VESRIX Preview - Hidden Valley
15/5/2000 9:04 (Shane Rogers) - Statistics for Round 5 of the 2000 Shell Championship Series, Hidden Valley Raceway, Darwin, Northern Territory.
This is the third time Hidden Valley Raceway has played host to a V8Supercar meeting, the previous two meetings both being Shell Series Rounds. The 1999 round was won by Jason Bright, and the hugely successfully opening round in 1998 was won by Russell Ingall.
The individual heats have been won by Russell Ingall (Heats 2 & 3 in 1998 and 1 & 2 in 1999), Craig Lowndes (Heat 1 1998), and Jason Bright (Heat 3 1999). The dashes have been won by Paul Weel & Cameron McLean.
Holden have won 5 races at Hidden Valley compared to Ford's 1.
Jason Bright currently holds the lap record at 1:09.0149 and was set in 1999.
Holdens outnumber Fords in the entry 21-14.
Making their Hidden Valley V8Supercar debuts are Craig Baird, Steven Johnson, Brad Jones, Cameron McConville, Paul Morris, Dugal McDougall, Trevor Ashby, Peter Doulman, Greg Ritter (if he starts), Matthew Coleman and Alan Heath. Numerous drivers have raced at both previous meetings, but only Glenn Seton, Russell Ingall, Tony Longhurst, Mark Larkham, Larry Perkins, Steve Reed, Steven Ellery, Garth Tander, Jason Bargwanna and John Bowe have faced all 6
individual race starts.
While Russell Ingall has dominated the result sheets here, the most consistent has been Jason Bargwanna who has never finished outside the top 8. Bargwanna has scored 206 Shell Series points with this level of Hidden Valley consistency, beaten only by Ingall's 218.
This circuit has also proven to be one of the chinks in Holden Racing Team's armour, having had two engine failures at the end and after Heat 1 in 1998 (which led in Race 2 to the only empty front row in the history of Shell Series race starts) and a crash induced retirement in 1999. HRT did win the first ever race at Hidden Valley but have done no better than third since then.
The most experienced driver present in the entry list is Glenn Seton with 246 race starts. The least experienced is Matthew Coleman who has 3 previous race starts.
The oldest driver in the field is Larry Perkins who on Sunday will be 50 years and 64 days old, the youngest is Paul Weel at 20 years and 305 days.
In milestones this weekend:
* Race 1 will be Greg Murphy's 100th V8Supercar race start. Murphy has won 16 of those races including 8 Shell Series races, and 2 Bathurst enduros.
* Race 1 will be Peter Doulman's 50th V8Supercar race start. Doulman's best finish at a national level V8 meeting was a 9th at Albert Park in 1996.
* Race 2 should be Michael Donaher's 50th Shell Series start. His best race national level finish was an 11th at Winton in 1999. Donaher has also won 3 AMSCAR races.
* This is Dugal McDougall's 20th V8Supercar meeting, with a best finish of 11th at the 1999 Queensland 500.
* This is Craig Baird's 10th V8Supercar meeting, with a best finish of 3rd overall and a race 2 win at Phillip Island earlier this year.
* Race 1 will also be the 250th race start for both the Holden Racing Team and Dick Johnson Racing in V8Supercar. Race 3 should see Perkins Engineering gain their 250th race start. The only other team with over 250 starts is Ford Tickford Racing (nee Glenn Seton Racing) with 257 V8Supercar race starts. Race 3 should also see John Faulkner Racing clock up 150 race starts. This meeting will be Gibson Motor Sport's 100th V8Supercar meeting.
* Mark Skaife will become the 4th most experienced driver in V8Supercars. Skaife currently has 221 V8Supercar starts to his credit and should pass Dick Johnson's 222. The only drivers more experienced are Glenn Seton (246), Larry Perkins (239) and John Bowe (237).
* Glenn Seton needs only one top 3 finish to be first driver to reach 100 podium positions (top 3) in V8Supercar racing. Seton currently has 99 to Mark Skaife's 90.
* Alan Heath may become the most experienced V8Superccar driver never to have finished inside the top 20. Heath has had 15 starts without a top 20 finish compared to Bob Thorn's 16.
V8Supercar Birthdays near the Hidden Valley Raceway weekend.
* 1987 Bathurst 1000 winner and long time Glenn Seton Racing team enduro co-driver, David 'Skippy' Parsons turns 41 on Wednesday May 17.
* Bathurst veteran of 18 enduro starts, Scotty Taylor turns 59 on Thursday May 18.
* Former Commodore Cup champion, Gary Baxter, turns 39 on Friday May 19.
* Former Castrol Cougar, Kerryn Brewer, turns 26 on Saturday May 20.
* Former Challenge Motorsport enduro co-driver, Adam Kaplan, turns 33 on Monday May 22.
** 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 of VESRIX began in December 1999 and development of the site is continuing with several upgrades planned throughout the year.
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