Evangelou rues lost chance
5/9/2004 23:09 (Press Release) -
Dexion Racing’s hopes of a strong finish to the 2004 Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Series were destroyed after a number of incidents and mechanical woes halted their strong early progress.
After qualifying 12th amongst a quality field of 26 at Mallala Motor Sport Park in South Australia, Tony Evangelou and the team expected good things from the Dexion-sponsored Ford Falcon.
Evangelou made a clean get-away in Race 1 before being turned around by Holden Young Lion Alan Gurr midway through the first lap. The incident sent Evangelou floundering to the back of the field with a lot of work to do.
The team had elected to use their best set of tyres in the race to make some early inroads, but the clash disabled Dexion’s efforts. Evangelou finished the first heat in 18th position.
Evangelou and Gurr were summonsed to the Stewards after the event to view footage of the contact but no penalties were enforced.
The reverse grid Race 2 also held much promise for Dexion, but it failed to materialise.
Evangelou started from seventh place and after only two laps found himself in second place. But a disaterous error was made by Evangelou when his foot slipped off the brake pedal and onto the accelerator at turn two. The result was a harmless spin, however, he rejoined in a low 22nd.
He picked up a couple of places by races’ end to finish 19th.
“It was totally a driver error,” Evangelou said post-race. “We were looking so good in second place but it wasn’t to be.”
Evangelou started the last race of this year’s championship towards the back of the field and fought his way through to 13th before a jammed accelerator required a pit stop. The team thought they had fixed the problem, but it reoccurred. Evangelou eventually failed to finish the race after running eight laps down on the leaders.
“It’s really disappointing, particularly for the team who have worked their hearts out this weekend,” Evangelou said.
“These guys are the ones who deserve a result for the hard work we’ve put in.”
In the championship finale, Andrew Jones claimed his first KMV8 series win, despite finishing on equal points with fellow Falcon rival Luke Youlden. Jones was handed the series because he scored two more round wins than Youlden. Team Kiwi Racing’s Mark Porter sealed third in the championship after a consistent season.
Greg Ritter upset the local contingent with an impressive round victory in the ex-Mark Winterbottom Falcon AU. Ritter will now prepare to partner reigning V8 Supercar Champion Marcos Ambrose in the upcoming endurance races.
The next time the Konica Minolta V8 Supercars hit the circuit will be at Australia’s most famous racing circuit, Mount Panorama, Bathurst, on October 7-10. The Junior V8 category will have their own 25 lap race, broadcast live on Network 10, on the Saturday, before the big 1000km endurance classic on Sunday.
Evangelou has raced at Bathurst once before where he finished eighth in the 2002 KMV8 race.
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