Towe and McMahon score two apiece in second round of Heritage Touring Cars
BMW driver David Towe and Nissan pilot Carey McMahon have shared the race victories in the second round of the Heritage Touring Cars Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park last weekend.
Towe, driving an ex-Jim Richards 1987 Bathurst JPS BMW M3, claimed pole position on Saturday, lapping the 3.9-kilometre layout in 1m43.9579s and locking out the front row with fellow M3 pilot Bill Cutler in his ex-Schnitzer factory example, which also competed at Bathurst in ’87.
Towe took victory in Saturday’s opening seven-lapper from Anthony Compton’s ex-Glenn Seton/Peter Jackson Ford Sierra, Bill Pye’s ex-Dick Johnson Greens-Tuf Mustang, George Nittis (ex-British Touring Car Championship Sierra) and Cutler.
Towe claimed honours in a shortened Race 2, which was declared after three laps, with Cutler, Pye and Compton leading home Ed Singleton’s ex-STP/Roadways Commodore VH.
Carey McMahon claimed victory in Race 3 on Sunday, his GTS-R Skyline too strong for Pye, Cutler, Frank Binding’s Army Reserve Falcon and Norm Mogg’s ex-Win Percy Holden Racing Team Commodore VL.
Towe’s BMW had been leading, though blew a head gasket while out front and was forced to retire for the rest of the day.
The 11-lap final Trophy Race also fell to McMahon, this time leading home Pye by 1.2-seconds, Cutler, Mogg and John Douglas’ Mazda completed the top five.
Group C honours were claimed by John Douglas’ Mazda RX-7 in Race 1, Singleton in Race 2, Binding in Race 3 and Douglas again in the final.
The expected challenge from the GIO Nissan GT-R of Group A HTC points leader Terry Lawlor failed to materialise after the car suffered mechanical problems during Friday practice and was withdrawn from the weekend’s racing.
The ex-Colin Bond, Caltex Sierra RS500 of Craig Markland was also a scratching from the round after also encountering mechanical dramas on Friday, opening the door for the rest of the Group A field in particular to take advantage in the five-round series pointscore.
The next round of the Heritage Touring Cars Championship will be at Morgan Park in Queensland on July 12/13.
Image thanks to Jeremy Braithwaite. For more of Jeremy’s work, head to his website here.