The events at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide, South Australia — which took place March 2–5 — saw the ups and downs of motorsport. First of which, Kiwi-battler Shane Van Gisbergen took out the top podium spot in the the Supercars class.
But it was the first big crash of the day that saw the otherside of how racing can steer, with some of the oldest cars in the event being whipped out during the first lap of the Touring Car Masters’ final race on Sunday.
A rolling start had the grid coming in hot at the chicane, and although it initially looked like Brad Tilley’s Speedgas Mustang was going to end up in the wall after being tagged, it would be the concertina effect caused by this incident that led Terry Lawlor’s Mustang to go wide over the kerb, making contact with the tyre wall and slingshotting back across the pack.
Unfortunately, Jim Richards, and then Cam Tilley, were unable to get clear of the incident and were both collected. Richards suffered a smack to the driver's side, which resulted in a spin to the wall, and Tilley T-boned Lawlor after being left with nowhere to go — the hit that has arguably caused the most damage to the car.
Following the incident, Tony Karanfilovski’s Ford Mustang took the chequered flag from the Mustang of Brad Tilley and Holden Torana of Adam Garwood — the race-three win would later be handed over to Brad Tilley following a 22-second post-race penalty.
Overall, John Bowe took out the Touring Car Masters win for the round in his Torona, while Adam Bressington, driving for South Australia’s Whiteline Racing team, came second.
