R9 QUAL - Skaife's qualifying reputation intact
29/7/2000 17:43 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) - Mark Skaife’s reputation as a qualifying connoisseur suffered no loss after the Championship leader snatched yet another pole position at Round 9 of the Shell Series at Sydney’s Oran Park Raceway.
Skaife scorched around the challenging 2.6km layout in a time of 1:07.83 minutes – under the existing lap record and ensuring his substantial championship lead can continue to be built upon tomorrow.
"The car was clearly quick from first thing this morning and we haven’t had to tune it at all. It’s been (a) very pleasing weekend so far," Skaife, who leads the championship by 120 points, said.
Garth Tander split the factory pair with a neat 1:08.12 minute lap, three tenths slower than Skaife, but fast enough to grab a front row position ahead of Skaife’s team-mate, Craig Lowndes.
"It’s very pleasing for us to be up on the front row. The team did a fantastic job to shave 1.3 seconds off my morning practice times with some changes to the rear and tomorrow is a great opportunity for me to get points back on guys like Craig, Glenn and Mark," Tander said.
Talk of the Commodore’s reduced undertray having a significant effect on times at Oran Park never eventuated, with Holdens filling the first two rows and seven of the top ten gid positions.
Ford-Tickford racer, Glenn Seton, was yet again Ford’s only shining light, stopping the clocks at 1:08.16 minutes to start tomorrow’s proceedings from fourth position.
"It’s a much better result for us than Oran Park in 1999,” Seton said. "The car has come forward and it’s nicer to be up the front of the field for the opening race than fighting through too much traffic."
The K-Mart Commodores again displayed they have turned the corner when it comes to qualifying pace, with Kiwi Greg Murphy replicating his good qualifying form from Winton in grabbing a spot on the third row. Team-mate, Steven Richards, will start from tenth.
"The car was 23rd in the second practice session and a real handful," Murphy said. "I spent my morning moping around yelling and screaming about how bad the car is and then I come out stick it in the top five!"
Young Lion Todd Kelly is in an ideal position to pounce in the reversed grid second race – just as he did for the reverse grid race in Canberra – starting from seventh on the grid. Castrol man Russell Ingall qualified one place ahead in sixth.
Race two will see the top six from the first heat reversed on the grid, allowing names like Kelly to once again shine at the sharp end of the field.
Paul Radisich’s hopes of championship glory are slowly fading after another disappointing showing of speed in qualifying. Fellow Ford man Tony Longhurst will start one position ahead of the World Cup champ in eighth.
Notable absentees from the top ten were John Bowe (11th), Mark Larkham (13th) and Winton overall victor, Jason Bargwanna, who will start from 14th.
The inconsistent Neil Crompton will start 17 positions further back on the grid than he did a fortnight ago at Winton. Craig Baird, too, put in another disappointing performance and will share the eleventh row with Crompton.
A crowd in excess of 40,000 is expected to be trackside for the first of three 20 minute sprints starting at 11:30am. The Ten Network take viewers to Oran Park, on delay, at 3pm.
**TOP TEN QUALIFIERS**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [1:07.8327min]
2nd GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [1:08.1219]
3rd CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [1:08.1677]
4th GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [1:08.1690]
5th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore [1:08.1973]
6th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore [1:08.2111]
7th TODD KELLY (Mycar Holden Young Lions) - VT Commodore [1:08.3127]
8th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon [1:08.3199]
9th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [1:08.3433]
10th STEVEN RICHARDS (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore [1:08.3915]
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