AGP Race 3 - Hot finish for Hot Wheels Showdown
12/3/2000 21:33 (Jason Whittaker) - Mark Skaife took victory number two in the third and final race of the Hot Wheels V8 Supercar Showdown at the 2000 Qantas Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne today, one of the shortest in memory as several big shunts saw the six lap sprint turned into a two lap battle for survival.
Skaife's Holden racing Team VT Commodore held the lead throughout the action packed sprint, with Paul Radisich winning his battle with the Valvoline Cummins Holden of Garth Tander to bring his Shell Helix Ford home in second.
"I was just glad to stay ahead of it all," said Skaife. "I worked hard to pull out in front on the first lap and had to do it all again when the safety car came out."
Several teams will have their work cut out to get on the track for the second round of the Shell Championship Series in Perth next weekend after their involvement in big crashes today.
Steven Richards was the first victim when his Kmart Commodore was badly damaged after being turned into the wall in a start line fight for position with the Valvoline Cummins Holden of Jason Bargwanna.
Soon after, the Big Kev Commodore of Paul Morris allegedly turned Neil Crompton's Tickford Ford around, resulting in Cameron McConville, Cameron McLean and Todd Kelly colliding with the helpless AU Falcon. Morris was facing the stewards soon after the completion of the race.
The safety car was brought out from the start of lap two and remained there until the end of the fourth lap as the damaged cars were cleared from the track, leaving just two full racing laps. But there was more drama to come.
On the penultimate lap of the race, Paul Weel and Steve Reed came together and Brad Jones and Paul Romano crashed straight into the scene.
Radisich and Tander, who stayed clear of the big collisions, had some tense moments of their own as they rubbed panels in their fight for second and third during the two last laps.
Radisich fought a lone hand for the blue oval camp, the sole Ford in the top six. "It would have been nice to have a few more Fords up there," said Radisich.
"The Hot Wheels races have shown that the Holdens still have a bit of an advantage over us and the Ford teams still have a gap to close."
Although once again bringing up the rear of the field, Hot Wheels Holden wildcard entrant, Sam Newman, managed to finish the race without major incident. However he acknowledged the skill of the elite drivers in the V8 Supercar category.
"These guys are very good," said Newman. "It really was a privilege for me to race with them and I appreciate even more how hard and fast this category is."
There is talk that Newman's Holden may well be racing in the next round of the Shell Series in Perth. The damage to Steven Richards' car may mean he will take the Gibson Motorsport car to Barbagallo next weekend as a replacement.
Garth Tander will head home to Perth with his confidence sky high. He leads the Shell Series after winning at Phillip Island last month, and he featured strongly in the Hot Wheels V8 Supercar Showdown this weekend.
**TOP 10**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing Team) - VT Commodore
2nd PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
3rd GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore
4th CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
5th JASON BARGWANNA (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore
6th LARRY PERKINS (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore
7th JOHN BOWE (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon
8th JOHN FAULKNERE (Team Asia Online) - VT Commodore
9th PAUL MORRIS (Big Kev Racing) - VS Commodore
10th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon
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