R5 RACE DAY - Series big guns lead the way
21/5/2000 21:33 (Press Release) - Mark Skaife took his second consecutive Shell Championship Series round win and maintained his points lead at Hidden Valley in Darwin. His nearest rival, Garth Tander, shadowed him all the way for a Holden 1-2, ahead of many panel crushing incidents back in the field.
Ford Tickford's Glenn Seton held off challenges for third place overall while Mark Larkham and John Faulkner recorded their best Shell Series results with fourth and fifth respectively.
Two wins and a second in the three heats for Skaife was a form reversal at the Darwin track where his Holden Racing Team battled for points in 1999. His consistency this year makes him the early favourite to take his third title.
"A couple of bad rounds last year really cost me so it's been good to have a couple of good ones," Skaife said. "We had a couple of bogey tracks last year and testing has really helped us to go better at those circuits, including this one."
Tander's fourth and second placing's in the opening two heats were followed by his first race win for 2000 when he pushed his Valvoline Cummins Holden past Skaife at the start and held it to the end of the 18-lap sprint.
"It feels great to win a race finally. I think we have been matching it with HRT all year so it was nice to confirm it with the victory," Tander said.
"We started this weekend with a few problems but the team worked really hard to give me a winning car so all credit to them," he said.
Seton's result leaves him in third place in the championship standings, and he takes over from the luckless Paul Radisich as the leading Ford driver.
"I had a bit of a Bunsen burner up my backside after a poor performance in WA so it is a terrific feeling to be the lead Ford driver after a couple of good rounds in a row," Seton said.
"These 20 minute races are won and lost at the start so I am more confident of winning at the longer races like the next round in Canberra," he said.
Larkham's fourth placing equals the Mitre 10 Ford man's best result at the same circuit in 1998.
Faulkner was able to keep his car out of trouble and the Team Asia Online Holden was consistently quick enough to better his previous best result of sixth at Winton in 1999.
Radisich had started the day in third place in the championships, but his Shell Helix Ford tangled with Paul Morris in an opening lap fracas as cars darted everywhere to avoid a Steven Richards and Jason Bargwanna collision. He battled back up the field in the second heat, but another opening lap crash, this time with John Bowe, ended his day.
Bowe's CAT Racing Falcon had qualified promisingly in third, but a misfire off the start line saw him dropping back and into the pack of biff and barge cars.
Russell Ingall was another whose title aspirations were dented in the Top End with two engine failures in the Castrol Commodore. A valiant charge to tenth in the third heat salvaged The Enforcer some points.
Craig Lowndes has made it even harder on himself as he tries to defend his Shell series title. While a second place in the opening heat was a good start for the HRT champion, a flat tyre in the second heat, and some fatal off track excursions in the third left him in sixth place in the championship 240 points behind his teammate.
Skaife holds a 12 point break over Tander with a healthy buffer back to Seton. Radisich drops back to fourth with Ingall, Lowndes and Longhurst in a group behind The Rat.
While parity adjustments have been made to reverse the recent trend of Holden dominance, it seems it is going to be tough to stop the Commodores of Skaife and Tander.
Today's results leave the race win ledger at 40 to four Holden's way since the start of 1999. The two leaders have won two rounds each while Lowndes is the only other round winner in 2000.
Nonetheless, Seton remains positive about the Fords chances as the Series heads to the new Canberra street circuit in three weeks time.
"We are only one round's worth of points behind with eight rounds to go, including the double points enduros. There is plenty left in this year's Series yet," Seton said.
"Our cars will be more suited to the street circuits and the longer race distances in Canberra and I saw a couple of areas today where I think we can attack the Holdens in the future," he said.
**RACE ONE TOP TEN**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
2nd CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
3rd GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
4th GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore
5th MARK LARKHAM (Mitre 10 Racing) - AU Falcon
6th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore
7th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon
8th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore
9th STEVEN ELLERY (Super Cheep Auto Racing) - AU Falcon
10th JOHN FAULKNER (Team Asia Online) - VT Commodore
**RACE TWO TOP TEN**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
2nd GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore
3rd GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
4th MARK LARKHAM (Mitre 10 Racing) - AU Falcon
5th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon
6th JOHN FAULKNER (Team Asia Online) - VT Commodore
7th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore
8th CRAIG BAIRD (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon
9th STEVEN ELLERY (Super Cheep Auto Racing) - AU Falcon
10th NEIL CROMPTON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
**RACE THREE TOP TEN**
1st GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore
2nd MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
3rd MARK LARKHAM (Mitre 10 Racing) - AU Falcon
4th GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
5th JOHN FAULKNER (Team Asia Online) - VT Commodore
6th CRAIG BAIRD (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon
7th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore
8th NEIL CROMPTON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
9th LARRY PERKINS (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore
10th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore
**ROUND FIVE OVERALL POINTS**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [116]
2nd GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [108]
3rd GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [100]
4th MARK LARKHAM (Mitre 10 Racing) - AU Falcon [96]
5th JOHN FAULKNER (Team Asia Online) - VT Commodore [78]
6th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore [76]
7th CRAIG BAIRD (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon [64]
8th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon [56]
9th STEVEN ELLERY (Super Cheep Auto Racing) - AU Falcon [54]
10th BRAD JONES (OzEmail Racing) - AU Falcon [50]
**CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [596]
2nd GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [584]
3rd GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [476]
4th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [403]
5th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore [360]
6th CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [355]
7th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon [352]
8th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore [339]
9th MARK LARKHAM (Mitre 10 Racing) - AU Falcon [328]
10th STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [312]
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