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00:00Five rounds down, five to go, with five drivers heading the title chase and the points gap
00:08ever decreasing, the countdown to Shell Series supremacy has begun.
00:13Winton, three weeks ago, a new record field of thundering 600 horsepower Aussie V8s.
00:20Ford's frontman, John Bow, finally broke Holden's seven round stranglehold.
00:25Victory for Falcon, under maximum pressure, as Bow traded race wins with Ingall in a two car tit for tat.
00:40For Ingall, round five, a major turning point. The Enforcer, our new championship leader, never afraid to give his all.
00:49Look, I've got to finish this race, but, you know, I thought, nah, bugger it, get in amongst it and have a bit of a go.
00:55For Mobile One Guns, Lowndes and Scaife, a bruising day at the office.
01:04Oh, Larry, that's not a passing move. What was he thinking?
01:09Ingall's team mate, Larry Perkins, never prepared to give an inch.
01:15Contact between Perkins and Scaife, Bow's got the jump though, he's got the inside.
01:19And Larry's hit Russell Ingall, he's hung on to it beautifully.
01:23Oh boy, have we got a championship on our hands, and it's only going to get tougher from here.
01:29Tighten those belts, V8 supercar fans, we're in for a wild ride, as Network 10 welcomes you to South Australia's Malala Raceway,
01:38round six of the Shell Australian Touring Car Championship.
01:44Oh, big exit.
01:52Oh, look at that.
02:00Malala Motorsport Park, located 55 kilometres north of the centre of Adelaide,
02:13a track where Holden have won the last six races in succession.
02:17Hello everyone, I'm Lee Diffie, and welcome to round six of the 1998 Shell Australian Touring Car Championship.
02:22Yep, that's right, it's been a pretty healthy time here over the last couple of years for Holden.
02:26The last two years they've won both rounds, that's Greg Murphy and Craig Lowndes,
02:30and they've won every single race, not necessarily HRT, but the Holden Manufacturer.
02:34And Barry Sheen, well welcome back, it's good to have you back.
02:37Do you think the Fords can come back today?
02:39Well, it's hard to say, you know, you'd have to say that Seaton's having a lot of trouble setting his car up,
02:44and I reckon the way John Bowie's been going in qualifying, the thing you've got to bear in mind is Bowie,
02:52no matter how good he is, he's never won a race here, let alone won a round here,
02:56but the way Skafer's going at the moment, you'd have to put your money on him.
03:00And again, it's a very big field here.
03:02Incredible. Do you know, this year there are 50% more cars than there were last year.
03:06Last year there were 20 cars, this year 33.
03:09Enormous field, and the thing that we've got to watch out for is this weather.
03:13One minute it's sunshine, next minute it's pouring with rain,
03:16and the first corner should be very exciting for the panel beaters at least.
03:19Well, qualifying, as always, was very interesting, and the conditions are pretty testing.
03:23Let's have a look at that now. Barry mentioned that Mark Skafer's on fire.
03:26Three rounds from six, 50% of the rounds he has been on pole position.
03:31That's his third this year. John Bowe was just two thousandths of a second slower than him.
03:36Have a look at the top nine, they're only separated by five tenths of a second.
03:40It was the closest qualifying session in V8 supercar history since the inception of the formula.
03:46Lowndes, Bright, Ingalls, Seaton, he was happy with six,
03:48and we go all the way back to Mark Larkham in tenth position.
03:51Well, Mobile HRT and Mark Skafer are pretty happy at the moment, and he's with Mark Osler.
03:56There's never been any doubt about the speed of Mark Skafer,
03:59but in 1998, the former champion's been struggling to turn that speed into race wins.
04:03Well, Malala, congratulations on taking your third pole position for the series.
04:07Is this the day you're going to turn your championship around?
04:10Well, we'd like to think so. I suppose the performances so far in the races
04:14haven't been as good as we would have liked. The luck hasn't really been there so far.
04:18So if we make a good start and get on with the job in the early laps,
04:21hopefully we can get a reasonable result today.
04:24I guess we've started the official countdown, five rounds down, five to go.
04:27Every round now really critical for you.
04:29Well, certainly, with five rounds and 15 races, I mean, it's a long way to go,
04:33and we've seen throughout the season, with some of the luck that we've had,
04:36but other competitors, that 30 or 40 or 50 points is easy to lose or gain.
04:40So it'll be very interesting for the rest of the series,
04:42and certainly today this will be a very tough race.
04:44Have you ever seen touring car racing tougher or more competitive than this year?
04:48Well, certainly not. I mean, it's one of those things that, you know, the category's so strong,
04:52there's so many good guys at the front, and I don't know,
04:55I guess probably six or eight guys can win today.
