Jason Bargwanna endured a tough time following his Bathurst victory in 2000, but this led to a drought breaking victory on a wet Gold Coast Street Circuit.
Following a strong 2000 campaign, Garry Rogers Motorsport entered a barren run of results leading to Bargwanna breaking its winless streak on the Gold Coast two years after its triumphant Bathurst victory.
The 2002 season continued the tough results after Bargwanna had been tapped into a scary roll at Phillip Island and a disappointing Bathurst campaign, which ended in the concrete at the top of the Mountain.
Although aiming for redemption after Bathurst, Bargwanna had the added incentive of championship points being up for grabs for the first time.
Qualifying way down in 14th and charging up to fifth in the opening race set Bargwanna up for the round victory.
A poor tyre choice by Kmart Racing’s Greg Murphy opened the door for Bargwanna to score the Race 2 and round victory. Bargwanna finished level on points with Lowndes, but given his victory in the second event, the round win was awarded to the Garry Rogers Motorsport driver.
“There’s no doubt that Bathurst was the lowest point in my career, probably the lowest in my life. It all fell apart at that moment,” Bargwanna said.
“But now we are back to winning races, so let’s see if we can do it on a more consistent basis.”
It wasn’t all plain sailing for Bargwanna due to multiple kerb strikes dropping him to 26th in the Race 1 results, but this was amended prior to the start of the Sunday’s running.
“When I was on the way home on Saturday night and I looked at the timesheets,” Bargwanna explained.
“I thought I had finished fifth but they had me down as 26th. They had a system that if you hit too many kerbs, you got bumped. We had a talk about it and I got back to fifth.”
Bargwanna left at the end of the season to join Larkham Motorsport in one of the team’s Orrcon Steel-backed Ford Falcons.