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 |
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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 |