R6 RACE 3 - Lowndes back in the winners circle, but Richards takes the day
11/6/2000 21:30 (Press Release) - Craig Lowndes bounced back onto the winner’s podium in the final, double points race of the weekend, but it was not enough to stop Steven Richards from taking out overall honours in the inaugural GMC 400 around the streets of Canberra.
Richards’ combined results of third, fourth and fifth gave the Kmart Holden driver and new dad just his second Shell Championship Series round win from 41 starts in front of 50,000 fans. His first being his Bathurst win in the final round of 1999. Craig Lowndes and Neil Crompton claimed the other podium finishes.
"This is really a win for the whole team," said Richards. "This was a tough format and the win was set up with some great race strategies to combat the compulsory pit stop element."
Richards defied the reverse grid second race to come from 25th to fourth. This strong result set him up for the round win.
"In the reverse grid race I got a shocker of a start but the pit strategy really worked for us there," said Richards.
"When the rest of the drivers chose to go in early, I stayed out and I was able to put together four quick clean laps which gained me about 12 seconds and let me rejoin in a pretty strong position, about sixth or seventh I think. It was a bit like F1 racing with the pit stops this weekend," he said.
Lowndes’ victory in the 53 lap final race of the weekend was also courtesy of some smart pit stops by the Holden Racing Team which left him at the front of the field by the time the safety car left them with a twenty lap sprint to the flag. On top of his thirteenth and tenth placings, it was enough to get him second overall.
Quick early pitstops put the defending Shell Series champion in good track position by the time the safety car was called onto the track for the one and only time of the day on lap 29.
"We didn’t get the pit strategy right for the first two races and that hurt us a bit," said Lowndes.
"Today we were banking on more safety car periods but we were surprised that the racing was so sensible, but our strategy was good enough," he said.
Crompton’s second career Shell Series podium was a result of a consistent weekend’s racing which netted him a ninth, second and sixth placing. The Tickford Ford man also put his result down to the right decisions on the compulsory pitstops.
"We didn’t really have the car speed and the reason I am on the podium is simply down to coming in to the pits early in the opening race," said Crompton.
"I’ve learnt from watching Brawn and Schumacher hatch strategies in F1 and I saw how busy pit lane was on lap two and it was still crowded on lap three. I got a clean quick lap in and came into an empty pit lane on lap four for a nice, fast stop," he said.
Series leader, Mark Skaife, finished fourth overall and his points haul sees him open a 126-point gap on second placed Glenn Seton.
Garth Tander is third while Craig Lowndes climbs to fourth, narrowly in front of Paul Radisich.
Tander came into this weekend just 12 points back from Skaife, but two crashes and a broken diff for the Valvoline Cummins star sees him drop to third in the points standings. He leaves Canberra with the pole position trophy, but no points.
Crashes also marred several other V8 Supercar drivers’ weekends. John Bowe, Russell Ingall, John Faulkner, Cameron McLean, Paul Morris and Jason Bargwanna had their hopes dashed on the narrow and unforgiving circuit.
But the new addition to the Shell Series calendar also threw up some pleasing results. Richards’ team-mate, Greg Murphy took a strong victory in the opening race on Saturday. In today’s second race, there was a new name to add to the list of Shell Series race winners in Todd Kelly.
The 20-year old Young Lions' racer scored an impressive victory and suggested HRT's ranks are even stronger than Skaife and Lowndes.
Steven Johnson also raced to his first top three finish in race two, carrying on the front running history of the number 17 Shell Helix Falcon.
The Shell Championship Series heads to the Queensland Raceway on 2 July for round seven where the challengers will have to start the hard task of reigning in Skaife.
**TOP TEN**
1st CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) – VT Commodore
2nd MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) – VT Commodore
3rd GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
4th TODD KELLY (Mycar Holden Young Lions) - VT Commodore
5th STEVEN RICHARDS (Kmart Racing) - VT Commodore
6th NEIL CROMPTON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
7th LARRY PERKINS (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore
8th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
9th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon
10th PAUL MORRIS (Big Kev Racing) - VS Commodore
**ROUND SIX OVERALL POINTS**
1st STEVEN RICHARDS (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore [189]
2nd CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [171]
3rd NEIL CROMPTON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [171]
4th MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [168]
5th GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [162]
6th TODD KELLY (Mycar Holden Young Lions) - VT Commodore [159]
7th LARRY PERKINS (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore [129]
8th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [120]
9th STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [99]
=10th MARK POOLE (John Deere Racing) - VT Commodore [90]
=10th DUGALL McDOUGALL (Pepsi-Cola Racing) - VT Commodore [90]
**CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [764]
2nd GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [638]
3rd GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [584]
4th CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [526]
5th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [523]
6th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon [427]
7th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore [423]
8th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore [414]
9th STEVEN RICHARDS (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore [412]
10th STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [411]
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