04:57Let's hope we see you on the podium.
04:58Thanks, mate.
05:00We're at a very interesting point of the championship, five rounds down, five to go.
05:03We're going to have a look at the top 30 places in terms of the points for you.
05:07Russell Ingle, for the second time in his career, the first time this year,
05:10leads the Shell Australian Touring Car Championship.
05:12It's pretty slim, though, only by four points over Craig Lowndes.
05:15Bau has rocketed up into the top three.
05:17Perkins and Scaife, they're the top five, and they're separated by less than 100 points,
05:21120 points on offer, so it's very close.
05:24Johnson Bright and Longhurst is well placed.
05:26Seaton and Bargwana in his debut season in the top ten.
05:29Now there's a real standout for you.
05:31Paul Romano is just outside the top ten in 11th.
05:34That's fantastic effort.
05:35Darren Hossack back there in 17th position.
05:37AJ in 16th, just one ahead of him.
05:39Then we start getting into the privateers.
05:41Just there, just rolling off screen, 19th was Steve Johnson, young Steve.
05:45He's only done two rounds, and he's already in the top 20, so that's a great effort.
05:48So he's going well.
05:49There's the rest of the guys for you down to the 30th position.
05:52John Briggs rounding that out.
05:53Well, it's going to be a great day here at Malala today.
05:55Who knows what the weather holds in store?
05:57We've got superbikes again on the program,
05:59and we look forward to you joining us right after this break.
06:22Welcome back to Malala Motorsport Park.
06:33Well, as I said before the break,
06:34who knows what the weather's going to be like after the break?
06:36Have a look at it now.
06:37It was pouring on Barry and I not so long ago.
06:39Now it is bright sunshine as we get ready for race one today.
06:43But before we get to that and have a look at the grid, Barry, let's check out the track.
06:46Yeah, it's a great little circuit.
06:48There you go.
06:49If you look at turn one and turn two, go straight across one,
06:54and you'll see a lot of guys going there on the first lap.
06:56And personally, I think they should have, with a massive field like this,
07:00they should have the start.
07:01You see where number six is?
07:02That's the back straight.
07:03If they had the start there,
07:04it would give everybody a bit of chance to sort themselves out
07:06before they got to the esses down at seven and eight.
07:09But it's a great little track, and the guy that owns it looks after it.
07:13The club do a fantastic job.
07:15This section of the circuit where they're coming through now,
07:17they are lined up back to there.
07:18There are so many cars here, 33.
07:20Let's have a look at how they line up for the third time this year.
07:23Scaifey starts from pole.
07:24Mark Scaifey in the Mobile One HRC Commodore alongside John Bow.
07:28Just two one-thousandths of a second difference.
07:30Craig Lowndes and Jason Bright make up the second row.
07:33Third row looks like this.
07:34Russell Ingle, our championship leader, with Glenn Seaton in the Ford Credit Racing Ford
07:38alongside him, Dick Johnson.
07:39Good effort, that, in qualifying.
07:40And Larry Perkins in position eight.
07:42Back to position nine.
07:43Another great effort by young Stephen Johnson in the Racing for Life Falcon.
07:47Mark Larcombe in ten.
07:48Jason Barguana a little frustrated in qualifying.
07:51And Neil Crompton makes his return.
07:52He's in 12.
07:53Good to see Crompton back, too.
07:54Just check on the right of your screen, too, those icons.
07:56There's the car number.
07:57In Tony Longhurst's case, 25.
07:58The F denotes Ford.
08:00And obviously in a Holden, it's the red H.
08:02And the Y, V, and D denotes Yokohama, Bridgestone, and Dunlop.
08:05So it gives you an idea of what the car packages are as you look through the grid.
08:09All right, we're getting set.
08:10This should be a ripper.
08:11There's been much talk about whether there will be carnage here on this tight, tricky Malala circuit.
08:16Dick Johnson is ready.
08:17A quick drink before he gets stuck into this one.
08:20I have to say, the first corner here, if everybody gets through to unscathed, it'll be a miracle.
08:25Well, we saw plenty of action at the previous round at Winton, didn't we?
08:27John Bower, he's got a lot riding on today.
08:29Won the last round at Winton, and he is really pumped up.
08:32Round six of ten in this year's Shell Australian Touring Car Championship.
08:36Will it be Bower or will it be Scaper?
08:38Away we go.
08:39Oh, Scaper's sitting still.
08:41John Bower on the inside.
08:42Got away to a brilliant start.
08:43And Russell Engle pushes up the inside.
