Smiths Trucks Racing Shows True Grit
27/4/2004 2:50 (Press Release) -
The cards may not have fallen their way in races one and two but Lee Holdsworth showed true grit to fight his way from the back of the grid to score a creditable top ten finish in the final race.
Early signs were promising as Holdsworth, still in only his third V8 Supercar event, hovered around the top ten in the Practice Sessions before Qualifying in 16th.
"On a mission" in Race One Holdsworth reached 13th by lap four before falling victim to an unceremonious shunt which dropped the #72 Smith's Trucks Commodore back to last place: a deficit too large to overcome.
Every cloud has a silver lining and the reverse grid starting procedure for Race Two put Holdsworth on pole position. Early signs were good and Holdsworth held a clear second position until lap six when an oil spill at the entry to The Sweeper saw both leading cars pirouette off the circuit.
Under Safety Car conditions Holdsworth was put to rear of the field followed by a return to the pits for inspection, and a DNF.
Finally, in a race with no Safety Car incidents Holdsworth charged from the back of the grid to reach the middle of the field by mid-race distance. Continued progress from a disciplined approach saw the Rookie reach the top ten with three remaining laps in the 24-lapper to finish in 10th place.
Lee Holdsworth: "We made various changes throughout Saturday and again for the Sunday morning Warm-up session which produced some improvements. I was looking forward to Sunday's racing and felt confident we could do very well, and things were going well until I was punted off.
"Things were going great in Race Two, after opening a substantial gap to Tilley in third place there was no doubt that we were headed for first or second. I was closely tailing D'Alberto from the start and had no time to react when I saw his car spin. I couldn't believe it when my car looped itself onto the infield too. The decision to put me near the rear of the field behind the Safety Car was somewhat contentious.
"In Race Three I was determined to extract something useful from the weekend. Passing more than half the cars in the field showed that the #72 Smith's Trucks Commodore had the goods and if we had have been able to complete all three races would have featured in the top six placings overall."
Release Date: 19/04/2004
Smiths Trucks Racing
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