Mighty Morris Claims Mountain As His Own

V8 Supercar driver Paul Morris stamped his authority at Mount Panorama Bathurst by winning Race 1 in Round 3 of the Aussie Racing Cars Series after fending off challengers Paul Kemal and the Ward brothers.

Morris started on pole position and used it to his advantage as the setting sun heavily affected those behind. Morris soon succumbed to the closing pack of Kemal, James Ward, Brad Ward and Ben McCashney and became locked in a race long duel.

After multiple lead changes throughout the race, Morris wrestled the lead off Kemal in the closing stages of the race to take victory.

"You can't get any better than first," said Morris.

"It could have been anyone's game, but I was in the right place at the right time and got a great tow off Kemal which allowed me to pull a move to take the lead."

Kemal finished less than a second behind, but could have taken out the race win had there not been a touch between him and Morris.

"It was great racing as there was four of us dicing for the lead," Kemal said.

"I was leading for a while but when I jumped on the brakes coming into The Chase I hit a heap of oil and almost went into the wall, dropping down to fourth place.

"I thought I had Morris on the last lap, but we came together at The Chase after he turned in on me."

Brad Ward continued his good form at Bathurst to take third place in the opening race putting himself in a position for another top result tomorrow.

"I had a good drive and it was really close at the front and I was going from first to fifth back to third then to first, it was just that close,"
Ward said.

"Coming down the pit-straight I couldn't see the cars in front of me at all due to the sun, it was pretty bad."

Front runner Sheridan Phillips crashed out of a promising top 5 position at the final corner with two laps remaining, while Phil Ward charged hard from the rear of the field to finish ninth.

An elated Ryan Flynn scored his first ever Masters Cup race victory on debut at the daunting Bathurst circuit. A 13th overall position is Flynn's best result in the Aussie Racing Car's to date.

"I have been waiting 31 years to drive around The Mountain and it is a huge buzz," Flynn said.

"To come away with a victory in my first race here is sensational and it is great to have a weekend where nothing has gone wrong so far."

Steve MacGregor continued his impressive points haul in the Masters Cup and finished right behind Flynn in the race after recovering from an off-track excursion that caused his front splitter to come off. Chris Ensby held out Mark Tarrant for third.

Aussie Racing Cars hit the track twice tomorrow with Race 2 starting at 9:50am followed by the final Race 3 at 3:55pm.

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