Mark Larkham’s transition to touring cars was tough during its early stages after building a Ford Falcon ahead of its time, but his next move to link up with Stone Brothers Racing was a masterstroke.
Larkham alongside loyal sponsor Mitre 10 made the switch from the troublesome, yet advanced in-house constructed EF Falcon to the proven package of a Stone Brothers Racing built example.
The 1998 Australian Touring Car Championship season was an improvement for Larkham after finishing 11th in the standings, while Stone Brothers Racing was acknowledged as a team on the rise.
During this time, the now traditional support races to IndyCar’s annual trip down under were non-championship and already was notorious for being a carnage fest.
The 1998 edition proved no different.
Luck normally deserted Larkham in the early part of his Supercars career, but it all clicked on the Gold Coast when he qualified second and avoided the usual melee behind.
Starting alongside the Holden Racing Team’s Craig Lowndes, Larkham won the jump to lead into the opening chicane, while the current champion was spun by Garry Rogers Motorsport rookie Garth Tander.
A major challenge came from the Ford Tickford Racing entry of Neil Crompton, who in fact took the lead before retiring soon after due to a broken Watts linkage.
This left Larkham six seconds clear of teammate Jason Bright to score his first Supercars victory, albeit in a non-championship event.
Larkham made a great jump again in the second race to lead Mark Skaife into the opening chicane, but all hell broke loose behind.
Russell Ingall’s Castrol Perkins Racing Commodore entered the second chicane with a flat front tyre sending it hard into the barriers head on.
It meant Larkham clean-swept the event and was just reward for the hard work put in during his formative Supercars years.
Larkham was in contention the next month at Bathurst, but a starter motor problem developed late in the race to drop he and co-driver Brad Jones to fourth.
It wasn’t a bad race for Stone Brother Racing, with Jason Bright taking victory at the Mountain partnered by Steven Richards.
Larkham did manage to breakthrough and win a championship race when he greeted the chequered flag at Calder Park in 2000.