No looking back for Kelly at Oran Park
14/8/2004 15:22 (Press Release) -
The last round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Winton is merely a memory for Kmart Racing’s Rick Kelly, who heads into this weekend’s eighth round of the series keen to improve on his third place on the championship table.
While disappointed at having victory snatched away from him on the last lap some three weeks ago, Kelly is taking the approach that the only thing he’ll get from looking over his shoulder is a sore neck.
“I’m not even thinking about what happened at Winton,” said Kelly, who sits just 15 points off championship leader Jason Bright.
“Oran Park is difficult to get your set-up right for, so from the things we’ve learnt at tracks like Winton, I think we can go there looking pretty good. We have a long practice session on Friday to confirm our set-up and tune it from there.
“We need to make sure we can back up the good points haul we’ve managed to build in the last couple of rounds.”
This year’s Oran Park will be different to last year’s. Rather than a straight-out 300-kilometre event, Sunday’s round will feature two, 140-kilometre races with a compulsory tyre stop in each.
That pleases Murphy. The Kiwi feels that the different race format will suit the team, which has struggled with the longer distance races at the venue in the past.
“The two race format is a lot better for the venue. Considering how we’ve struggled with our tyres there in long races in the past, I’m a lot more comfortable with the two-race scenario. I think it’s a better format.
“After our last test two weeks ago at Phillip Island, we’re going to Oran Park more confident than any other race meeting with respect to what the car is capable of when we put it on the track for practice on Friday.”
Murphy, who sits sixth in the championship, debuted the Kmart Racing Team’s VY-specification Commodore at Oran Park last year and qualified second fastest.
“We’ve obviously learnt a hell of a lot more about the car since this time last year, so if we can replicate that form we had in 2003, we’ll set ourselves up for a good weekend,” he said.
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