First race incident ruins Kelly's Championship aspirations
5/9/2004 23:08 (Press Release) -
Team Fujitsu's Owen Kelly knew that he would have to battle it out to win the 2004 Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Series at Mallala this weekend but he didn't expect all hope to be gone on the first lap of the first lap.
Starting from fifth on the starting grid Kelly attempted to overtake his main rival Andrew Jones but a coming together on the second corner had Kelly off the track.
"I got a good start, Jones had an absolute shocker, I went up the inside of turn one but before we got there he ran me onto the grass," Owen Kelly said.
"I had half the car on the grass. I went onto the grass to avoid spinning him out but he left me no room going into the corner.
"We laid into each other a bit through the corner and then I stayed on the outside of the track going into turn two, left him heaps of room and next minute I get a hit on the left rear and I'm spun out."
With smoke coming from the front of his Fujitsu Ford Kelly made a quick visit to the pits soon after the incident.
"I was concerned about the smoke," Kelly said.
"The team didn't think that it was anything terminal but it continued to get worse so I came in.
"The front left fender was scraping the tyre so the team did some quick panel beating and replaced the tyre.
"The tyre was pretty badly damaged and wouldn't have lasted long.
"With that tyre gone and a puncture to one of the new tyres yesterday I just concentrated on finishing the race and conserving my only remaining full set of rubber."
While leading the second race Kelly went off and punctured another tyre forcing yet another stop and he had brake problems in the final race.
While problems plagued Owen Kelly it was the opposite for teammate Jose Fernandez who finished the round in fourth and secured outright fourth in the overall championship.
Fernandez had three top 10 finishes today. His fourth place was preceded with a sixth in race one and eighth in the reverse grid race two.
"Today has been extremely satisfying; this round has been the highlight of my year," a rapt Jose Fernandez said.
"From the word go this weekend we were quick, to not make a mistake in twenty-eight laps of sheer pressure racing and stay calm was just great.
"The guys behind me couldn't get past me, I was able to drive away from them, I was so happy with the Fujitsu Ford."
Fernandez was thrilled to finish the series in fourth place.
"To end up fourth in the championship I really couldn't ask for anything better," Fernandez said.
"I was hoping to be this high but I was happy thinking that I would be fifth or sixth.
"Everyone has their highs and lows, Owen (Kelly) had bad luck today, but this year I have been very happy with my Fujitsu-mobile.
"I exceeded my goals, it's been tough this year but my team have been amazing, I've learnt to be patient behind the wheel and use my head."
Kelly was extremely frustrated to not have challenged for the title.
"It was bloody frustrating today, if we didn't have our early problems things could have turned out pretty different," Kelly said.
"I might not have passed Jones on that first lap, but we had to do everything we could to beat those blokes, I thought I had it but I wasn't going to sacrifice my entire day doing something stupid.
"It wasn't a stupid move, it was on, and then I got blocked out and off I went.
"As I said to the boys after the last race, we'll get 'em next year. The team are superb, everything this year has been the best."
On the completion of the 2004 Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Series Team Fujitsu's Jose Fernandez finished fourth and Owen Kelly fifth.
The focus for Kelly turns to Sandown in three weeks time where he will team up with racing legend David Brabham in the Shell Helix Racing car 18 for the first of the season's endurance races.
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