Bent Steering Ends Morris Bid In Darwin
25/5/2004 12:15 (Press Release) -
Bent steering after contact with another car resulted in Sirromet Wines Holden Commodore driver Paul Morris finishing a disappointing 29th in today's opening race of round four of the V8 Supercar Championship in the Northern Territory.
Morris qualified 16th for the 17-lap race on the 2.9km Hidden Valley circuit near Darwin and was in 18th position after six laps. On lap seven the steering on his VY Commodore was damaged and he dropped back to 23rd. He fell further back to 31st by lap nine, and then improved two positions by the finish.
The 36-year-old from Queensland's Gold Coast finished 43.781-secs behind the race winning Caltex Havoline Ford Falcon of Russell Ingall, who was followed by Todd Kelly in an Holden Racing Team Commodore. The fastest lap of the race was 1-min 10.432-secs by Paul Radisich in a Betta Electrical Ford Falcon. Morris' best lap time was 1-min 11.920-secs.
The round at Hidden Valley will be completed by two 100km races tomorrow.
PAUL MORRIS QUOTES: "It’s not the result we wanted. After having some brake problems in practice yesterday things started much better today, We were in the top 10 in practice, and in qualifying we weren't that far off the pace.
"The race was going okay, and then there was contact with another car and it bent the steering. From them on the car was obviously very difficult to drive. All I could do was cruise around and try to finish and get some points. We can fix the steering, but we're also down on engine power. The team are replacing the engine for tomorrow's races."
RESULTS – RACE 1 (17 laps):
POS DRIVERS CAR TIME
1. Russell Ingall Caltex Havoline Ford Falcon 20:16.691
2. Todd Kelly Holden Racing Team Commodore 20:17.301
3. Marcos Ambrose Pirtek Ford Falcon 20.17.465
4. Jason Bright PWR Holden Commodore 20:18.444
5. Steven Richards Castrol Perkins Holden Commodore 20:18.927
6. Rick Kelly Kmart Holden Commodore 20:20.589
7. Jason Bargwanna Orrcon Ford Falcon 20:21.328
8. John Bowe OzEmail Ford Falcon 20:23.325
9. Paul Radisich Betta Electrical Ford Falcon 20:23.600
10. Max Wilson Betta Electrical Ford Falcon 20:24.266
OTHER:
29. Paul Morris Sirromet Wines Holden Commodore 21:00.472
FASTEST LAP: Radisich 1-min 10.432
Release Date: 22/05/2004
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