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Cat Racing Sandown preview

Fresh from a great result at the recent Queensland 500, Cat Racing star John Bowe has high hopes for continuing his excellent Sandown form when the V8 Supercars visit the Melbourne circuit next week on October 8. Bowe and co-driver Jim Richards ...

Fresh from a great result at the recent Queensland 500, Cat Racing star John Bowe has high hopes for continuing his excellent Sandown form when the V8 Supercars visit the Melbourne circuit next week on October 8.

Bowe and co-driver Jim Richards performed strongly at the 500 enduro, grabbing 5th place overall and earning the honour as the first Ford home.

The Tasmanian will be return as the sole pilot aboard the Cat Falcon next weekend and Bowe is confident of success on a circuit where has grabbed a huge share of the limelight over his V8 Supercar career.

In sprint races at the Melbourne venue, Bowe has finished on the podium in seven out of ten starts and has also never qualified outside the top four.

Added to this, he also has two Sandown 500 victories to his credit.

Bowe looked set to continue that trend last year when he qualified 3rd fastest behind the HRT cars and finished 3rd in the opening race.

An electrical problem put him out of the second event, ruining his day and Bowe is now out to make amends in 2000.

"We had a pretty good car at Sandown last year, but our luck ran out after the first race," Bowe said.

"I really like Sandown because it is the type of track where you can really push the car and it rewards you on the timesheet.

"On a lot of tracks, if you push too hard, you speed suffers.

"I have a lot of great memories form this place and actually did one of the my first ever races on the mainland here."

Although the Cat team finished with a strong result in the recent Queensland 500, Bowe believes his team can not rest on their laurels.

"Our result in Queensland came from a good overall team effort. We had a strong car, good tactics and excellent pit work.

"Unfortunately, in sprint races a lot of that doesn't come into play and the outright speed of the car is imperative factor.

"We were slightly off the pace in the speed stakes from where we wanted to be in Queensland, but the boys have been working hard to ensure we try to improve the car for next week.

"Another good result at Sandown will give everybody a heap of confidence with Bathurst just around the corner."

<pre> SANDOWN RECORD: 1996 Ford Falcon EF Grid: Pole Heat 1: 2nd Heat 2: 1st Heat 3: 8th Round: 4th

1997 Ford Falcon EL Grid: 4th Heat 1: 2nd Heat 2: 2nd Heat 3: 2nd Round: 2nd

1998 Ford Falcon EL Grid: Pole Heat 1: 1st Heat 2: 2nd Heat 3: 4th Round: 2nd

1999 Ford Falcon AU Grid: 3rd Heat 1: 3rd Heat 2: RTD Heat 3: 16th Round: 14th

CALENDAR: October 8 Sandown October 15 Gold Coast Indy November 18 Bathurst

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