1970 Rounds 5-7
Australia

Round Six: WARWICK FARM

International 100

Date: 15th February 1970

45 Laps of 3.620kms (160.9kms)

The sixth round of the series was scheduled for Warwick Farm, where the smaller cars would have a decided advantage. The tight 2.25 mile circuit is virtually Kevin Bartlett's home. The predictions of the expert's were that Bartlett, Stewart and Lawrence would fill the first three places, and for once they were right. They came home in that order.

The competitors had three official practice sessions on the Saturday and as usual the competition was keen for the coveted pole position. Near the end of the last session, Frank Matich put down a sizzling lap of 1m 25.0s to lop nearly two seconds off his own outright lap record set in the SR4. This was a surprise as Bartlett had been tipped for the pole spot. Both he and Max Stewart had identical times of 1m 25.5s in their Mildren 2-litre Waggotts. But the big surprise came when Graeme Lawrence flashed over the line just as the session was ending and recorded a 1m 24.9s to snatch pole position from Matich.

The American drivers could not settle down on the tough circuit and the best Mike Goth could manage was 1m 27.1s while Simpson and Grable were lapping in the 29s.

Not long before the race was due to start on the Sunday, light rain started to fall. This with the greasy surface of the track from earlier races, made conditions tricky. The rain was not heavy enough to necessitate the use of wet weather tyres, but just enough to slow down the bigger cars. And until the track dried out they were in big trouble.

Lawrence muffed the start and by the time the field had reached Paddock Bend he was back to fourth place. Matich charged to the lead followed by Bartlett and Stewart off the second row. From the word go Bartlett was looking for an opening around the big McLaren and was trying everything to go under Matich. As the field approached the Causeway for the first time, Bartlett had the inside running and was out-braking Matich when the pair touched wheels. Matich spun, taking Bartlett, Stewart and Lawrence with him. None of the cars was severely damaged and all were able to continue. But when the melee was sorted out it was young John Harvey who had the lead.

Matich rejoined the race in 12th place behind Ulf Norinder while Bartlett, Stewart and Lawrence restarted a little quicker and were off after Harvey. By lap four the trio had caught Harvey and again Bartlett was looking for a way through, each time signaling his intentions to teammate Max Stewart.

The smaller cars handled the conditions better and were running away from the rest of the field. There was a seven second gap back to Niel Allen, who was leading the rest of the bunch. By lap five this gap had increased to 10 seconds.

As the leaders approached the Causeway again, Bartlett with a brilliant piece of driving ducked under Harvey and passed him and, much to Harvey's disbelief, Max Stewart went with him.

Niel Allen was finding the McLaren a handful and dropped back two places, first to Grable and then to Matich. Matich was working hard and carving his way back up through the field. He took Grable down the pit straight and set off after Lawrence, who was running fourth behind Harvey. Lawrence seemed content to sit behind Harvey and take things easily and there was none of the inspired driving he had shown in practice.

On lap 12 Matich slid up behind Lawrence, took him in the Esses and then put paid to Harvey in the Pit Straight to jump into third spot, but still 18 secs behind the leader. Bartlett and Stewart were driving a brilliant team's race, virtually nose-to-tail driving all the way. For the whole journey they were never more than two seconds apart.

In three successive , Norinder, McRae and Goth all had loses on the approach to the Causeway. And try as he did, Matich couldn't close the gap on the leaders, in fact they were still going away to the tune of two seconds a lap. On lap 27, McRae was missing. He had spun off the circuit at Polo and damaged the gearbox casing. Three laps later Matich also parked on the side of the circuit. He had overdone it out of the Causeway, spun and damaged the rear suspension.

Meanwhile the track was drying out and Niel Allen was planting the big foot. Ron Grable handed him a place when he retired with battery trouble and Allen closed on Harvey. Two laps later he went under Harvey in Polo and was looking for Lawrence. But there were not enough laps left for him to close the distance and Allen had to be content with a new outright lap record of 1m 25.7s and fourth place.

It was a runaway win for the Mildren team cars of Bartlett and Stewart with Lawrence coming home third. Any one of five drivers, Matich, Lawrence, McRae, Grable or Bartlett, could win on points as the final round came up for Sandown the following week.

Points standing after six rounds were:- Matich 25, Lawrence 24, Bartlett 19, McRae 18, Grable 17, Stewart 16, Goth 10, Bell 6, Allen, Norinder and Simpson 3, Marwood and Harvey 2, Campbell and Williams 1 each.