The Winton Undercard

19 May 2016

Famous families, familiar cars and a new category for this weekend’s support racing.

3 mins by James Pavey

2016

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Sons, grandsons, wives and nephews of former Bathurst winners will race at Winton this weekend as we welcome our newest support category.

TOYOTA 86 RACING SERIES

Australia’s newest one-make series is affordable and offers a great mix of emerging talent duking it out with some of motorsport’s most established names.

Making the inaugural grid is Steven Johnson, Leanne Tander, Ben Grice (yes, son of Allan) and both Glenn Seton and his son, Aaron.

Outside of those great names there’s a mixture of young drivers stepping out of Formula 4, Formula Ford and Karting, meaning there should be plenty of action as futures are forged and fought for.

Best of all there are 38 of these little weapons at Winton this weekend ready for three races. This promises to be a real crowd favourite.

TOURING CAR MASTERS

Winton last year was the event where John Bowe first rolled out in a Holden Torana SL/R 5000 and mercilessly destroyed the competition.

Bowe holds the points lead after the opening two rounds and it’s hard to see anyone beating him after his domination last year.

Having said that we have been treated to five different winners from the first six races this year, so maybe I’ll be proven wrong, I hope so!

Glenn Seton and Steven Johnson will be doing double duties after climbing out of their Toyotas and Jim Richards will be as competitive as ever in his AMC Javelin.

KHUMO TYRE AUSTRALIAN V8 TOURING CARS

Having this category on the undercard is as logical as it is awesome. If you love the Dunlop Series then you’ll love this, as this is where old Dunlop Series cars go to enjoy an active retirement.

We have 18 Supercars from yesteryear ready to roll for their second round of 2016 and the first to ever pay points at a Supercars event.

It’s a mix of cars that were raced in the main game either side of Y2K, with some even sporting their original war paint, like Chris Smerdon’s ex-Lee Holdsworth Stone Brothers FG Falcon or Troy Stapleton’s DJR EL Falcon.

Supercars regular, Taz Douglas won the opening round and will be the man to beat again this weekend. He’ll get pushed along by Josh Smith (driving for Brad Jones Racing) and Queenslander, Tyler Greenbury.

AUSTRALIAN V8 UTE RACING SERIES

It’s great to see the grid swell this weekend to 17 utes. The racing in the V8 Utes has been superb, particularly at Symmons Plains and Phillip Island.

As it stands just 47 points cover the top four in the championship with David Sieders on top. He will be doing double duties in the Toyota 86 Racing Series too, so the likes of Nathan Pretty, Kris Walton and Ryan Hansford will be hoping the extra workload puts Sieders off of his game.

One guy who has been missed this year is Gerard McLeod. Thankfully he returns this round after missing the opening three events and if his form last year is anything to go by he will run in the lead pack this weekend.

Sadly, off the back of his famous jump-start at Phillip Island, Richard Mork will not be racing this weekend.

The V8 Utes first round back at Winton since 2012 will see three races held, including everyone’s favourite reverse grid race.

BATHURST WINNING FAMILIES

Jim Richards (7x winner himself)

Steven Johnson (Son of 3x winner Dick Johnson)

Leanne Tander (Wife of 3x winner Garth Tander)

Kim Jane (Nephew of 2x winner Bob Jane)

Ben Grice (Son of 2x winner Allan Grice)

John Bowe (2x winner himself)

Gerard McLeod (Son of 1987 winner Peter McLeod)

Ryan Hansford (Son of 1993 winner Gregg Hansford)

Glenn Seton (Son of 1965 winner Bo Seton)