R4 RACE DAY - Three winners, but Skaife snatches Series lead
30/4/2000 23:41 (Press Release) - Holden Racing Team driver, Mark Skaife celebrated his 100th Shell Championship Series round by claiming overall honours and the Series lead during a day of drama and action at Eastern Creek.
Skaife's race one victory plus two second places secured the round win ahead of Russell Ingall and Glenn Seton, while fellow title rivals, Garth Tander and Paul Radisich fell victim to an uncharacteristically reckless Craig Lowndes who biffed and barged his way through the day.
"There's three old heads up here on the podium today," said Skaife. "It was one of those days where there was so much carnage and a fair bit of lunacy out ohere so you just had to come out and use some experience to keep the cars running on the black stuff."
Ingall moved up the grid during the day. His Castrol Commodore was fifth, fourth and first, a welcome return to form for The Enforcer' who had been thinking his season may have been wrecked after a slow start to the year.
"That's really encouraging for me," said Ingall. "I'll be hoping things can get on a roll for me from here. We seem to have done this for the last few years, struggling early before hitting our straps later in the year. But I can't get too cocky just yet as I might go to another track and be 24th again."
Seton's second consecutive podium finish marks a welcome return to form for the lead driver of the Tickford Ford outfit after a barren round at Perth had furrowed brows amongst the Ford hierarchy.
"We have had to kick ourselves in the backside a bit, but we have made some changes and the car was very good today," said Seton. "We are back on the money."
The day was progressing along similar lines to so many others when Skaife and Lowndes produced another HRT quinella in race one, but all that changed in race two.
Radisich got the start of the year to dive into the lead from fourth on the grid with Tander trailing close behind.
Valvoline Cummins racer, Tander, came into this weekend's round with a healthy points lead and was travelling well behind Radisich until Lowndes punted his Commodore off the track with an audacious dive for second place.
"It could have been avoided. He spent the whole race hitting me up the rear," said Tander. "It's not something you expect from Craig, but he's never been fifth in the Championship and the pressure is on them. If that is how they behave under pressure then that's the way it is."
Radisich held off strong challenges from Lowndes and Skaife to claim a superb maiden Shell Series victory before becoming Lowndes' second victim in race three.
The Rat started from pole in the third leg and Lowndes swarmed all over him before another diving inside move turned Radisich around and left him languishing at the rear of the field.
"It was pretty simple, Lowndes took me out," said Radisich. "It was my corner, he came in too hot and off I went."
Tander recovered superbly in race three to scythe his way from 33rd to 10th in race three and pick up enough points to sit just four behind Skaife, while Radisich lost a golden opportunity to take his first round win.
Radisich can take solace from the fact that he recorded the first race win for Dick Johnson's Shell Helix Team since John Bowe won at Mallala in 1998.
Meanwhile, Lowndes' tactics backfired as he had another scrape, this time with Pirtek Ford's Craig Baird, which saw him struggle home in 18th in race three, and he was facing some close scrutiny from race officials.
Larry Perkins also had a miserable day with a panel crushing collision with Paul Morris his highlight. Paul Weel spun his Ford in both opening races while Jason Bargwanna and Steve Ellery came close to causing a huge pile up with contact on the first turn of race three.
The championship fight looks to be wide open with a third of the season completed. Round five will be held at Darwin's Hidden Valley circuit in three weeks time, followed by round six at the new street circuit in Canberra in June.
**RACE 1 TOP 10**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
2nd CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
3rd GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore
4th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
5th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore
6th GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
7th JOHN BOWE (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon
8th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon
9th NEIL CROMPTON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
10th CRAIG BAIRD (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon
**RACE 2 TOP 10**
1st PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
2nd MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
3rd CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
4th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore
5th GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
6th JOHN BOWE (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon
7th CRAIG BAIRD (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon
8th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon
9th NEIL CROMPTON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
10th STEVEN RICHARDS (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore
**RACE 3 TOP 10**
1st RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore
2nd MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
3rd GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
4th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon
5th JOHN BOWE (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon
6th NEIL CROMPTON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
7th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore
8th STEVEN RICHARDS (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore
9th BRAD JONES (OzEmail Racing) - AU Falcon
10th GARTH TANDER (Team-Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore
**ROUND 4 OVERALL POINTS**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [112]
2nd RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore [102]
3rd GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [92]
4th JOHN BOWE (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon [84]
5th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon [80]
6th CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [74]
=7th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [72]
=7th NEIL CROMPTON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [72]
8th STEVEN RICHARDS (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore [56]
9th GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [54]
**CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [480]
2nd GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [476]
3rd PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [395]
4th GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [376]
5th CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [334]
6th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore [312]
7th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon [296]
8th JOHN BOWE (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon [268]
9th STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [266]
10th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore [263]
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