Tilley gets special TCM triumph
For the first time Jamie Tilley is a race and round winner after another stunning Duggan Family Hotels Touring Car Masters Sydney finale.
Tilley snatched both the race and round honours from Ryan Hansford, who had to settle for third after an almighty battle between the Torana and Mustang.
Andrew Fisher was opportunistic to snatch second in the final laps, while championship leader Adam Garwood was down in ninth after a spin.
Although Tilley and Hansford finished the round level on points, the final race win elevated the Mustang driver to the breakthrough overall success.
At the race start it was an even rolling start where Hansford protected his lead from the spirited Tilley.
Zukanovic had another fast getaway and made it three-wide for third going third Turn 1, but by the time they arrived to turn 2, the Falcon dropped to seventh.
Andrew Fisher snuck his way to second. Image: Peter Norton
Buzadzic made contact with Fisher and muscled his way into fourth and that soon became third when Garwood made a mistake through Turns 4-5 where the Holdens almost tangled.
However, their battle ended in tears when Buzadzic dropped all the way to the back on Lap 2 where he was spun by Garwood on approach to Turn 2.
All the drama allowed Fisher to sneak to third as Garwood held fourth ahead of Gray, who made impressive progress in the Capri.
It also released the leaders to be 3s up the road, but little separated the top two with Tilley’s Mustang all over the back of the Hansford Torana.
At the end of Lap 3 Tilley had his first look, trying to get a run down the Brabham Straight, but Hansford broke the slipstream.
Two laps later Tilley launched a more sustained counter attack and threw the Mustang down the inside at Turn 6, only for the Multispares Racing Torana to perform the criss cross.
The pair then went side by side through the hairpin which brought Fisher into play.
Their contest carried on down the Brabham Straight where they shared the lead three times in the one drag race, but the Mustang snatched P1 with the inside line through Turn 1.
Suddenly fluid appeared to be coming out of Hansford’s Torana and he could not stop Fisher from snatching second at Turn 4.
Rylan Gray’s impressive TCM debut had an unfortunate ending. Image: Peter Norton
All eyes were also on the battle for fourth as Garwood and Gray spent much of Lap 5 side by side.
The rookie appeared to have the better of the championship leader, but a lock up proved costly.
Unfortunately Gray’s impressive drive ended on Lap 8 when his Ford came to a crawl at the start-finish line.
Although Gray was gone, Garwood had Heinrich to contend with.
The Whiteline Racing Camaro lunged down the inside of Turn 4, but Garwood tried to close the door and the #2 VB Commodore was sent into a smokey spin.
After more battles with Scott Cameron, Garwood had to settle for ninth, while John Bowe had an entertaining fight with Craig Tilley for fifth and the returning veteran came out on top.
Very few will forget the racing the Duggan Family Hotels Touring Car Masters produced in Sydney and they will be back in action at the Sandown 500 on September 20-22.
Image: Peter Norton Epic Sports Photography
Duggan Family Hotels Touring Car Masters Sydney Race 3 results
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