soon became a three-way ght as rstly Moffat
joined in, followed by (as the Ford faded) Harvey.
As Brock’s brakes started to go off, he was
overhauled by both Morris and Harvey. For the
next 10 laps Harvey attacked Morris, eventually
making his move into the esses. But Morris held
rm and held his line, and Harvey ended up in a
very high-speed spin that happily did not end in a
high-speed crash.
Morris took the win, ahead of Garth Wigston’s
A9X and Brock. It was the halfway point in the
championship, and Morris led Brock by 12 points
- almost the equivalent of a round win.
At Wanneroo the Brock and Harvey HDT
Toranas were joined by the local HDT entry of
Wayne Negus. They made it a HDT 1-2-3 off the
start, with Harvey eventually falling into the role
of Brock’s protector as Grice began to challenge.
Eventually Harvey spun, but got the position
back later when Grice’s gearbox began to play
up. As for Morris, he didn’t gure, a clash with
Negus leaving him lapped in fourth place.
The trip west hadn’t done Morris’ title hopes
any favours, but nor did anything good come
from the following round’s weekend in Surfers
Paradise. As Morris trailed home in fourth at
some distance, Brock had to overcome the locals - Johnson and Charlie O’Brien’s A9X. Eventually
Brock pressured O’Brien into a small mistake,
and victory was his.
Two rounds to go and Brock was in front by
six points. Harvey remained in contention, just
ve adrift of Morris. But already it was clear that
Harvey’s role primarily was to play foil to Brock in
the ght against Morris.
Morris went to Lakeside
in desperate need of a win.
When Brock missed his gear
change off the start, Morris
seized the opportunity to
claim that victory. His only
challenger was Johnson,
but that threat was de ated
literally when the Ford
suffered a wheel failure.
Brock ended up a lowly fth,
with a one-minute penalty
for being push started after
a shambolic tyre change.
The only positive
spin Brock could put on
Lakeside was that the lowly
two points would be his
dropped round score (only
a driver’s top seven results
from the eight rounds
counted for points).
It meant that into the nal
round at the old Adelaide
International Raceway – the
very next week after Lakeside! – Morris was
ve points clear of Brock – but only three on
corrected points. It was more or less winner take
all in Adelaide.
Bob Morris had been here before. He and
Brock had gone into the nal round the previous
year separated by just four points. But that day
Morris failed, bowing out of the contest after
clashing with Brock in what Morris himself
conceded was a questionable overtaking move.There’d be no such errors in 1979.
Brock took pole for the nal, making it six
poles to Morris’ one. But the Morris camp was
unconcerned. They’d deliberately set the car
up to perform best when the tyres were at their
worst, in anticipation of Brock’s tyres going off
later in the race. And that’s exactly how it panned
out. This time Morris more carefully chose his
moment to attack Brock, and once he was in
front it was all over.