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Crash puts Morris
out of the Hardie
BATHURST: Former Bath
urst winners Bob Morris and John
Fitzpatrick are not expected to
start in the James Hardie 1000
today after a high-speed accident
in their Ford Falcon at the Mount
Panorama circuit yesterday.
Fitzpatrick, a highly ex
perienced English driver, was
driving when a wheel collapsed at
the Forest Elbow corner. The car
struck a concrete wall, but
FitzpatricJk was able to walk
away.
. Morris said last night, "It's
unfixablc, from a safety point."
His crew had considered an
overnight rebuild, but the car was
too badly bent.
Ford's hopes for the race will
rest with last year's winner, Dick
Johnson, of Queensland, who just
could not match strides yesterday
with ihc Commodores of Alan
Grice and Peter Brock.
Grice earned pole position with
another 160km/h lap, timed at
2:17.5, 2.5sec under Brock's
track record. Brock was second
fastest at 2:17.8,
Third is the Nissan turbo Blue
bird driven by Masahiro Hasemi,
of Japan, at 2:18.8. But his car
blew dense smoke on its second
flying lap and had to be pushed
across the finish line by track
marshalls.
Police at Bathurst reported
traffic jams on the tracks leading
to camping grounds around the
curcuit, and said they cxpcctcd a
record crowd for today's race.
Those at the circuit were well
behaved, they said. One person
had been charged with assault
and three with drink-driving of
fences.
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