Motor Sport	Tim Slako	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	44 laps		1m20.71s	1m19.80s	15
15	23	Beaurepaires Motorsport	Chris Lambden	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	44 laps		1m21.03s	1m19.74s	13
16	32	Toyota Team Australia	John Faulkner	Toyota Corolla AE82 Hatch	C	41 laps		1m27.69s	1m26.89s	25
17	33	Toyota Team Australia	David Armstrong	Toyota Corolla AE82 Hatch	C	41 laps		1m29.00s	1m29.19s	27
18	78	Team Madison Racing	Geoffrey Full	Toyota Corolla AE86 Liftback	C	41 laps		1m28.91s	1m29.81s	28
19	31	Toyota Team Australia	Darryl Bennett	Toyota Corolla AE86 Coupe	C	41 laps		1m28.92s	1m29.17s	26
20	13	Bob Holden Motors Manly Vale	Bob Holden	Toyota Corolla AE86 Liftback	C	39 laps		1m32.81s	1m32.09s	30
21	39	David Sala	Grant Bailey	Nissan Gazelle	C	39 laps		1m32.58s	1m32.41s	31
NC	42	Matt Wacker	Matt Wacker	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	32 laps	insufficient laps	1m22.64s	1m22.49s	20
DNF	77	Barbagallo Motor Sport	Alf Barbagallo	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	41 laps		1m22.34s	1m21.99s	19
DNF	51	Bob Holden Motors	Dennis Rogers	Toyota Corolla AE86 Liftback	C	38 laps		1m30.79s	1m31.19s	29
DNF	30	Peter Jackson Racing Pty. Ltd.	Glenn Seton	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	35 laps	oil leak	1m17.68s	NTR	33
DNF	105	Mobil 1 Racing	Brad Jones	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	29 laps	head gasket	1m18.63s	1m17.24s	9
DNF	6	Miedecke Motorsport	Andrew Miedecke	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A	25 laps	overheating	1m17.61s	1m15.82s	5
DNF	45	Clive Smith	Clive Smith	Nissan Skyline DR-30	A	20 laps		1m25.77s	1m25.76s	24
DNF	41	Garry Rogers Motors	Garry Rogers	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	14 laps		1m19.84s	1m19.79s	14
DNF	28	Sommariva Concrete	Joe Sommariva	BMW 635CSi	A	14 laps		1m25.73s	1m25.74s	23
DNF	46	Riethmuller Pentecost Racing	Llynden Riethmuller	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	11 laps	engine	1m21.83s	1m20.97s	17
DNF	86	Gemspares	Daryl Hendrick	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A	0 laps	head gasket		1m36.29s	32
DNS	8	Miedecke Motorsport	Andrew Bagnall	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A		practice accident		1m19.??s
DNP	27	Mark Petch Motorsport	Robbie Francevic	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A		engine
ENT	3	Nissan Motor Sport	George Fury	Nissan Skyline GTS-R HR-31	A
ENT	15	I.C.L. Racing Pty. Ltd.	T.B.A.	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A
ENT	19	Caltex CXT Racing Team	Ken Mathews / Colin Bond	Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500	A
ENT	29	Capri Components	Lawrie Nelson	Ford Mustang	A
ENT	68	Blue Haven Pools	Garry Willmington / Reda Awadallah	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A
ENT	69	Blue Haven Pools	Reda Awadallah / Garry Willmington	Holden Commodore VL (TWR)	A