08:46Have a look at this.
08:47Bower holds steady.
08:48Now Scaper tries to come back.
08:50Engle, what a ripper of a start.
08:51Yeah, you can see Russell pushing for position there.
08:53He didn't want to get left high and dry on the inside.
08:55Just muscling the back of Bower's Ford as he found his position.
08:58Mark Scaper, pole man left behind.
09:00He's back in third or fourth position.
09:02Could be kicking himself about that because that pole position, he said, was very valuable to him.
09:05Yeah, Scaper was just sitting still.
09:07I looked out of the window.
09:08He was just sitting on the line with maximum wheel spin.
09:11But Russell Engle, oh, the brave man.
09:13Both mobile HRT cars there coming out of the southern hairpin.
09:16It looked like one of the Shell cars.
09:17Dick Johnson ducking up the inside.
09:19Tricky conditions.
09:20The sun's out, but the track is still wet.
09:22Oh, look at this.
09:23Whoa.
09:24Here we go.
09:25Rod Nash, Steve Ellery, Terry Finnegan.
09:28Oh, look at this.
09:29Wayne Russell and...
09:30Rod Nash.
09:31Yeah, caught up in that as well.
09:32Privateers getting a bit in.
09:33Back of the front.
09:34Side by side as they come down through the northern hairpin for the first time.
09:38Big field.
09:39Oh, a little bit of contact there.
09:40Dean Croswell, too.
09:41He's getting muscled by Alan Jones Romano in there as well.
09:44Boy, it's tight.
09:45And you can see the damage there to Terry Finnegan's Sony Commodore.
09:49The difficult thing here where there's been races before, you've got a bit of...
09:52Oh, look at this guy on the back.
09:54Oh, look, they're all leaning on each other.
09:55The track's very, very slippery.
09:56Look at that sliding around.
09:57Terry Finnegan trying to get back.
09:59But he's got some severe damage to the car there.
10:01Smoke belching from it.
10:02The problem is, Mark, what they're doing where there's been races before,
10:04there's a bit of a dry line, and the guys are wandering off the dry line.
10:07Look at Jay do.
10:08Look at these two guys.
10:09They've just streaked away.
10:10Now, DJ is giving Escape a hard time.
10:12Dick Johnson has passed Lowndes.
10:14Now he's working on our pole sitter, who is now back in third.
10:17Mark Escape.
10:18The two out in front have gone.
10:19Bauer and Engel have bolted.
10:20This is where the action is here for the privateers.
10:22And they're through.
10:23Yeah, well, this is...
10:24Ooh, getting a big sideways, Dick.
10:26But this is very typical we see in these conditions.
10:29When the sun comes out, the track's just a little bit greasy.
10:31The Dunlop slicks seem to work particularly well in this condition.
10:34Look how close the whole racing team, Mobile Commodore,
10:36gets on Shell Helix onboard camera.
10:38You're riding with Dick Johnson.
10:40And you can see the amount of wheel spin behind there
10:42as Larry Perkins now tries to move in on the action.
10:45The difficult thing is, yeah, when you're trying to make a pass,
10:47you know, you can use as little of this track as you can.
10:50You see the dry patches there.
10:51And sometimes you get pushed out on the damp stuff.
10:54It's just absolute gone.
10:56Coming up into the action is Steven Johnson in the racing for Life Ford.
10:59He's not too far behind.
11:00Also on Dunlop's.
11:01Think back to Wanneroo at the Barbaghello Circuit last year
11:04where it was different conditions, wet, dry,
11:07and Bao was just out of control.
11:09He was so quick.
11:10Big challenge around the outside by Larry Perkins,
11:12it looks like, on the Holden Racing Team Commodores.
11:14Just up behind Dick Johnson.
11:16And Larry's got through too.
11:17You'll see them coming to view.
11:18There he is.
11:19He's just got in front of the Holden Racing Team combination.
11:21So they're struggling a little bit in these slippery conditions.
11:24So the order at the moment is Bao from Ingle, Scaife.
11:27We just saw Johnson go past Scaife.
11:30Lowndes in there too.
11:33So tremendous battle.
11:35You can see they're trying to find traction in these opening laps.
11:37The track just starting to dry out a little bit.
11:39But they've been really on ice, Scaife.
11:41Have a look at this.
11:42A great battle here between the two Mobile One HRT cars.
11:44Lowndes and Scaife fighting it out.
11:46And Stevie Johnson right in behind.
11:47Now watch Steven look for an inside line here.
11:49These two guys will run a very defensive line down into the southern hairpin
11:53to try and hold Steven back.
11:54Will he be able to get through?
