Morris delayed by contact and pit stop
9/11/2004 18:52 (Press Release) -
Sirromet Wines Holden Commodore driver Paul Morris was delayed by contact with other cars and an unscheduled pit-stop before finishing 20th in today's opening race of the 11th round of the V8 Supercar Championship on the Gold Coast.
The rear of Morris' VY Commodore made contact with the OzEmail Ford Falcon driven by Brad Jones in the early stages of the Gillette V8 Supercar Challenge.
Part of the rear bumper on Morris' car became loose after the incident. Soon after the 36-year-old Gold Coast driver was shown a 'Black Flag' by officials and instructed to make a pit-stop to remove the damaged section of the bumper.
Morris resumed racing, and later lost further positions after the rear of his car made contact with the Betta Electrical Ford Falcon driven by Paul Radisich. Morris eventually finished the 22-lap race in 43-mins 31.377-secs.
Championship leader Marcos Ambrose won the race in a Pirtek Ford Falcon. He scored the maximum 95 points and boosted his series points tally to 1,762. Morris scored 39 points for his result and his championship score is now 900. The championship round on the 4.5km Surfers Paradise street circuit will be completed with a 150km race tomorrow, before the Lexmark Indy 300 event.
PAUL MORRIS QUOTES: "I went sideways twice on the main straight after the contact with Brad (Jones). It's high-speed through there so I was lucky not to end up hitting the wall. Part of the rear bumper came loose and they called me into the pits - basically my race was over once that happened because I lost so much time.
"I kept going to try and get some (championship) points, and then (Paul) Radisich and I came together at the end of the back straight. I went off the racing line and the tyres picked up 'bits and pieces' of rubbish which took a lap or two to get rid of. My brakes took a pounding. This is probably the hardest track on brakes out of anywhere we race in the championship, but you know that when you come here and it's the same for everyone. Hopefully we will have a better run tomorrow."
RESULTS – RACE 1 (22 laps):
POS DRIVERS CAR TIME
1. Marcos Ambrose Pirtek Ford Falcon 41:36.822
2. Greg Murphy Kmart Holden Commodore 41:38.659
3. Todd Kelly Holden Racing Team Commodore 41:41.143
4. Craig Lowndes Ford Performance Racing Falcon 41:44.309
5. Jason Bargwanna Orrcon Ford Falcon 41:51.574
6. Simon Wills Team Dynamic Holden Commodore 42:02.127
7. Jason Bright PWR Holden Commodore 42:07.259
8. Max Wilson Betta Electrical Ford Falcon 42:07.800
9. Jason Richards Tasman Motorsports Holden Commodore 42:08.124
10. Cameron McConville Repco Valvoline Holden Commodore 42:08.669
OTHER:
20. Paul Morris Sirromet Wines Holden Commodore 43:31.773
FASTEST LAP: Lowndes 1-min 52.176-secs
Release Date: 23/10/2004
Paul Morris Motorsport/Sirromet
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