R10 RACES - Richards negotiates tricky Calder the best
20/8/2000 18:46 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) - Steven Richards has upset the field to claim his second round win this season – albeit with a little help from the controversial inverted grid – at Round 9 of the Shell Championship Series at Melbourne’s Calder
Park Raceway.
Richards negotiated the tight circuit and
tricky race format the best, improving throughout the day to record a fourth, second
and race win respectively. Ironically, his
other round victory this year came on the streets
of Canberra, where a reverse grid was also in use.
Paul Radisich gave the Ford
faithful plenty to cheer about early on with a win in the first race, but the Kiwi then
fell victim to the top six reverse grid in Race 2. A second place finish behind
Richards in the final race was enough to secure him second in the points overall.
Radisich finished on equal points with Richards, but the race result count-back
method handed Richards the win by the narrowest of margins.
Garth Tander
recovered from a poor qualifying result to challenge the leaders for much of the day –
his consistent results elevating him to the round podium and into second position on
the Shell Series points table.
Mark Larkham upstaged the podium finishers
somewhat with a gutsy top four overall result, highlighted by a win in the second race.
Larkham was bedridden a fortnight ago following his massive Oran Park shunt with
Paul Morris.
The Radisich and Larkham wins (the first time two different Ford
drivers have won at the same National Level V8Supercar event since
Lakeside in ’97) had officials hailing the new TEGA-implemented "common"
spoiler a success.
Richards said it was his starts that gave him the advantage.
"I had great starts all day. To qualify eighth and then walk away with the win is
very satisfying, I'll be wearing this smile for a while," he said.
"I think
it's the first time in the history of Steven Richards and V8 Supercars that I haven't
changed a thing on the car, except tyres, from the opening practice to the last race.”
"I've had a horror run in the last few rounds where my results haven't reflected the car being strong, so it's great that we happened on a good set up for our test track and things went well. Now I just want to keep on winning races," Richards said.
Radisich conceded that the reverse grid probably cost him the round victory, but “the Rat” was pleased with the progress of the Shell Helix Falcons, and looking forward to the next round after the debut of the TEGA spoiler.
"We have to try these new things (reverse grid races) for the fans. Maybe it worked against me today, but it could be my turn to be lucky next time."
"We put ours (the common front spoiler) on our cars on Saturday morning so it was a case of stick it on and run with it," he said.
"It's definitely a step in the right direction and we should see the results when we go to a track with a few more twists and turns in it than Calder. We will take some time to test with it at Queensland Raceway in the next couple of weeks and go into the 500 pretty confident that we can make something of our hometrack advantage," Radisich said.
Tander’s improvement from his qualifying performance was remarkable.
"The only thing the same on my car today from when we rolled it off the truck is the stickers," Tander joked.
"We changed everything and had a slice of luck in the races and got a podium. Now we will go to the Queensland 500 with the express aim of making a dent in Skaife's points lead," he said.
Despite qualifying on pole, Lowndes, and fellow Factory Holden man Mark Skaife, failed to make an impression on the day’s results.
Uncharacteristic poor starts from Craig Lowndes in particular, where he found himself swamped by the pack at the first turn, ruined what should have been a good day for the reigning title holder.
It was rumoured HRT chief Jeff Grech would consider separating Lowndes and Skaife for the endurance events to give Lowndes the chance at a fourth consecutive title – dependent on Lowndes improving his championship standings at Calder. However after today, this now seems unlikely.
Russell Ingall looked strong early-on, getting the best of the Race 1 start to lead the pack for the first half of the race. But tragedy struck on lap nine when Ingall slowed with his Commodore stuck in gear. The mechanical mishap left “the Enforcer” struggling for position for the rest of the day.
Radisich went on to win the first race – Ford’s fourth for the year, and Radisich’s second – ahead of Skaife, Lowndes and Richards. Skaife came from sixth to claim his second position, while Larry Perkins went backwards from second to eleventh.
Race 2 saw Radisich relegated to sixth under the reverse grid rules, while Richards and Larkham were promoted to the front row.
Larkham, still suffering the ill-effects of his Oran Park collision three weeks ago, made the most of the rare opportunity and bolted away from Richards early.
A last-lap scare had the hearts in the mouths of the Mitre 10 outfit, but Larkham held on to record his first ever Shell Series race win. Richards, Tander and Lowndes filled the minor placings.
The nominal points system (accumulative points from the first two races) put Lowndes back on the front row for the third race, alongside Steven Richards.
Richards stormed off the front row to lead the pack into the first turn, and from there never looked back. Lowndes was swamped by the field in the run to the first turn, eventually finishing seventh.
Radisich got past Larkham early to put pressure on Richards, but the K-Mart Commodore showed a clean pair of heels to record the race win. Tander finished ahead of Larkham for third and fourth respectively.
Todd Kelly and John Faulkner both suffered high-speed loses at well over 200km/hr on the main straight, but thankfully any Lowndes-like accidents weren’t repeated. The Kelly lose was blamed on John Bowe, and he was sent to the back of the grid by race stewards for the second race.
Mark Skaife did enough to keep the field at bay in regards to the championship, aided by a flu-ridden Glenn Seton who was significantly off the pace for much of the day.
Tander resurrected his title hopes over the weekend, jumping ahead of Seton into second position in the championship. Lowndes remains in fourth, ahead of Radisich.
The Shell Series reverts to double-point enduro mode for the next round of the championship – the Queensland 500 at Queensland Raceway in three weeks time.
**RACE ONE TOP TEN**
1st PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
2nd MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
3rd CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
4th STEVEN RICHARDS (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore
5th GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore
6th MARK LARKHAM (Mitre 10 Racing) - AU Falcon
7th STEVEN ELLERY (Super Cheap Auto Racing) - AU Falcon
8th GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
9th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore
10th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon
**RACE TWO TOP TEN**
1st MARK LARKHAM (Mitre 10 Racing) - AU Falcon
2nd STEVEN RICHARDS (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore
3rd GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore
4th CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
5th MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
6th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
7th STEVEN ELLERY (Super Cheap Auto Racing) - AU Falcon
8th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon
9th GREG MUPRHY (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore
10th NEIL CROMPTON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
**RACE THREE TOP TEN**
1st STEVEN RICHARDS (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore
2nd PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
3rd GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore
4th MARK LARKHAM (Mitre 10 Racing) - AU Falcon
5th MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
6th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon
7th CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
8th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore
9th GREG MUPRHY (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore
10th LARRY PERKINS (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore
**CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [1136]
2nd GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [963]
3rd GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [945]
4th CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [878]
5th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [815]
6th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore [736]
7th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon [693]
8th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore [653]
9th STEVEN RICHARDS (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore [619]
10th JASON BARGWANNA (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [615]
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