Baird puts New Zealand on top of V8 Supercars
14/8/2004 14:57 (Press Release) -
Kiwi Craig Baird has gone from outright battler to the first pole position of his V8 Supercar Championship Series career on a day of elation for the New Zealand team at Winton in Victoria today.
The low budget, one-car team of Team Kiwi Racing was in raptures when Baird held out the likes of Mark Skaife and Marcos Ambrose with a flying lap that could not be matched by super-teams that have millions more in backing.
Team Kiwi Racing does not even have a major sponsor.
“There’s no way I would have imagined this when I got out of bed this morning,” Baird said.
“We have a team of four fulltime guys who worked very hard. The nice part about it is that we are in a position where we can stay out of trouble.”
In a refreshing tonic for the championship Baird was joined in the top three by Garth Tander and Steven Johnson. Ambrose, Russell Ingall, Skaife, Craig Lowndes, Jason Bright, Jason Bargwanna and Cameron McConville rounded out the top 10.
But Baird was the hero of the day. He is one of three New Zealanders in the championship along with Greg Murphy and Jason Richards.
Baird is a star in many other international categories but has struggled in recent times in V8 Supercars despite this. But he has not let it get him down.
“I’ve won and led a lot of races in other categories. Starting at the front of the grid is something that is not going to phase me in the slightest,” he said.
“It has been a long road for us at Team Kiwi but I don’t see any reason why we can’t finish in the top 10 in the championship.
“I just pray to the Gods that I don’t stall the car on the grid.”
There were some dramas during the cold, wet and wintery day. Conditions were ideal for ducks and not motor racing yet there was no significant carnage.
With several red flags during the qualifying session stewards reviewed the final Top 10, deeming cars that completed laps while the red flags were would not have the times from that lap recorded. Stewards applied that rule to all red flags during qualifying.
This meant that Sirromet Wines Paul Morris and Castrol Perkins’ Paul Dumbrell were not included in the Top 10 Shootout. Their fastest laps were deemed to have been completed under a red flag and not recorded.
Morris and Dumbrell were replaced in the shootout by Stone Brothers Racing’s Russell Ingall and Garry Rogers Motorsports’ Cameron McConville.
In another off-track development Kmart Racing’s Greg Murphy will start tomorrow’s race despite finishing .05s outside of the qualifying time due to battery problems.
AVESCO Chief Executive Officer Wayne Cattach asked stewards to include Murphy in the field. Cattach has this discretionary power as stated in the AVESCO Operations Manual.
Also in late news Lowndes was moved back to 10th place on the grid from seventh for a minor technical breach discovered after the shootout.
TOP 10 SHOOTOUT
1: Craig Baird (Holden) 1:39.75
2: Garth Tander (Holden) 1:40.14
3: Steve Johnson (Ford) 1:40.80
4: Marcos Ambrose (Ford) 1:40.92
5: Russell Ingall (Ford) 1:41.07
6: Mark Skaife (Holden) 1:41.22
7: Jason Bright (Holden) 1:41.5280
8: Jason Bargwanna (Ford) 1:41.5283
9: Cameron McConville (Holden) 1:42.00
10: Craig Lowndes (Ford) 1:41.26
QUALIFYING
1: Mark Skaife (Holden) 1:38.1434
2: Jason Bargwanna (Ford) 1:38.65709
3: Marcos Ambrose (Ford) 1:38.4886
4: Craig Lowndes (Ford) 1:38.8290
5: Craig Baird (Holden) 1:38.9495
6: Garth Tander (Holden) 1:38.9551
7: Jason Bright (Holden) 1:39.4442
8: Steven Johnson (Ford) 1:39.4800
9: Cameron McConville (Holden) 1:39.4851
10: Russell Ingall (Ford) 1:39.5184
11: Paul Weel ! (Holden) 1:39.6115
12: David Besnard (Ford) 1:39.7006
13: Tony Longhurst (Holden) 1:39.7611
14: Warren Luff (Ford) 1:39.8008
15: John Bowe (Ford) 1:39.8351
16: Mark Winterbottom (Ford) 1:39.9148
17: Paul Morris (Holden) 1:39.9676
18: Paul Dumbrell (Holden) 1:39.9989
19: Mark Noske (Ford) 1:40.0098
20: Jason Richards (Holden) 1:40.0486
21: Steve Richards (Holden) 1:40.1386
22: Todd Kelly (Holden) 1:40.1510
23: Simon Wills (Holden) 1:40.4858
24: Max Wilson (Ford) 1:40.5923
25: Rick Kelly (Holden) 1:40.6630
26: Brad Jones (Ford) 1:40.6965
27: Steve Ellery (Ford) 1:40.7479
28: Anthony Tratt (Holden) 1:40.7974
29: Dale Brede (Holden) 1:41.1693
30: Will Davison (Holden) 1:41.1806
31: Glenn Seton (Ford) 1:41.2357
32: Paul Radisich (Ford) 1:41.5136
33: Greg Murphy (Holden) 1:43.1001
34: Garth Walden (Ford) 1:45.8510
35: David Krause (Holden) 1:50.5941
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