Bowe Farewells Home Circuit
Glenfords Racing driver, Tasmanian John Bowe made his last-ever V8 Supercar start at Symmons Plains Raceway (TAS) in an
emotional farewell for round 13 of the 2007 V8 Supercar Series, this weekend.
Racing on his home turf for the final time, retiring V8 Supercar veteran Bowe began the weekend with a hugely
disappointing first-lap crash that ended with the #111 Falcon collecting a tyre bundle.
The incident brought out the safety car to clear the displaced tyre bundle and left Bowe with damage to the front of the
Glenfords Falcon.
While able to continue for the race distance, the resulting damage heavily impacted on performance with the #111 car
suffering a loss of straight-line speed. Carrying on regardless, Bowe finished 27th under very trying circumstances.
Staying out of trouble in the opening laps of race two, Bowe peaked in 10th place as his rivals began completing their
pit stops from lap seven.
Making his own compulsory pit stop on lap 10, Bowe rejoined the field in 26th.
Steadily progressing up the order, Bowe rounded out the 50-lap battle in 20th place.
The weekend's third and final race saw the entire field sweep cleanly through the opening lap, but a crash on lap two
between Max Wilson and Todd Kelly that collected Andrew Jones lifted Bowe to 17th place.
Pit stops shuffled Bowe up to fifth place and back to 23rd as he completed his tyre stop on lap 13 and he then steadily
moved forward to 17th place.
Attempting a passing manoeuvre on Shane Van Gisbergen for 16th spot, Bowe sent himself spinning into the dirt and
dropped the Glenfords Racing machine back down the order again.
Mounting yet another fight back, Bowe climbed from 25th to finish the race in 17th, greatly assisted by an
action-packed, chaotic lap 39 that saw championship contender, Garth Tander exit the race in spectacular style, as well
as a separate incident that eliminated Simon Wills, Paul Dumbrell and Owen Kelly.
Wrapping up the season and Bowe's V8 Supercar career in the Grand Finale, the Glenfords Racing team will head to the
Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit (VIC) for round 14 of the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship Series on 30 November - 2
December.
JOHN BOWE:
"This has been an emotional weekend for me at my home track.
"I didn't think my final V8 Supercar round in Tassie would affect me quite this much, but arriving here I realised that
it's impossible for it not to have a deep effect on you.
"The Glenfords Falcon has had some excellent form and very strong speed in the last few rounds, so I was hoping to leave
Tassie with a strong result.
"We struggled right from the outset with our qualifying pace, but the Glenfords car is always good in race trim.
"To have an incident on the first corner in race one was so depressing, but we made a good come back to finish the race
and then climb up into the top 20 in our second race.
"Each time we made up some ground in the third race we took another knock that we had to battle back from, so while we
probably should have scored some points here this weekend, it is still a good result for the Glenfords car to finish in
the midfield.
"The team did a brilliant job and absolutely deserved to score some points this weekend.
"I really have to thank all of the Tasmanian fans that have come out to wish me well this weekend; I can't begin to say
how much it has meant to me."
PAUL CRUICKSHANK:
"The weekend was disappointing as we were hoping to acquire some more points to aid us in the teams' championship;
however we now have some work to do to keep ahead of Jack Daniels Racing in the final round at Phillip Island.
"The final round will also be a big event with John Bowe's final V8 Supercar race, and the Glenfords Racing team will be
looking forward to celebrating his 22-year career and sending him off in fitting style."
ENDS