11:56Qualified ninth.
11:58Oh!
12:00A little bit of attack there.
12:01Craig Lowndes leaning on his teammate.
12:03He's got Steven Johnson applying plenty of pressure behind too.
12:06So tremendous battles up and down through the field.
12:08Yeah, I don't think you're going to find Lowndes running shotgun for Scaife,
12:12you know, because he's going to be looking after keeping Steve Johnson.
12:15Well, keep in mind, Steve Johnson has never raced here at Malala.
12:18And look at who's behind Steven Johnson.
12:20That is Dean Croswell in his debut drive.
12:23A privateer in the Trust Bank Ericsson Commodore
12:26and that is just fantastic.
12:28He is well up inside the top ten, sitting in eighth position.
12:31Coming up the back section, we're watching the two Mobile One HRT cars.
12:36Mark Scaife 50, Craig Lowndes 15.
12:38Scaife was drifted wide.
12:41So Scaife drifted wide there.
12:43Lowndes has been able to get through under brakes
12:45and Steven Johnson will now move up one position better
12:47as he continually hassles Craig Lowndes.
12:50That's what I was saying, where you've run out on the damp
12:52and you just lock up one wheel and you have no option
12:55but to go straight on.
12:56So John Bow continues to lead.
12:58Just 0.6 of a second over Russell Engle.
13:00Oh, Steven Johnson.
13:01Steven Johnson trying around the outside of Craig Lowndes.
13:03This is the battle for fifth and sixth position.
13:09So the order, Bow, Engle, Johnson up there in third.
13:11Great effort from Dick, Larry Perkins, Craig Lowndes,
13:13Steven Johnson, Mark Scaife stepping back, Dean Croswell.
13:17He's one of the two cars starting on a large block pattern wet weather tyre.
13:22Whether that's going to fall into his hands as this race progresses,
13:24we're not sure.
13:25The weather's so changeable at Malala here today.
13:2723-year-old Steve Johnson was wrapped with his qualifying effort
13:30to get up there in ninth.
13:31He said he could have done better.
13:32He had some brake problems.
13:34So he's really enjoying it.
13:35In fact, he has done so well since joining this.
13:37He's had six starts and three of them he's finished in the top ten.
13:40So he is really enjoying his time in V8.
13:43Well, Mark Scaife, a very important weekend this
13:46for the number 50 Mobile One Commodore driver.
13:49He got pole position, was very thrilled about that
13:52and the tremendous amount of speed he showed in qualifying
13:54was going to help him to build on that.
13:57Yeah, I'd tell you, someone who isn't enjoying themselves
13:59is seeking his way to ninth place.
14:01Back to our leaders, John Bauer in 18 and Russell Engle
14:04sitting there in second spot.
14:05Now, this is a pretty significant moment, Mark,
14:07only because John Bauer has never won a single race here at Malala.
14:11Yeah, it hasn't been a good circuit.
14:12And you'd think three weeks ago at Winton
14:14it's never been a good track for the Shell team,
14:16but John came up trumps there.
14:17So maybe the fortune's beginning to turn for the Shell Helix team.
14:21John Bauer, riding with the 1995 Australian Touring Car Champion.
14:25Double-up on-board camera.
14:27You can see the level of concentration on John's face there
14:30as he shifts up through the gears along the back-sweeper,
14:33just holding it in fifth gear.
14:35He's getting the top gear there, about 235 kilometres an hour,
14:37shifting back with this very tight hairpin.
14:40Let's have a look at where they are positioned on the track.
14:42There's Engle sneaking through, teammate Dick Johnson.
14:44He's sitting about six and a half seconds behind that leading battle.
14:47DJ's lapping the quickest at the moment.
14:49Larry Perkins in there.
14:50And we've got Craig Lowndes filling the pressure from Stephen Johnson.
14:53Terrific effort in the racing for Live Falcon.
14:56There's Mark Scape.
14:57And there's Dean Croswell.
14:58Now, keep in mind, he's one of only two drivers,
15:00both himself and Rod Nash,
15:02were the two that went out on a large block-pattern wet-weather tyre,
15:05hoping that the conditions would continue to change
15:07and maybe a little bit more rain.
15:09But the sun's come out here at Malala,
15:10so that's going to be working against them at the moment.
15:12And when you say it's only five laps out of 17,
15:14you'd have to say it was a bad move.
15:16OK, it's got him up the front,
15:17it's got everybody to mention him,
15:19but for sure, give it another couple of laps,
15:21and you're going to see he's going to be wobbling all over the show.
15:24Mark Larcombe a long way back.
