[William Dale Jr]

Motorcraft 300
1985 Australian Endurance Championship
Round 5 - Surfers Paradise, QLD (27/10/1985)

Circuit Length: 3.2 km
Race Distance: 40 laps (90 laps scheduled, race duration reduced due to multi-car accident during first start)
Weather: Overcast and rainy

Heavy rains overnight had left the Surfers circuit well and truly waterlogged, including flooding the storm water drains around the circuit which forced the cancellation of supporting open-wheel races. More rain a few laps in mixed with oil left by the Davidson/Kramer Mustang caused over 2/3rds of the field to slip off into the ditch on the outside of Ipec corner. Greville Arnel was taken to hospital with neck injuries after Bond's Alfa slammed into his parked Starion as Arnel was getting out of the car. The carnage left Terry Finnigan leading John Smith; both had gone off in the oil and water but had somehow avoided getting stuck. The race was eventually stopped and completely restarted an hour later but without Brock and Harvey, both of whom had already caught a plane back to Melbourne! Skippy Parsons would take the wheel of the #7 Commodore.

Only 14 cars would take the restart, eventually won by Richards from O'Brien and Johnson. The Mustang led early before dropping back with tyres woes caused by a differential damaged in the carnage earlier, while bent suspension, also from the crash, meant O'Brien couldn't quite chase down Richards.

Position	Number	Entrant	Driver/s	Car	Class	Race Time/Laps	Retirement Cause	Fastest Time	Qualifying Time	Grid Position
1	1	JPS Team BMW	Jim Richards	BMW 635CSi	C				1m16.6s	1
2	22	Erle McRae Motorsport	Charlie O'Brien	BMW 635CSi	C				1m17.5s	3
3	17	Palmer Tube Mills	Dick Johnson	Ford Mustang	C				1m17.2s	2
4	40	Terry Finnigan	Terry Finnigan	Holden Commodore VK	C
5	10	Toyota Team Australia	John Smith	Toyota Corolla	A
6	12	Garry Willmington	Garry Willmington	Jaguar XJS	C
	7	Mobil Holden Dealer Team	David Parsons	Holden Commodore VK	C
	30	Lester Smerdon	Lester Smerdon	Holden Commodore VK	C
	20	Jim Keogh	Jim Keogh	BMW 635CSi	C
	41	Barry Jones	Barry Jones / Tony Mulvihill	Holden Commodore VK	C
	44	Peter Williamson Toyota	Peter Williamson	Toyota Supra	B
	58	David Ratcliff	David Ratcliff / Don Smith	Toyota Corolla AE86 Liftback	A
	4	I.M.B. Team Wollongong	Peter McLeod	Holden Commodore VK	C
				Isuzu Gemini PF60	A
DNS	24		Gerald Kay	Holden Commodore VK	C		accident - first start
DNS	38	Barry Wraith	Barry Wraith / Wayne Park	Holden Commodore VK	C		accident - first start
DNS	47	Network Alfa	Colin Bond	Alfa Romeo GTV6	B		accident - first start		1m18.?s	5
DNS	51	Greville Arnel	Greville Arnel	Mitsubishi Starion	B		accident - first start
DNS	6?		Martin Power	Triumph Dolomite Sprint	A		accident - first start
DNS	7	Mobil Holden Dealer Team	John Harvey	Holden Commodore VK	C		accident - first start
DNS	05	Mobil Holden Dealer Team	Peter Brock	Holden Commodore VK	C		timing chain - first start		1m18.0s	4
DNS	16	Ken Davison	Ken Davison / Wally Kramer	Ford Mustang	C		engine - first start