Sunrise weatherman lives to fight another day after V8 incident
7/4/2005 18:30 (Press Release) -
Summit Fleet Leasing V8 driver, and Sunrise weatherman, Grant Denyer has survived a nasty accident at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide today. Driving in the HPDC V8 Supercar Series qualifying session, Denyer was a passenger as his Ford Falcon ploughed into a tyre barrier at 140 kilometres an hour.
Denyer was taken to hospital to receive treatment on what was thought to be a broken right wrist and a fractured left shoulder.
"Fortunately the damage was not as bad as first thought," Grant Denyer
said.
"I've torn ligaments in my right arm and have muscle damage to my left shoulder.
"I won't be driving again this weekend but I'll be right to go again for the second round in seven weeks time.
"With physio, the ligament damage should be healed in six weeks and the shoulder will mend in a fortnight or so.
"Even if I hadn't injured myself I wouldn't be able to drive again this weekend, the car is mince meat. The team wouldn't have been able to repair it for tomorrow's race."
Denyer was starting his second timed qualifying lap when he became airborne as he exited the first chicane.
"The car was in the air after it hit the ripple strip," Denyer said.
"The car landed a little sideways and I went off the track; thank god there was a tyre stack waiting for me, or the damage would have been worse.
"I know from looking at the telemetry data that I was doing 148 kays per-hour prior to the accident and 140 (km/s) at the direct point of impact, so it was a big hit.
"The Adelaide street circuit is tough and I was driving the Summit Ford for the first time so I was still learning.
"It's just one of those things that happens and I'll just try to ensure that I don't make the same mistakes again.
"I'm more disappointed for the team and the sponsors that have worked so hard to get me here."
While this was happening Denyer's team mate Dean Canto was putting his Gatorz Ford on pole.
"I'm really happy with the Ford and with the team," Dean Canto said.
"I've never achieved a pole position in V8's so it was a good day.
"My time (1:23.4) was three and-a-half 10ths faster than last year's track record and I had a hundred extra kilos in the car, which says a lot about how good the Ford is."
Canto is expecting quite a dual with Adam Macrow, who came second and Warren Luff, third.
"All three of us (Canto, Luff and Macrow) should probably be driving in the V8 Championship so we'll be out there tomorrow to show what we are capable of," Canto said.
"We'll be giving it our all and I'm sure the racing will be entertaining."
Release Date: 17/03/2005
Summit Fleet Leasing - DJR
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