15:26Whether Larcombe's run into problems or not,
15:27there's Mal Rose as well in the Fairfax community.
15:29Classified's car just behind Anthony Tratt.
15:32These guys are running quite a way down the pack,
15:34outside the top 20.
15:37In fact, 23rd and 24th, that's what this battle is for.
15:42So the field very spread out after a pretty congested start.
15:46Round and round we go.
15:47Paul Will, the K&J Radiator's Ford.
15:54At the moment, it is all John Bower,
15:56the number 18 Shell Helix Falcon.
15:57The best he has ever done here, his second,
16:00as we ride now with our privateer camera today
16:03and privateer car Mal Rose,
16:05who finished on top of the privateer ranks
16:07at Winton in the previous round.
16:09John Bower, turning old wicker, now 1.13.96.
16:12He's the only guy in the 1.13 for it.
16:14I think Mal may have driven through a chicken flag at some stage.
16:17A nice spectacular looking, racing out pitch, you'll see.
16:20But he really does look after the appearance of the car.
16:24He does present a very good operation,
16:27considering the minimum amount of money that he runs on.
16:30He was pumped after Winton too, wasn't he?
16:32Winning top privateer.
16:33Long way to go in this one, though.
16:35Lap 6 of 17, lots of time left to run.
16:37So it's not in the bag yet for John Bower.
16:41So Bower, 1.4 seconds now, the gap over Russell Ingle.
16:45Dick Johnson sitting back 6.5 seconds behind those two,
16:48so positions remaining fairly static.
16:50But here's our race leader, John Bower.
16:52Wasn't overly happy with his performance in qualifying,
16:55so he didn't get the best out of the tyres.
16:57But you can see the consistency now coming into the performance
16:59of this Shell AM4 in 1998.
17:01John working very closely with his car engineer, Lee Guyer,
17:05and they really have developed a great understanding
17:07of how to get the most out of the car.
17:09And at the moment, Russell Ingle, 4 points lead
17:11in this year's Shell Australian Touring Car Championship
17:14as they round up.
17:17Darcy Russell heading up to the top side of the circuit
17:20in the Bridgestone corner.
17:23And at the moment, things aren't happening for Bridgestone.
17:26It's a Dunlop affair out in front.
17:281, 2 and 3 and 4, in fact, as well.
17:32When you see how the performances vary so much,
17:35we've had wet and dry weather here,
17:37you'd have to say that Bridgestone's the one
17:39that's really been suffering.
17:41And to say, to bring on a control tyre would be the best thing
17:45for this sport, without any shadow of a doubt,
17:47because that way it's a level playing field for everybody.
17:50OK, they lose a couple of sponsors that benefit.
17:53You're riding with Russell Ingle
17:55as he tries to close the gap on John Bower.
17:57Let's have a listen to the Castrol Commodore.
18:02Up the back straight.
18:04You can see the telemetry working there, courtesy of Triple M.
18:07Speed on the right, revs on...
18:10Sorry, revs on the right, speed on the left.
18:12You can see that dry line now,
18:14that best shot up the back straight.
18:16Exactly, and if you just wander off of that,
18:18it's the most frightening thing.
18:22Well, Russell Ingle, 1.116 of the time,
18:26starting to come down.
18:28Oh, Steven Johnson!
18:30Oh, what a shame.
18:33Oh, back around.
18:34Oh, I just caught it.
18:36Seabone City.
18:37Now, is that, that is Skaife?
18:39That's Skaife, isn't it?
18:40It looks like it's...
18:41Yeah, Mark Skaife, boy, boy.
18:43Talk about bad luck.
18:451998, it seems to follow him around,
18:48like a shadow almost.
18:50These are our top two, ripping through the first two turns.
18:53It's interesting, last year it was these guys in this very order
18:55actually battling, but it was for the minor placings,
18:57fourth and fifth last year.
18:59This round at Malala was pretty much a turning point
19:02for Russell Ingle, because he was really in the hunt,
19:05and although he was still in the hunt at the final round,
19:07he got two fifths and then spun in the last race,
19:09and that really hurt his championship chances last year.
19:11Well, look at the gap closing, too.
19:13Yeah, he's really got a handle there now.
19:150.7 of a second.
19:17They're just, just wobbling around that point.
19:19Half a second, sometimes it pumps out to seven tenths,
19:22but it's always within a second.
19:23Ingle continuing to attack.
19:25Continuing to attack, never giving in,
19:27John Mao is the man who leads.
19:29Dick Johnson will be pretty satisfied at the moment,
19:31sitting in third, and we'll be back right after this break
19:33on your home of Motorsport Network 10.
