R13 RACE - Giant-killers Tander, Bargs win day; Skaife crowned champ
19/11/2000 20:15 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) - They didn’t win the title, but as young giant-killers Garth Tander and Jason Bargwanna stood proud atop the Bathurst podium, it just didn’t seem to matter.
In a gladiatorial V8 Supercar encounter at Mt Panorama, one of the most exhilarating in many a year, the Valvoline-Cummins pair of Tander and Bargwanna have taken the spoils in this year’s FAI 1000.
For Mark Skaife, the race only served to delay the inevitable as he was crowned V8 Supercars’ newest Shell Series Champion.
The modest Garry Rogers-led operation defeated all-comers to win their first-ever Bathurst title – including the giant Holden Racing Team operation, Ford’s powerhouse the Shell Helix unit, and a menacing race circuit that threw everything it had at its opponents.
Paul Radisich erased much of the heartbreak of last year be finishing second with Jason Bright in the Shell Helix Ford, just 2.4 seconds behind the Valvoline-Cummins Commodore.
Defending champions, the K-Mart racers of Greg Murphy and Steven Richards, were gallant in claiming third.
The Young Lion car of Todd Kelly and Nathan Pretty was the first HRT car home, recording a highly-credible fifth place, behind the second Shell Helix Falcon of Steven Johnson and Cameron McLean.
Despite missing the championship, Garth Tander was, “on top of the world!”
“To pull the race off for the boys and for Garry (Rogers) is a huge buzz,” 23-year-old Tander exclaimed.
“We had to win to give ourselves a chance of winning the championship and we held up our end of the equation. Unfortunately, Skaifey didn’t hold up his.”
“Still, we gave the Holden Racing Team a good run this year and we’ll get there next year,” Tander boldly predicted.
Many asked just how overjoyed the always-excitable Jason Bargwanna would be if he won Australia’s greatest race. Today, Bargwanna was able to answer them.
“All year we’ve been working towards this one,” a jubilant Bargwanna said. “To actually see the No. 34 car get the chequered flag is a dream come true!”
The contest for race honours was enthralling right to the chequered flag, as numerous drivers stepped up to the plate only to strike out by the weather, miscalculated pitstops, troublesome backmarkers, mechanical attrition, or just plain bad luck.
Weather conditions varied from tolerable to terrible throughout the marathon race – at times in the space of one or two laps.
Strategists played a key role in the result, with the timing of pitstops in relation to the innumerable safety car periods and constantly-changing track conditions crucial to the success of the successful.
Aside from the victors, Mt Panorama broke many cars and hearts today with its typical spread of hard-luck stories.
Tony Longhurst and David Besnard would consider themselves Bathurst’s unluckiest losers, after coming agonisingly-close to the chequered flag and a rare Stone Brothers win.
Despite spending more time in pitlane than any of the top runners, Tony Longhurst amazingly led Australia’s greatest race with just a handful of laps remaining, before becoming involuntarily entangled with John Faulkner at Forest’s Elbow.
With his left rear wheel tucked underneath the Caltex Havoline Ford, a distraught Longhurst was forced into pitlane and out of the race.
“This is one of the most tragic results I have had in my Motorsport career,” an inconsolable Longhurst said. “The car was the best it had been all season and I had been happy with the way I drove in both the wet and the dry.”
Besnard will replace Longhurst in the car next season.
Glenn Seton and Neil Crompton were in a position to pounce on the lead for much of the day, only to be forced into retirement after a display by Big Kev foreigner Matt Neal that could only be described as idiotic. The same Shell Corner altercation nearly put Mark Skaife and Craig Lowndes out of action, but Skaife was lucky to escape the mess.
“Neil (Crompton) had made a clean pass and I followed him through but then whoever was in car No. 29 obviously thought he could out-brake the world and we ended up making contact,” Skaife explained.
The pole-sitting car of Wayne Gardner and Neal Bates led for the early stages of the race, but finished their day in the Skyline sand on lap 44 with a little help from Greg Crick’s Falcon.
The rain may have been plentiful, but for the Holden Racing Team their Mt Panorama drought continues after both cars failed to be in contention for the race when it mattered.
The No. 1 Commodore of Mark Skaife and Craig Lowndes finished well inside the top seventeen, required for Skaife to claim the major prize, however dramas related to the Matt Neal altercation kept the car out of contention.
After 161 gruelling laps and almost seven and a half hours of hard racing, the podium came down to a race in four over a final few nail-bitting laps.
With Longhurst out of action, Garth Tander was left in the lead and fighting-off a challenge from Paul Radisich in drying conditions.
Radisich stormed through the pack to within just three seconds of the Valvoline-Cummins’ rear bumper, but ran out of laps to make his move.
Greg Murphy withstood a fierce attack from Steven Johnson over the final two laps to hold onto third. Nonetheless, Shell Helix Team Principal Dick Johnson can be well pleased with the performance of his cars – both of which endured the distance and finished in the top four.
Garth Tander kept his championship hopes alive with the race win, but Skaife failed to keep his end of the bargain by finishing outside the top seventeen. The West Australian finished 137 points behind the new champion.
Craig Lowndes failed in his bid to reach second in the title standings, finishing third.
It’s Mark Skaife’s third Shell Series crown, the first since joining the dominant Holden Racing outfit. Considering the mountain he’s climbed since his last title, it makes this one all the more sweeter.
“While Bathurst is our grand final, it doesn’t compensate for winning the championship,” Skaife said.
“Without doubt, this is the hardest title win I’ve had because the competition is so good,” he said.
Paul Radisich’s podium appearance snatched fourth position in the championship for ‘the Rat’, ahead of an ultra-consistent Glenn Seton. Greg Murphy jumped into sixth with his Bathurst third.
More than 40,000 braved the rain today to witness what is sure to be remembered as one of the most thrilling Bathurst weekends ever.
As the transports are packed for the long journey home (some, no doubt, much longer than others), many will be thinking ahead to the new-look Shell Series of 2001. The revamped Championship kicks-off in early March.
**TOP TEN - FINAL RESULTS**
1st BARGWANNA/TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore
2nd BRIGHT/RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
3rd MURPHY/RICHARDS (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore
4th JOHNSON/McLEAN (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
5th KELLY/PRETTY (Mycar Holden Young Lions) - VT Commodore
6th LOWNDES/SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
7th BAIRD/WILLS (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon
8th HOSSACK/PARSONS (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore
9th McDOUGALL/MIEDECKE (Pepsi Racing) - VT Commodore
10th MULLER/PLATO (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore
**SHELL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [1570]
2nd GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [1433]
3rd CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [1310]
4th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [1260]
5th GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [1133]
6th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore [1108]
7th JASON BARGWANNA (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [1054]
8th STEVEN RICHARDS (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore [991]
9th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore [915]
10th TONY LONGHURST (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon [866]
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