Youlden maintains lead in familiar circumstances
4/7/2004 12:01 (Press Release) -
Standout star of the 2004 Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Championship, Luke Youlden was dealt a severe blow at round five of the series at Queensland Raceway with the Super Cheap Auto Racing driver not finishing the second race this afternoon.
Youlden was leading the series by 84 points prior to this weekend’s racing, however by recording a DNF [did not finish] this afternoon the points gap between Youlden and Andrew Jones has narrowed to just 16.
“While I am extremely disappointed there is no use crying about it,” a surprisingly upbeat Youlden said, “there are still four races remaining in the championship and anything can happen.”
“While I may not have quite as big a lead in the series, I am still winning the championship and until this changes I will continue to push ahead and make every race count towards the final point score.”
On returning to the pits after sitting out the final phases of this afternoons race, Youlden drew on the similarities between his quest to win the 2004 Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Championship and the year he won the Australian Formula Ford Series.
“It is funny how history appears to be repeating itself. In 2000 when I was competing in Formula Ford I had a fantastic championship up until the second last round, where I recorded a DNF and the points margin between myself and second place narrowed to the smallest of margins,” Youlden reflected.
“Despite the pressure I still managed to get my head around the situation and wrap up the championship at the final round of the series at Mallala. So it just reinforces to me that there is still a chance of winning the series.”
The dramatic events which led to Youlden’s inability to complete the second of three races of the round occurred when an off track excursion caused the engine and brakes to overheat due to grass obstructing the air intakes.
Two laps after the first problem the engine tray fractured restricting Youlden from getting full throttle. Youlden continued the race until laps later when the broken piece moved momentarily jamming the Super Cheap Auto Racing Falcon in full throttle.
In an attempt to stop the car at turn four the brakes locked up causing flat spotting on the front left and the rear wheels to hop thus breaking the tail shaft.
“At least everything is fixable and tomorrow I will still be able to take to the grid for the third and final race of the round,” Youlden noted.
Youlden finished the first race in sixth position.
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