VESRIX Preview - Eastern Creek
26/4/2000 9:49 (Shane Rogers) - Statistics for Round 4 of the Shell Championship Series, Eastern Creek Raceway, Sydney, New South Wales.
At the Clipsal 500, Craig Lowndes won his 50th V8Supercar race. Three of those wins were at Eastern Creek. Lowndes’ win to races started ratio is exactly 40%, 50 wins from 125 race starts.
Garth Tander's round win at the Clipsal 500 make him the only V8Supercar driver to have won more events than heats. Tander was the overall winner at Phillip Island and Clipsal 500 Shell series rounds, and last year’s Queensland Raceway round. His two race wins were the third race at Calder Park last year and the first race at Albert Park this year.
This is the fourteenth time Eastern Creek Raceway has played host to a V8Supercar meeting, the previous 13 meetings consisting of six Shell Series rounds, the inaugural round of the Konica V8Lites Series, three Triple Challenges and three rounds of the 1997 Goodyear AMSCAR series. The previous winners were Glenn Seton (1993 Triple Challenge and Shell Round, 1994 Triple Challenge, 1997 Shell Round), Peter Brock (1994 Shell Round), Alan Jones (1995 Triple Challenge), Craig Lowndes (1996 Shell Round), Allan McCarthy (1997 AMSCAR Round 1), Mal Rose (1997 AMSCAR Round 3), Mick Donaher (1997 AMSCAR Round 4), Mark Skaife (1999 Shell Round) and Dean Canto (2000 Konica V8Lites Round).
The 1996 Shell Series round was held on a shorter version of the track, avoiding the section around Corporate Hill to facilitate the use of lighting for a night meeting.
The individual heats have been won by Glenn Seton (10), Alan Jones (3), Mark Skaife (3), Craig Lowndes (3), Allan McCarthy (3), Mal Rose (3), Mick Donaher (3), Peter Brock (2), John Bowe, Wayne Wakefield, Ryan McLeod and Dean Canto. The dashes have been won by John Bowe, Wayne Gardner, Larry Perkins, Steve Reed, Terry Finnigan and Rodney Forbes.
Ford have won 18 races at Eastern Creek compared to Holden's 16. Mark Skaife currently holds the lap record at 1:31.7301 and was set in 1999. Holdens outnumber Fords in the entry 23-16.
Making their Eastern Creek V8Supercar debuts are Craig Baird, Steven Johnson, Cameron McConville, Mark Poole, Matthew Coleman, Chris Smerdon, Mike Imrie and Alan Heath. McConville, Coleman, Poole and Imrie have raced at Eastern Creek before in other categories. Brad Jones, Peter Doulman, Paul Weel and Dean Canto's previous starts at Eastern Creek were not in Shell Series rounds.
Glenn Seton had competed in 9 Eastern Creek V8Supercar meetings. Of the 6 Shell rounds, Seton, Mark Skaife, Larry Perkins, and John Bowe have raced in all of them.
Paul Morris makes his return to an Eastern Creek V8Supercar meeting after a 6-year absence. He was 11th at the 1994 Shell series round. For Brad Jones it's been even longer, having finished 6th in the 1994 Triple Challenge.
Glenn Seton has won 8 races from 21 starts. Russel Ingall has never finished outside the top ten at Eastern Creek. Conversely Steven Richards best finish is only a 9th.
The most experienced driver present in the entry list is Glenn Seton with 243 race starts. The least experienced is Matthew Coleman who has 3 previous race starts. The youngest driver in the field is Dean Canto at 19 years of age. The oldest is Larry Perkins who recently turned 50.
V8Supercar Birthdays near the Eastern Creek Raceway weekend:
Ford legend and owner of Dick Johnson Racing, Dick Johnson turns 55 on Wednesday 26th April.
Valvoline hot shot and last years Winton round winner Jason Bargwanna turns 28 on Wednesday 26th April. How good's that?
Head of the Caterpillar team and former Super Cheap Falcon driver, John Briggs turns 47 on Friday 28th April.
Former Advantage Racing and Daily Planet Racing enduro co-driver Steven Harrington turns 39 on Saturday 29th April.
Konica Lites competitor Barry Morcom turns 42 on Saturday 29th April.
Armour All/Saabwreck Commodore driver and former owner of the countries only Saab based Sports Sedan, Mike Imrie, turns 43 on Sunday 30th April.
1974 and 1985 Bathurst winner, John Goss, turns 57 on Tuesday 2nd May.
1993 and 1997 Shell Australian Touring Car Champion, Glenn Seton, turns 35 on Friday 5th May.
Milestones include:
Race 3 should be Chris Smerdon's 100th V8Supercar race start.
Race 3 should be Paul Weel's 75th V8Supercar race start.
Race 1 will be Cameron McLean's 50th V8Supercar race start.
Race 3 should be Steven Ellery's 100th Shell Series start.
Updates at the VESRIX web site:
After feedback from web site visitors, races have been divided into three categories: National Level, V8Lites and AMSCAR. This is now shown clearly on the new look, revised driver profiles page. Konica V8Lites races are included in the database, albeit in a separate category.
About VESRIX:
Vee Eight Supercar Results and Information eXplorer (VESRIX) is an integrated on-line database of the results of CAMS Group 3A races between 1992 and present day. You can look up the profile of any V8Supercar driver and more on the Internet at http://v8sp10.nectar.com.au/vesrix. VESRIX is a part of the Internet V8Supercar Pick 10 (V8SP10) project. Construction began in December 1999 and development of the site is continuing with several upgrades planned throughout the year.
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