19:42Welcome back to Malala.
19:44The action is red hot.
19:45Have a look at this, it's on for the lead.
19:47Ingle has just reeled in John Mao and is all over the back of him.
19:50Positions haven't changed, we haven't missed anything,
19:52but the action is hotting right up.
19:54You've got to be so careful there,
19:55if someone's trying to rush up the inside of you,
19:57you know, protect your line, and then you run onto the dam.
20:00So keep your eyes open for that.
20:03Well, it's just relentless, isn't it?
20:04John Mao got the whole shot,
20:05and he's been holding him out the whole way.
20:08Russell Ingle really applying the thumbscrews here.
20:10He was all over the back of him
20:11as they came out of the southern hairpin,
20:13that time down the back straight.
20:15So John Mao, exactly a repeat of what we saw
20:18in Winton three weeks ago.
20:19Maximum pressure driving these two locked
20:21in the tightest of battles,
20:22and now he takes one little mistake,
20:24and the other guy will be through.
20:25John Mao will be aware of that
20:26as he rounds up the outside of Charles Ryman's car.
20:29Synchron proto onboard camera.
20:31Riding with our championship leader, Russell Ingle.
20:34And this one's going to go right down to the wire.
20:36Russell's very quick in this section,
20:37picks up pretty well under brakes here.
20:39This is the southern hairpin,
20:40now they get wound up for this really long shell sweeper.
20:44It's kind of the back straight,
20:45but it sweeps around nicely.
20:47Now let's have a look at the gap here.
20:48Mao's holding his own,
20:50it was a lot closer the previous lap.
20:52Russell Ingle working away,
20:53he's got time on his side though,
20:5411 of 17, plenty of time left.
20:57He's good on the brakes there,
20:58making an enormous amount.
20:59I think you'll find that, Russell,
21:01you can lay your money on the fact he's going to have a throw.
21:06Dunlop will be very impressed with this performance.
21:08They're running the same tyre,
21:09the 359 they used at Winton,
21:11and were so successful there
21:12when these two guys finished 1-2 on the podium.
21:15Keep in mind, you can check all the results
21:17of the V8 Supercar War on the website.
21:21There's the web address,
21:23the lower left of your screen,
21:25and you can be right up to date
21:26with what's going on on the track.
21:27Now this is where it's going to get interesting
21:28because they're starting to come up,
21:29as Russell has a look up the inside,
21:31through Scottshire Curve,
21:32can't quite get there.
21:33They're coming up on some of the privateers,
21:34some of the back markers,
21:35so this will be interesting to see
21:36if John Mao can get a quick passage through,
21:38perhaps use one of those guys to his advantage
21:40to shake Russell Ingle off his tail.
21:43Although this guy now lives in Melbourne,
21:46he spent a lot of time and grew up in Adelaide,
21:49so he considers this his home track,
21:51well, not his home track,
21:52but his home race, if you wish.
21:54He's got a lot of fans and a lot of supporters
21:55here in Adelaide.
21:56Would love to win this first race today.
21:58Well, it's a two-car war, isn't it?
22:00They've opened it up seven seconds,
22:01the gap back to Dick Johnson in third.
22:03He's having a pretty lonely ride up there
22:04as they come up lap traffic.
22:06Malrose in the Fairfax Community Classified's car.
22:09He gives them racing room.
22:10Russell Ingle sneaks down the inside.
22:11He's got Shell Helix all over the front of his car,
22:14and he's looking for the slightest error
22:16from John Mao.
22:18Headlights ablaze.
22:20Maximum pressure driving
22:21from our two championship contenders.
22:24Big mover in the pack has been Alan Jones.
22:26A great effort by him.
22:27He qualified 15th.
22:28He is up into 10th,
22:29and even bigger than that
22:30is John Faulkner, who qualified 17th
22:33and is in ninth.
22:34Well done, Faulkner.
22:38So Ingle just faints a little to the right.
22:42Russell's choice of tyres didn't do him much good.
22:45Now he's down in the 19th place.
22:48You can see with the background,
22:49Ingle getting very, very close
22:50as they come out of Scotia Complex this time.
22:53Heading down toward the summit here.
22:54He's trying to set John Bao up,
22:56but John equal to the task.
22:58Very tough customer
22:59when you get into this sort of hand-to-hand combat.
23:02Bao now heads up to the traffic.
23:04John Briggs in the Super Cheap Auto's Commodore.
23:07Crosswell gives them racing room.
23:08The two of them pick their way through,
23:09heading up towards Shell Curve once again.
23:11235 kilometers an hour
23:13as he tries to find his way through the traffic.
23:16And we've got a replay here.
