Murphy fights for points at Sydney's Oran Park
19/8/2004 0:46 (Press Release) -
After a difficult weekend that was compounded by losing time in Saturday practice, Greg Murphy has salvaged some precious championship points in the latest round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Oran Park Raceway in Sydney.
The Kiwi finished 11th and 12th in the two, 54-lap races, though not quite able to sustain the type of pace required to mix it with the podium getters.
His weekend was made the more difficult on Saturday when contact with countryman Fabian Coulthard resulted in Murphy only completing one single lap in the second practice session, with major front left damage to his Commodore.
“Oran Park has been a track we’ve struggled with over the last couple of years and it proved to be a difficult weekend,” said Murphy.
“I was able to work my way up the order in the early stages of the two races but couldn’t quite sustain it.”
His team-mate Rick Kelly had dramas of his own, spending virtually all of Saturday night awake due to a bad spell of vomiting.
The 21-year-old starred earlier in the day, setting provisional pole position in qualifying and then running eighth fastest in the top 10 shootout.
After a pre-race check-up at the circuit medical centre on Sunday, he took his place for Race 1, running 11th on lap 15 when he spun off into the sand at turn one.
The #15 Kmart Commodore was extracted and he was able to continue, at least collecting some championship points for finishing 30th, which sits him fourth in the series behind Jason Bright, round winner Marcos Ambrose and Steven Richards.
Kelly showed his true flair in the second race. Started from 30th, he miraculously passed 11 cars in the first lap, working his way all the way up to 10th by race’s end. That became ninth place when sixth-placed Richards was penalised 25 seconds for contact with Jason Bargwanna.
“My energy had really been sapped by being so sick on Saturday night so it was really a case of bad timing to get sick,” said Kelly.
“We’ve lost some points to our title rivals but anyone can have a bad round like the one we had at Oran Park. Hopefully our bad luck in behind us now and someone else can have a turn at Sandown.”
The next round of the V8 Supercar Series will be the first of the two-driver, endurance races with the running of the Betta Electrical Sandown 500 on September 12.
Murphy and Kelly will team up in the team’s #51 Kmart Commodore, having finished third in the Melbourne classic last year. Formula Ford ace Steve Owen and Tim Leahey will join them in the #15 car to make their first starts for the team.
FINAL RESULTS – Round 8, Oran Park Raceway, New South Wales, August 13-15 2004: 1. Marcos Ambrose, Pirtek Falcon BA; 2. Mark Skaife, HRT Commodore VY; 3. Jason Bright, PWR Commodore VY; 4. Russell Ingall, Caltex Falcon BA; 5. Todd Kelly, HRT Commodore VY; 6. Paul Weel, PWR Commodore VY; 7. Jason Richards, Tasman Commodore VY; 8. Jason Bargwanna, Orrcon Falcon BA; 9. Simon Wills, Dynamik Commodore VY; 10.
Steven Richards, Castrol Commodore VY; 12. Greg Murphy, Kmart Commodore VY; 17. Rick Kelly, Kmart Commodore VY.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (after eight of 13 rounds): 1. Jason Bright 1308, 2. Marcos Ambrose 1295, 3. Steven Richards 1261, 4. Rick Kelly 1197, 5. Russell Ingall 1159, 6. Greg Murphy 1108, 7. Todd Kelly 1059, 8. Garth Tander 975, 9. John Bowe 836, 10. Jason Bargwanna 790.
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