R13 HOUR 4 - Lowndes set to take lead as Larkham, Perkins have problems
19/11/2000 14:14 (Shane Rogers) - Greg Murphy leads the FAI 1000 at Bathurst in the Kmart Commodore, mainly due to an out of sequence pit stop strategy. Mark Larkham and Alain Menu failed to capitalise on their excellent pit stop strategy, the Mitre 10 Falcon falling out of contention. Perkins' day also appeared over, the Castrol Commodore in the pit lane as the hour ended.
The race restarted on lap 63 with Mark Skaife leading from Garth Tander, Neil Crompton, and Larry Perkins, as rain started to fall at the bottom of the circuit.
The Sieders/Sieders Falcon ended its race against the Mountain Straight wall after being squeezed between the Morris/Neal Commodore and the edge of the circuit on lap 63. Only one lap later, the Canto/Moncreiff Falcon spun at Hell Corner bringing out the safety car.
Immediately, Skaife and Tander both pitted for fuel, tyres, drivers and brake pads. The HRT crew won the pitstop competition, Lowndes exiting the pitlane after being stationary for less than 35 seconds, rejoining in 19th. Bargwanna left the pit lane five seconds later, as Neil Crompton inherited the lead.
Anthony Tratt's decision not to pit under the safety car seen him climb up to fifth after passing Alain Menu in the Mitre 10 Falcon. The Brett Peters/Rick Bates Colourscan Falcon punctured a left rear tyre on lap 69, as Tander hit the Gazzard/Crick Commodore pushing Crick into the outside wall at Forrest's Elbow, but not causing any apparent damage to the Valvoline Commodore.
Steven Ellery finally had to pit on lap 70, as he had been in the car for three and a half hours without a driver change. Ellery failed to get his lap back, handing over to Paul Stokell.
The Chase claimed yet more victims, with the Matthew White/Steve Owen Challenge Commodore spinning on lap 71, bringing out the safety car again.
Immediately Crompton pitted on lap 74, handing over to Seton, and completing their compulsory brake pad change. Castrol Perkins pitted as well, Ingall handing over to Perkins, but did not elect to change pads.
This put Alain Menu in the prime position, but the Mitre 10 Falcon was black flagged by the officials as it was blowing smoke from leaking fluid. Menu pitted, handing over to Larkham. The team took 12 minutes to find and fix the leak, taking the car out of contention. Greg Murphy led the restart from Paul Radisich and Craig Lowndes, who had a scary moment after the Young Lions car almost turned in on him at Murray's corner.
On resumption Lowndes pressed Radisich until finally getting past on lap 78 at Murray's. Rodney Forbes spun on lap 79 under the Dunlop Bridge, hitting with the concrete wall with the front of the car. As hour four concluded, Johnson passed Jones for fourth position.
More pitstops followed, the first under green flag conditions. Pretty pitted the Young Lions the car as scheduled, as did Andrew Miedecke in the Pepsi Commodore. Ingall then pitted on lap 80, an unscheduled stop. Car 11 ended the fourth hour in the pit lane with bonnet up.
**POSITIONS AFTER HOUR FOUR**
1st MURPHY/RICHARDS (Kmart Racing) - VT Commodore
2nd LOWNDES/SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
3rd BRIGHT/RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
4th JOHNSON/McLEAN (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
5th JONES/MEZERA (OzEmail Internet Racing) - AU Falcon
6th BARGWANNA/TANDER (Valvoline-Cummins Team) - VT Commodore
7th CROMPTON/SETON (Ford Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
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