The scene of his first and last V8 Supercar victories, Bowe still stands as one of the most successful drivers in the premier class at Winton Raceway, and he has now added to that record with another dominant performance, this weekend.

While Bowe was untouchable from start to finish in his WesTrac Cat/Wilson Security Mustang, round two presented a tougher challenge for Group 2 winner, Bernie Stack and in Group 3, Phillip Showers overcame his own difficulties to seal the round win.

From the outset, it was Bowe who set the pace in the opening practice session as he eclipsed the previous lap record and then bettered it in Saturday’s 20-minute qualifying by posting a 1:31.4260m lap, shaving almost 1.5 seconds off the 2009 qualifying time. 

In Group 2, Trevor Talbot set the qualifying pace in the Dukes Body Works Torana XU-1, while it was Tony Karanfilovski’s Alfa Romeo GTAM that topped the Group 3 lap times. 

Starting from pole alongside the Shannons Falcon Sprint of Jim Richards, Bowe got jump on Richards, but the main action off the start line was further down the field as Graeme Cook jumped the start and his Racemoves Porsche was turned around into John Nelson’s #91 Nelson Architects Porsche.

Copping significant damage, Nelson’s Porsche 911 was pushed across into heavy contact with Matt O’Brien’s Web Insurance HQ Monaro - ending the race for all three.

The field continued on for an incident filled eight laps. Brad Tilley parked his Tilleys Automotive Falcon with a broken tail shaft, having completed only the first lap.

On lap six, it was a pair of pirouetting HQ Holdens as Mark King was turned around by Brett Youlden, dropping the King Springs machine to the rear of the field from a strong eighth place.

Doug Westwood’s Fire Protection Falcon was yet another casualty with a broken diff centre. The safety car was called out to retrieve Westwood’s stricken car which bunched up the field behind Bowe.

The safety car pulled in to release the field for a sprint to the finish with Bowe taking a faultless race win ahead of Richards.

Stack claimed his fourth straight Group 2 race win, but it was Group 2 runner-up Talbot who crossed the line eighth overall to put himself on pole for the top-eight reverse grid race two.

Suffering gear selection issues, the safety car helped Showers to take the Group 3 race one win as his Northern BM Escort chased down the limping Alfa which had dropped a cylinder.

Cook was later penalised for jumping the race start and docked 60 championship points.

Race two featured an all Holden front row with the Talbot Torana joined by Graham Alexander’s Corio Auto Parts HT Monaro.

Talbot led the field off the start line with Bullas and Bowe on a charge, but an errant loose wheel put Tony Edwards’ Romac Engineering HQ Monaro into the wall, bringing out the safety car out on lap one.

Lights out on the safety car released the field two laps later with Talbot leading ahead of Bullas, Alexander, Bowe and Miedecke rounding out the top five.

Bullas assumed the lead within a matter of corners with Bowe in tow, while Alexander was quickly overtaken by Miedecke and Richards with Talbot quick to follow suit.

A thrilling duel between Bullas and Bowe ensued, but Bullas was presented the bad sportsmanship flag for blocking and was forced to yield his lead to the former Bathurst 1000 winner on lap 10.

Once released from behind Bullas, Bowe stretched out over a second lead as he took the chequered flag for his second win of the weekend.

Down the road, Richards steadily pressured Miedecke lap after lap and eventually slipped his Shannons Falcon Sprint into third place across the line.

Leanne Tander clinched her best finish of the season thus far after muscling the Wilson Security XA Falcon up into a strong fifth place.

King was another of the big movers through the race, quietly carving his way from the rear end of the grid up into 13th spot, recovering strongly from his misfortune of the previous race.

A brilliant drive from Talbot held out the HT Monaro of Alexander to see the Dukes Body Works Torana take the Group 2 win with Stack settling for his first second-place finish of the year.

Showers maintained his advantage over Karanfilovski in the Group3 battle to take another win.

Post race, Jim Richards was given a 30-point penalty for overtaking under safety car and Bullas was disqualified from the race result as the Rain City Mustang was found to be 10kg underweight.

Delivering the drive of the weekend, Bowe once again led the field for the start of race three, but as the pack funnelled through the first turn, Talbot and Alexander were caught up in an incident with Stack and fell down the order.

A minor off-track excursion for Stack following gear selection issues put Talbot back into the hunt for the Group 2 round win, while Chris Stillwell in the Stillwell Mustang assumed the class lead.

Starting off the rear of the grid following his race two disqualification, Bullas masterfully negotiated the field and was incredibly into fourth place by the second lap, behind Miedecke, Richards and Bowe.

Bullas passed Miedecke around mid-race, and Tander quickly closed in on the WesTrac Cat Camaro.

A dramatic exit from the race for Richards on the penultimate lap with smoke pouring from the Falcon’s cockpit, left Tander and Miedecke wrestling for the final podium position for race three.

Bowe crossed the line for his third straight win with Bullas in tow. A thrilling last lap manoeuvre saw Tander score her first top-three result, just three-tenths ahead of Miedecke.

Pulling into the pits on lap seven after receiving a black flag for a loose rear bumper bar that was dragging dangerously on the ground ended Talbot’s challenge, while Stack continued to charge and eventually closed in right behind the eventual Group 2 race winner, Stillwell.

In the Group 3 battle, Karanfilovski finally led the Showers’ Escort for the first portion of the race, but a solo spin on lap five saw the TIFS Warehousing Alfa rejoin the pack behind Showers again. Karanfilovski re-passed Showers on the last lap to secure the final race win.

The overall round results were led by Bowe with his three straight race wins in the WesTrac Cat/Wilson Security Mustang, with series newcomers Miedecke in second and Tander in third.

Stack’s consistency in the Gawler Storage Porsche 911 delivered him his second consecutive Group 2 round win, with Stillwell in second scoring his first podium result since his return the racetrack, and McAlister and the McAlister Ford Mustang Coupe taking third for the weekend.

In Group 3, Showers also scored his second consecutive round win, with Karanfilovski in second place. Returning to the mix, Cameron Mason in the Steve Mason Family Cars Datsun 510 suffered an engine failure and was unable complete any races for the race meeting, leaving the third spot on the podium vacant for round two.

Next up , the Touring Car Masters presented by Autobarn heads north for round three at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway (NT) on 18-20 June.

JOHN BOWE:

“I’ve done thousands of miles around Winton and we had a fantastic car this weekend. It’s been a long time between round wins and this is a great result for the WesTrac Cat/Wilson Security team.

“I’ve had a great weekend and I’m very much looking forward to the rest of the year. This is building into a very exciting championship battle.”

BERNIE STACK:

“Lap times are important in qualifying, but being in the race is what I like.

“The good thing about my car is the starts, so if I can qualify in the top 10 then I think I have a good chance of keeping the others behind me.”

PHILLIP SHOWERS:

“I felt confident coming into the weekend, but you never know how it’s going to turn out.

“I’ve done a lot of miles here and it’s got Northern BM corner so it’s a bit of a favourite track of mine. I’m pleased to get the win here at Winton.”