Radisich Claims Fifth Place in Wild Opening V8 Race at Grand Prix
5/3/2004 20:38 (Press Release) -
Team Betta Electrical's Paul Radisich has brought his Ford Falcon BA home in
fifth place in a dramatic opening 10-lap race at the non-championship support
event at the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne's Albert Park.
The race went to Greg Murphy ahead of Jason Bright, with Garth Tander third and
Steven Richards fourth.
V8 Supercar Champion Marcos Ambrose was set for a third place finish before a
spin two laps from the end dropped him to sixth.
The race had a number of clashes including a collision between Murphy and Mark
Skaife on lap three. Skaife was sent spinning off the track and finished 16th.
Russell Ingall and Rick Kelly came together with Kelly spearing into the final
turn wall. Paul Weel then knocked Ingall out of the race. Weel received a drive-though
penalty from officials over the incident.
No such problems for Radisich who was relieved to finish fifth.
?When you look at what happened to many of the others out there, fifth was a
top result,? said Radisich.
?We had quite a fight on our hands, including some door banging with Rick Kelly.
That must have opened the door for Russell and they then got together.
?We're happy with how things turned out, but I can tell you tomorrow's 19-lap
race is going to be pretty hard on the tyres.?
Tomorrow's 19-lap (100km) race starts at 4pm.
With race stewards making inquiries into a number of incidents, results were
yet to be declared official at the time of this release.
Top-10 results (unofficial) for Race #1 of the V8 support event at the Australian
Grand Prix
1. Greg Murphy - KMart Racing - Holden Commodore
2. Jason Bright - PWR Racing - Holden Commodore
3. Garth Tander - Valvoline Cummins Racing - Holden Commodore
4. Steven Richards - Castrol Perkins Motorsport - Holden Commodore
5. Paul Radisich - Team Betta Electrical - Ford Falcon BA
6. Marcos Ambrose - Pirtek Racing - Ford Falcon BA
7. Jason Bargwanna - Orrcon Steel Racing - Ford Falcon BA
8. Simon Wills - Team Dynamik - Holden Commodore
9. Todd Kelly - Holden Race Team - Holden Commodore
10. John Bowe - OzEmail Racing - Ford Falcon BA
Release Date: 5/03/2004
Ford Racing Australia
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