23:17Oh, he's in trouble.
23:18Crunch out.
23:20Can't tender into Gary Rogers' Valvoline car.
23:23It's his first time in a V8 here at Malala
23:25in his third race meeting.
23:27He'll be disappointed that that's happened.
23:29So the order, Bao and Ingle.
23:30This tremendous battle continues for the lead.
23:325.9 seconds to get back to Johnson.
23:34He's got Perkins, second or so behind him.
23:37Then it's Lowndes, Stephen Johnson, Glenn Seaton
23:39moves up to seventh, Skate in eighth,
23:41Faulkner in ninth,
23:42and Alan Jones at the Komatsu Ford
23:44rounding out the top ten.
23:45Now, something's happened to Neil Crompton as well.
23:47I think he might be in the pits.
23:49He's out with a misfire.
23:50The words just come through.
23:51He only completed seven laps.
23:53So we're watching now.
23:54They're coming up on the back of Chris Merton.
23:55This is getting interesting now.
23:57Faulkner and Jones still ninth and tenth,
23:59as you can see on screen.
24:00But this action, this battle for the lead
24:02between these two guys who are so consistent.
24:06If you count the Australian Grand Prix support races
24:08for the V8 supercars,
24:10Russell Ingle's last 13 starts,
24:12he has not finished off the podium.
24:14He has been on the podium every single time.
24:17That is so consistent,
24:18and that's why he leads this championship.
24:20Obviously, the AGP support races
24:23don't contribute to the Shell Australian Touring Car Championship's
24:26points structure.
24:28He has just been driving so well in 98.
24:30This could give him a buffer here
24:31if he doesn't get through.
24:32Yes.
24:35Did get through.
24:36Wow, it looked like that back marker
24:37was going to make life difficult.
24:38Yeah.
24:39So Ingle still hangs in there with John Bough,
24:42trying desperately to get his first win.
24:44The best that Bough has done is second,
24:46and he finished there in 1996 in race one and two,
24:50but has never won a race here at Malala.
24:52Never won a round, obviously.
24:54Well, John Bough and his efforts,
24:55they're really starting to turn the tables.
24:57Keep in mind, his victory at Winton
24:59was the first for Ford since the Lakeside round in 1997,
25:02so the Fords have really been out of the winner's circle
25:04for a long, long time.
25:05Three laps remaining for our race leader, John Bough.
25:07Yeah, lousy past Perkins now.
25:09So the bridge zone's starting to come back on
25:11as the track dries out
25:12and perhaps warms up a little bit.
25:14So Larry is now back in fifth position.
25:16Steve Johnson, sixth,
25:17Seton, seventh,
25:18Scaifei, Faulkner,
25:19Bright is now tenth,
25:20so he's got past Alan Jones.
25:22Longhurst has worked up into twelfth,
25:24and the Romano is thirteenth.
25:26The best performance from Larry Perkins,
25:28Shell Australian Touring Car Champion,
25:30who is currently sitting fourth
25:32in the overall points chase.
25:34And Glenn Seton,
25:36our reigning champ boy.
25:38This has been one hell of a year,
25:401998.
25:42He's been having all sorts of problems.
25:44And, uh,
25:45talking to the engineers yesterday,
25:47the car was very quick in both untimed sessions
25:49in the morning, the fastest car, in fact.
25:51But as soon as they put the new tyres on the car,
25:53they don't get that new tyre gain that you would expect,
25:55so there's something a bit mysterious going on.
25:58Well, you'd have to say, you know,
25:59with the trouble the HRT were having
26:00at the beginning of the year,
26:01it has to be the tyre situation, doesn't it?
26:04Princeton obviously changed something,
26:06construction-wise or whatever,
26:08because whenever any of the guys change on the car,
26:11it doesn't seem to make any difference.
26:13Well, Glenn was very happy
26:15with his qualifying position of number six
26:17after the previous two rounds,
26:19where he's just had a complete nightmare,
26:20so things perhaps changing for him
26:22as we watch Mark Scaife all over the back
26:25with a bit of battle damage on the front there
26:26when he came in contact with Steve Johnson.
26:28We're getting very close to the end.
26:30Oh, look at this!
26:31Single turns up the heat again on John Bowen,
26:33time is running out.
26:34Lap 16 of 17.
26:36John is just doing what he does so well,
26:37just driving that conservative line,
26:39not dodging or weaving,
26:40but just putting the car in a position
26:41that makes Ingle have to drive further,
26:44and that's going to make it harder and harder
26:45for him to pass.
26:46He just holds this position.
26:47Look at that, braking right down the middle of the road.
