One last Kmart blast for Murphy as V8 Supercar Series heads to Sydney
29/11/2004 19:27 (Press Release) -
This weekend’s final round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Eastern Creek Raceway will hold sentimental value for Kmart Racing driver Greg Murphy.
The Kiwi will be having his last race for the team of which he was a foundation member when it was established in 2001, and is keen to go out with a bang.
The four-time Bathurst winner sits second in points behind Marcos Ambrose, but will have his work cut out for him at the 3.9-kilometre circuit.
Following the re-alignment of the results of the final race at the last round at Symmons Plains in Tasmania, Ambrose only needs to finish 15th or better in one of the races to seal the championship, with Murphy more focused on defending second place from PWR driver Jason Bright, who he leads by nine points and will replace in 2005.
“If you can’t win the championship, the next best thing is to finish second and that’s really what our aim is this weekend,” said the 32-year-old.
“It will be a little sad at the end of the weekend to know that this will be the last time I will work with the great people that have worked so hard at our team. I really would like to continue our late-season burst and go out on a high.
“It’s no secret that Eastern Creek hasn’t been our happiest of hunting grounds over the last few years, but we’ve developed our cars immensely since the round there in April and that will put us in with a show.”
This weekend will be Murphy’s 56th championship start for the team. He has won six rounds during his time with Kmart Racing, including 16 individual race wins and nine pole positions.
He has finished runner-up in the series twice during his tenure with the team, in 2002 to Mark Skaife and last year to Marcos Ambrose.
Teammate Rick Kelly sits fifth in the points entering Eastern Creek, but comes to the Sydney venue with plenty of form. The 21-year-old took his first solo V8 Supercar win there in round two in April, where the wet weather conditions couldn’t stop the Victorian.
“It will be a different scenario this weekend,” said Kelly, who enters the round 75 points behind Russell Ingall.
“We struggled in qualifying there earlier in the year but the transformation in weather also helped us transform our cars on the track. If it goes the same way this time around, I won’t be complaining!”
Network Ten will telecast the Saturday action live, with the Top 10 Shootout to be run on December 4 at 4.05pm and the first race at 6.30pm. It will be the first time V8 Supercar racing has been shown in prime time.
Sunday’s action will be telecast from 1pm to 5pm to round out what has been another memorable V8 Supercar season.
The format for the BigPond Grand Finale this weekend will see a twilight 100-kilometre race on Saturday with two, 150-kilometre events on Sunday to complete the 13-round championship.
Release Date: 29/11/2004
K-Mart Racing
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