JB Out of CAT for 2002!!!

[BJAY]

The story was broken on the conrod.com.au forum today that John Bowe was sacked, or left, Briggs Motorsport.
On Monday it will become public that Briggs has fired JB with immediate effect. This rumour comes from someone who works at CAT Racing, who found out last night.
The car will not be at Indy as well.

BJ

[jetsetter]

Heard of any reasons for the sacking? It surely isn't to make way for Simon Wills.

[DNQ]

Dreadful news...

I am a big JB fan. I can't believe this. Where is he going to go know?

[BJAY]

More rumours have it, that he'll go to the Prancing Horse / BUD Racing
team, because of his ties with them in the GTP.
Could that mean no seat for Noske or Baird next year?

BJ

[racer69]

Perhaps the reason for the sacking was because he drives for Prancing Horse in GT Performance, and with them moving to Touring Cars, maybe Briggs was afraid of Bowe sharing info with them.

He probably will go to Bud racing, but whats the point, he'll just be with another new team, i bet he wishes he never left DJR.

As for Briggs Motorsport, unless they get an experienced driver to replace Bowe (who's on the market), they are stuffed for the moment, who will develop the car properly.

[RaceTime]

If this is true - I stress the IF at this stage - it will be interesting to see what happens to CAT - as I understood it they came in as personal sponsors of Bowe - thus the tie up last year with Kim Richards and GT-P.

[D.R.T.]

Bowe stayed with DjR for like ages, now in the space of four years he will have driven for 3 different teams. Could substancial pay rises be a reason for many different teams? Bud seems the most logical step though.

[BJAY]

Even more rumours have been circluating that John Bowe has done a deal with Brad Jones for next year.
This is because of, near the end of the Bathurst race, JB was in Jones' pit, which they showed on TV. This could be because Brad is a fellow Ford driver, but some people have said that Bowe was waring a OZEmail hat. I myself am going to relook the tape over to see.
I just hope that even if this is true or not, that John Bowe has a good Ford seat to sit in next year.

BJ

[Buckshot]

Towards the end of race Bowe was sitting in the Ozemail garage and for a joke one of the mechanics tapped off his CAT cap and replaced it with an Ozemail one. Seemed like a little harmless joke at the time which made me chuckle - that's why I remember it.

Maybe Bowe was too miffed to be hanging around Simon Will after he, in Bowe's words "Tried to make a hero out of himself" and took the CAT Falcon out of the race.

[Crash Test]

Like i said over at Conrod- one of the BJR boys put the cap on Bowe's head....

And I don't think he'd get that drive, probably more likely at PHR, if anywhere...

[Buckshot]

Well a shift to PHR was rumoured a couple of months ago. I remember John Bowe issued a personal statement in Auto Action denying any such rumours.

If he does leave and go to PHR who the where the hell is Briggs gonna find 4 new drivers ?

[marcus]

wow ..I am amazed at this ..i think this is a big mistake for John Briggs..Bowe is a great driver and a fantastic test driver as well ..which is what the team will need when running 4 cars ..seems very strange to me indeed..I dont know where he will go but I certainly wish him well and hope he can land a top line drive for next year.

[jetsetter]

As the Stone Bros found out at Bathurst, one important ingredient for a successful team is experience & Bowe provides that for Briggs Motorsport & letting him go will be a bad & costly exercise.

[Vandas]

Well awhile ago I heard that Noske was never going to get the fulltime drive with PHR in V8 Supercars. I also heard that Bowe was going to be taking over from him. This may be taking place now.

I didn't pay much attention to the rumours after I read the statement in AA, but I should have known better.

Rule of Thumb, whenever someone makes a statement that they will not do something, give them 6 mths and they will do it.

eg. AFL clubs' board of directors throwing full weight behind a coach, then sacking him two days later.

Oh well, that means there are 4 opportunities for me to get a drive. hehehehehe I wish!

Cameron

[jetsetter]

Usually in sport a denial means it's going to happen so i'll back Bowe to be at PHR next year.

[Alan Jones]

Looks like the Stone brothers have added a "d" to their last name

[Brock]

So does that mean Bowe takes CAT with him. From what I have heard CAT is there because of Bowe and no other reason. Seems like Briggs will have a sponsor for 2 cars and have to fund the other 2 himself. If he has sacked Bowe then he should hire Besnard because that is the calibre of driver that the team would deserve.

[Crash Test]

Knowing how Besnard has been going, and knowing about his technique (esp at Bathurst), there would have to be some wiser choices out there...

Re CAT leaving- I wouldn't agree with that...the scoop is that another division of CAT will be on the sides of the final, unsponsored car.

[RaceTime]

OK people - it's been confirmed - following is the Official Media Release:

MEDIA RELEASE
15TH OCTOBER 2001


BRIGGS MOTORSPORT AND JOHN BOWE AGREE TO PART COMPANY

V8 Supercar driver John Bowe and Queensland-based team Briggs Motorsport have decided to part company.

Bowe will no longer drive the #600 Caterpillar-sponsored Ford Falcon and Briggs will use the remaining races in the 2001 Shell Championship Series to ³audition² drivers for Briggs Motorsport¹s planned 2002 expansion.

³John has played a key role in the formation of this team, but we have
decided to go our separate ways,² Briggs said.

³I would like to thank him for his efforts with the team and wish him the best of luck for his future endeavors.

³We are looking at a number of drivers to try at Pukekohe and Sandown before finalising our complete driver squad for next season.²

The Caterpillar #600 Falcon will not appear at the Gold Coast Indy support races, with damage from the recent V8 Supercar 1000 still being repaired.

³We have a lot of work still to do on the car,² Briggs said.

³The paint will probably still be wet when we load it into the truck for New Zealand.²

Bowe intends to remain in the sport that has earned him the 1995 V8 Supercar championship and two Bathurst victories.

³Although we have decided to part company, I have really enjoyed my time with Cat Racing and have gained lot of friends from the entire experience,² Bowe said.

³The entire Caterpillar ³family² has been wonderful supporters for myself and this team and I truly value their friendship and support.

³I certainly intend to continue to compete in V8 Supercars and after the Bathurst weekend, I remain confident I can still be very competitive.²

Team sponsor Caterpillar of Australia has also expressed its thanks to John for his efforts in representing the company in V8 Supercar racing.

³The decision to part company is unfortunate as John Bowe is considered a friend of Caterpillar,² Caterpillar¹s Michael Leyden said.

³He has done a great job working with Caterpillar and is highly regarded by our customers and those he has come in contact with over the formative years of Cat Racing.

³We thank John for his efforts over the past three years and wish him the utmost success for the future.²

[Buckshot]

Hmmm...just had a quick look at the V8X Website to see if they had anything on it and low and behold Noske has left Bud Racing !

The peices are starting to fall into place my friends !

[RaceTime]

TONY Noske at this stage, not Mark - will post full media release under another thread, but can be found at http://www.racetime.com.au/racenews.html

[Buckshot]

Oh yeah sorry...just shot my mouth off without waiting for the page to load...dam that V8X page can be slow sometimes !

[RaceTime]

Hehe - not your fault - even the title of the article is misleading 0 I sent it to my RaceNews V8 mail list without changing it before I realised is was not Mark it was referring to - they simply say Noske Steps Down.