26:49He gives Ingle two options.
26:50Oh!
26:52And he went in really deep.
26:53Let's see if he can come out in front.
26:54Wow!
26:55The back was just starting to come around a little bit.
26:57Bow got off the brakes and masterfully
26:59flicked that through the turn without losing position.
27:01I thought Ingle would have had him there.
27:02And I tell you what,
27:03he's been able to walk away a little bit from Russell too.
27:06DJ's had an excursion and lost a couple of places.
27:10How deep do you want to go on the brakes?
27:11Boy, oh boy.
27:12Nicely sideways, wasn't it?
27:13It was a hard stopper for JB,
27:14but he remains in control.
27:17One lap remaining.
27:18He's got 2.6 kilometers of this Malala Raceway to go,
27:21and he will take his first touring car victory
27:24at Malala in a long and very glorious career.
27:26It's amazing how he's missed out on victory here,
27:29but he can hold it together here.
27:30This will be number one.
27:31I'll tell you what, it's not over yet.
27:32We've got three quarters of a lap left to run,
27:34and Russell Ingle isn't giving in.
27:35We know he's quick down this section past the pits.
27:38All that area behind there is pit lane.
27:40Comes past Wayne Russell on the inside.
27:43Now he's back within a car length of John Bow.
27:45Both cars have Dunlop tires.
27:47The place to watch will be as they come down
27:49toward that northern hairpin.
27:50It's a very, very slow corner.
27:52They're coming from maximum speed,
27:53about 230 kilometers an hour,
27:55braking right down for a very, very slow right-hander.
28:00Bow.
28:04That's what happened last time.
28:05Ingle this time tried to take advantage.
28:07Bow.
28:08You cannot brake harder than that
28:10and risk spitting the car.
28:12Now look at this.
28:13This is exactly the same as the previous lap.
28:14John Bow puts the power down, gets the power down
28:17a lot more efficiently, or that's what it seems,
28:19and he just walks away from Russell there,
28:21and that one has got it for him.
28:23He has got it in the bag
28:24as he comes through the chalets.
28:25This is it.
28:26A very happy moment,
28:28a very satisfying moment in John Bow's career
28:30as he takes out race one
28:32in his very first race win
28:34here at Malala in South Australia.
28:36The local boy, Russell Ingle, in for second,
28:38and that was a great fight.
28:39Both guys would have loved that.
28:41JB puts the thumb up and says,
28:43how about that?
28:44They duked it out at Winton
28:46and had smiles from ear to ear
28:48after they were finished.
28:49They really enjoyed good, tight, close racing.
28:52And that was a great one.
28:54There's Russell.
28:55Happy with his efforts.
28:56He tried so hard and almost got through
28:59on the inside.
29:00The Northern Hampton,
29:01as John Bow got sideways,
29:03locked it up a little.
29:05But, wow, we talk about
29:07people being so consistent,
29:09and you talk about Bow and Ingle
29:11and Glenn Seaton
29:13for year after year after year.
29:15They're always there.
29:16They're always consistent.
29:17But that one there will hold a very special place
29:20for John Bow,
29:21his first win at the Malala circuit.
29:23He first raced here in 1989,
29:25so it's been a long time coming.
29:27Lowndes held on for third,
29:29Perkins in for fourth,
29:30and Dick Johnson, after that little off,
29:32in for fifth.
29:33We go back to Stephen Johnson,
29:34another top ten finish.
29:35Well done, Stephen.
29:36Seaton, Skate, Faulkner,
29:38from 17th to 9th.
29:39That's a great effort.
29:40And Jason Bright.
29:41More after this break.
29:47You can sport that cream
29:48always rises to the surface.
29:49It's this championship.
29:50We're looking at John Bow and Russell Ingle.
29:52You guys seem to be joined together by a bungee cord.
29:54Unbelievable race.
29:55Well, it was a great race.
29:56I mean, really, he was very fair.
29:58A couple of times, I nearly dropped it,
30:00and he could have unloaded me,
30:01and then he didn't,
30:02and it was just a good race,
30:03and I think it's fantastic.
30:04Just down the end of that straight there
30:06where you were doing that lake braking,
30:07look, the tail was going to come around.
30:09You were saying something about the set-up on the car.
30:11It was very hard on the rear tyres.
30:12Well, the track was wet when we started,
30:14so we actually had a wet set-up,
30:16but with dry tyres,
30:17and as the track dried,
30:18of course, it really killed the back tyres.
30:20It was as loose as a goose.
30:21Fantastic.
30:22That's the way it is.
30:23Best of luck in Heat 2.
30:24Okay, thanks.