Oran Park Grand Final report

SETON WINS TITLE AS BROCK SAYS BYE BYE ORAN PARK, NSW, AUSTRALIA SUN August 3 1997: Glen Seton won the series, Greg Murphy won the day but it was retiring legend Peter Brock who won the hearts of a record Oran Park crowd in the final round of the Shell Australian Touring Car Championships. Brock topped the qualifying battle to take his 57th pole and promptly won race one much to the delight of over 40'000 fans who had come to farewell the countries most recognisable racing driver. Brocks Mobil/Holden Racing teammate New Zealand star Greg Murphy followed the boss into second with championship leader Glen Seton in third. Setons main rivals for the title Tasmanian John Bowe and controversial Holden Commodore driver Russell Ingall both had days they'd rather forget. Ingall touched another car at the start and was forced to retire with a broken steering arm while Bowe's Falcon struggled all weekend with a persistent misfire. For race 2 Ingall again was tagged by another car at turn 2 which brought out the red flag. At the restart Brock and former world champ Alan Jones touched at high speed going into the fast turn one and only the great skill of both drivers and a lot of luck saved them from a serious incident. Murphy took the lead from Jones, Brock and the steadily improving Tony Longhurst with Wayne Gardner returning to the series in fifth. Jones pressured Murphy in to a mistake on L13 which let Jones through to his first outright of the year from Brock and Murphy. Longhurst was fourth with Setons fifth giving the likeable Melbourne based driver his second national title. Race three saw Seton celebrate his title with a win over Murphy and Steven Richards in a fine third. John Faulkner took privateer honours for the day and the series and stamped himself as the driver to watch in the years to come. The teams now break for the big enduros with Peter Brock's final appearances at his home track at Sandown for the Tickford 500 on Sept 14 before moving on to the Mountain for the first running of the controversial new Australian Classic 1000 (reg. trademark IMG all right reserved) on October 16 two week after the traditional Bathurst classic on October 4 which this year will be run for the International Super Touring car class. Brock has won both Sandown and Bathurst 9 times and this year will be partnered by former touring car and Gold Star champion Mark Skaife. ORAN PARK MOTORSPORT - SHELL AUSTRALIAN TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP GRAND FINAL Race Results

Sunday 3rd August, 1997

R04: Shell Australia Touring Car Championship Grand Final Race R1

Pos NoEntrant Driver Vehicle Laps Elapsed Fastest On

1 05 Peter Brock Commodore 18 21:01.3604 1:09.0037 6

2  15       Greg Murphy   Commodore  18  21:03.1800 1:09.1326  5
3  9        Alan Jones    Falcon   18  21:07.0694 1:09.2605  6
4  30          Glenn Seton   Falcon   18  21:09.0738 1:09.3864  7
5  25       Tony Longhurst   Falcon   18  21:09.2221:09.6256  2
6  7        Wayne Gardner Commodore  18  21:11.3789 1:09.6473  6
7  18      John Bowe     Falcon EL  18  21:14.2034 1:09.5937  3
8  46       John Faulkner Commodore  18  21:14.5648 1:09.6278  6
9  34       Steven Richards  Commodore  18  21:16.4322 1:09.6803  6
10 17       Dick Johnson  Falcon EL  18  21:25.6712 1:09.9906  7
11 97       Stephen White Commodore  18  21:27.2068 1:09.9655  5
12 11       Larry Perkins Commodore  18  21:28.3183 1:09.5693  5
13 10       Mark Larkham  Falcon EL  18  21:30.2984 1:09.3685  2
14 24       Paul Romano   Commodore  18  21:31.7397 1:10.4507  14
15 27       Terry Finnigan  Commodore  18  21:31.9160 1:10.4160  12

R08: Shell Australian Touring Car Championship Grand Final Race 2

Pos NoEntrant Driver        Vehicle   Laps   Elapsed   Fastest   On
 1  9   Alan Jones    Falcon EL  16  18:48.1801 1:09.0943  2

2 05 Peter Brock Commodore 16 18:51.7853 1:09.5603 7

3 15 Greg Murphy Commodore 16 18:54.5838 1:09.1313 3

4  25  Tony Longhurst  Falcon EL  16  18:57.1877 1:09.7778  3
5  30  Glenn Seton   Falcon EL  16  18:58.5465 1:09.6200  5

6 7 Wayne Gardner Commodore 16 18:59.3749 1:09.7345 5

7 34Steven Richards Commodore 16 18:59.7681 1:09.7309 4

8 11 Larry Perkins Commodore 16 19:00.1856 1:09.6580 4

9 46John Faulkner Commodore 16 19:00.4855 1:09.8258 6

10 97Stephen White Commodore 16 19:07.5836 1:10.0729 6

ORAN PARK MOTORSPORT - SHELL AUSTRALIAN TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP GRAND FINAL Race Results

Sunday 3rd August, 1997

R11: Shell Australian Touring Car Championship Grand Final Race 3

Pos NoEntrant Driver        Vehicle   Laps   Elapsed   Fastest   On
1  30 Glenn Seton   Falcon EL  18  21:06.8886 1:09.2818  4

2 15 Greg Murphy Commodore 18 21:07.9859 1:09.3296 5

3 34 Steven Richards Commodore 18 21:17.6840 1:09.6606 11

4 25 Tony Longhurst Falcon EL 18 21:22.6986 1:10.0907 11

5 46 John Faulkner Commodore 18 21:24.0502 1:10.0683 11

6  7  Wayne Gardner Commodore  18  21:26.4439 1:10.1719  11
7 17Dick Johnson  Falcon EL  18  21:26.5581 1:09.8402  10
8  10 Mark Larkham  Falcon EL  18  21:28.0587 1:09.8053  11

9 11 Larry Perkins Commodore 18 21:39.6072 1:09.9087 7

10 39Chris Smerdon Commodore 18 21:39.9813 1:10.8444 13

OVERALL: GREG MURPHY GLEN SETON TONY LONGHURST

SERIES POINTS (FINAL SCORES) GLEN SETON 668 JOHN BOWE 608 RUSSELL INGALL 572 GREG MURPHY 550

BEST PRIVATEER JOHN FAULKNER. =============================================================== ENDS/...

Brett Ramsey "DEMOCRACY IS A TRADGEDY WHEN THE MAJORITY ARE FOOLS" Don't know who wrote it but I like it.