Murphy continues to master Bathurst's Magic Mountain
8/10/2004 22:32 (Press Release) -
The Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 delivered another piece of memorable motor racing in front of a record day two crowd of 35 433, as track master Greg Murphy carved up the Mount Panorama circuit and topped the timesheets in qualifying for the second successive year.
Continuing the crescendo towards a massive weekend of first class V8 Supercar Racing, it was Murphy displaying the sort of prowess that launched him into superstar status during last year’s Bathurst’s ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN between Holden and Ford.
Once again the seasoned campaigner claimed as his own one of the World’s toughest racing circuits clocking an impressive time of 2:08.0940 over the 6.213 kilometre circuit.
But with just eight-tenths of a second separating the quickest 20 qualifiers, it makes for an interesting battle during tomorrow afternoon’s Top Ten Shootout.
“We’re battling it out but everyone’s putting in a lot of effort to get quick times and that’s definitely adding to the pressure for all drivers,” said Murphy.
“We made good progress during this morning’s practice but maybe the wind was a bit harder this afternoon and had an effect.
“There’s no doubt we were expecting to be a bit faster but struggled to get things 100% right.”
One driver who appeared to have little problem getting things right was Jason Bright as he charged forward and improved on his practice times to settle into second.
While Steven Richards was also a consistent performer showing tremendous speed to complete a top three trifecta for the Holden brigade as the manufacturer shapes up for a tilt at six straight victories on the Mountain.
Craig Lowndes and Russell Ingall kept the Ford flag waving as the next two quickest in qualifying.
But taking a glance over the entire ten starters battling it out for grid positions tomorrow it’s shaping as a classic encounter with both camps represented by five drivers apiece.
Betta Electrical 500 winner and reigning V8 Supercar champion Marcos Ambrose overcame a dusty start to his Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 campaign and will be the first driver to tackle the mountain as the number ten qualifier.
In Australian Carrera Cup it was a crucial day in Alex Davison’s championship campaign after winning race one at the Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 in Bathurst today.
Davison took out the eight-lap Porsche dash from Fabian Coulthard and Jonathon Webb, with Davison’s closest rival in the series Jim Richards not finishing after breaking a clutch on lap four.
2004 Konica Minolta champion Andrew Jones took up where he left off from the season proper by securing a lap record 2.08.8866 and slot into the front row for tomorrow’s 25-lap race.
In an outstanding result, his time would have placed him among the top 20 of today’s V8 Supercar qualifiers.
Greg Ritter and Matthew White were next quickest among a field that has all top five qualifiers backing up for Sunday’s ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN.
Inaugural Formula Ford Bathurst Trophy honours went to Justin Cotter when pole sitter David Sieders crashed out on his second lap.
Star rookie Seiders now faces an uphill battle in race two tomorrow starting from the back of the grid.
Tickets for this year’s Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 can be purchased at the gates of Bathurst’s famous Mount Panorama circuit.
TOP TEN QUALIFIERS
1: Greg Murphy/Rick Kelly (Holden) 2:08.0940
2: Jason Bright/Paul Weel (Holden) 2:08.1283
3: Steven Richards/Jim Richards (Holden) 2:08.1363
4: Craig Lowndes/Glenn Seton (Ford) 2:08.3637
5: Russell Ingall/Cameron McLean (Ford) 2:08.4064
6: Paul Morris/Alan Gurr (Holden) 2:08.4906
7: Jason Bargwanna/Mark Winterbottom (Ford) 2:08.4963
8: Brad Jones/John Bowe (Ford) 2:08.5197
9: Paul Dumbrell/Tony Longhurst (Holden) 2:08.5285
10: Marcos Ambrose/Greg Ritter (Ford) 2:08.5736
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