Dexion finishes in Bathurst top five
10/10/2004 22:27 (Press Release) -
Dexion Racing posted a sensational top five finish at Mount Panorama, Bathurst in the 25 lap Konica Minolta Challenge on Saturday. Tony Evangelou steered the Dexion Ford Falcon AU to his and the team’s best-ever result, and it couldn’t have happened at a more prestigious race circuit.
After qualifying ninth in the competitive field, Evangelou’s 1999-model Falcon ran faultlessly and he avoided the carnage to finish in fifth place.
“With the equipment we have and what we did, it is a terrific result,” he said.
“When you look at the competition that we are up against, it makes our finishing position really satisfying. I’m happy for the team who deserve a good result to finish off the season.”
“Dexion are very happy as well, so we can’t ask for much more than that.”
The fifth place finish beats Evangelou’s only other Bathurst result in 2002 when he finished seventh.
Evangelou started the race well and maintained ninth place until Wayne Wakefield charged from the back of the grid to take his spot mid race. But attrition soon got the better of some of the field, and one-by-one, they dropped out. By the end of the race, Evangelou was in a very respectable position.
But it nearly turned to disaster with the finish in sight. Evangelou accidentally hit the ‘kill switch’ with three laps remaining and stumbled momentarily down Conrod Straight. Usually, things like that go unnoticed, but little did Evangelou know that Network 10’s live broadcast was following him at the time!
Team Manager David Moulden was rapt with the car’s performance.
“This is a great result, considering the age of the car and the equipment we use,” the 22-year-old said.
“It’s fantastic for Dexion who have been very loyal to us this year. We started the year with a good result in Adelaide, had some mixed efforts through the year but have finished it off with a solid performance. It’s a great boost for next year. I’m sure this will give us a great deal more confidence.”
Konica Minolta stalwart Matthew White won the race in his Ford Falcon, ahead of Holden’s Alan Gurr, Tony D’Alberto and Dick Johnson Racing’s Jose Fernandez.
The next time the junior V8 category competes will be at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide next March.
However, the Dexion team will be back in the saddle in two weeks when they treat their loyal sponsors to a great day of hot laps at western Sydney’s Eastern Creek circuit.
|
|
