R2S SAT - Even in a Ford, Lowndes is king of Adelaide
7/4/2001 18:49 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Ford saviour Craig Lowndes today won the first leg of one of Australia’s most prestigious motor races. Who’d have thought it?
Just two rounds into his Ford foray, Lowndes embarrassed the field with a remarkable win in the first 250km instalment of Adelaide’s Clipsal 500. Steven Johnson made it a Ford quinella with a gutsy performance in the Shell Helix Falcon, while Russell Ingall returned to form, taking third.
Lowndes betters his incredible Adelaide record to four from five – but after defecting to Ford and joining the Falcon-uninitiated Gibson Motorsport operation, this was one he was never supposed to win. The Gibson crew was slick in the pits and the car bulletproof over the marathon distance, but it was the pilot who proved he is something very special.
"We did not expect to win a race so early in the season,” Lowndes exclaimed.
"Today's win is a magnificent boost to the team, and all I can say is we're really looking forward to repeating the effort tomorrow with double points on offer for race two.”
"We've got a great race package here in Adelaide. We're developing the car all the time and making huge gains, and today's win will certainly push the guys to keep the momentum going," he said.
The result for Johnson is, by far, the most significant in his career. "I feel great, it was a tough race but I was really pleased with the way it went for me,” he said.
"This is what I've been working for, to be competitive with these guys, concentrate all the way (and) give 100 percent. It's a great result, I'm stoked, and this is just the start,” Johnson said.
If today was the entree, tomorrow’s points-heavy main course will be something to savour.
Under clouded skies, Mark Skaife won the start and led the field through the first chicane. But it was Paul Radisich who had the early pace, passing pole-sitter Murphy and hounding the back of Skaife’s Commodore.
A five-car pile-up involving Dugal McDougall, Paul Weel, Paul Romano, Greg Ritter and Anthony Tratt was a feature of the opening laps.
Lap 9 gave the massive pit straight crowd some spectacular entertainment as Marcos Ambrose was punted into the pit wall by Todd Kelly. The impact had those on the pit wall ducking for cover, and put the hard-charging Stone Brothers driver out of action.
An impatient Radisich searched for an avenue past Skaife for a number of laps before offloading the factory Holden racer on lap 16. Skaife kept the car off the concrete, and Radisich charged on after stewards deemed the incident an innocuous one (if not somewhat unsportsman-like).
Radisich said he thought Skaife would, ”extend professional courtesy to me and let me go by, but it didn't happen."
Greg Murphy’s first pit stop was a disastrous drive-through (he missed his pit bay), while the stops of Bright, Radisich, Lowndes and Johnson around the lap 30 mark proved more successful. Lowndes and Radisich ducked back into pitlane soon after for their second and final stop.
Jason Bright led a yellow-flagged race on lap 38, but Radisich was the effective leader with both stops under his belt.
The green flag saw a third-placed Lowndes push past both DJR Falcons to take the race lead.
Murphy dived head-first into a tyre wall at turn nine soon after, giving the pace car more laps on the circuit. Meanwhile, drama in pitlane as John Faulkner brought down the team’s overhead gantry when the wheel gun caught-up with his rear wing.
Green on lap 54 was Lowndes’ cue to bolt away into the blue, piling on seconds to his lead each lap as the rabble behind dealt with each other.
Radisich’s brand-new Falcon was severely wounded in its attempts to fend off Ingall (not helped by crushing curb-hopping), eventually terminating from rear suspension failure with the line in sight. His team-mate Johnson inflicted revenge, passing Ingall with seven laps remaining.
An intense Bright/Seton duel ended in tears in the dying stages, as Lowndes galloped away to record a commanding ten second victory.
Skaife recovered to finish fourth, while Ellery was impressive in fifth. 2000 Lites champion Dean Canto deserves special commendation, surviving the gruelling encounter to finish a career-best tenth.
And tomorrow they all come back and do it again – the all-important second 250km sprint scheduled for 2pm. A bumper crowd of over 50,000 today should ensure an increase on the 164,000 figure recorded for the three days last year.
**RACE ONE - TOP TEN**
1st CRAIG LOWNDES (Gibson Motorsport) - AU Falcon
2nd STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
3rd RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VX Commodore
4th MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
5th STEVEN ELLERY (Super Cheap Auto Racing) - AU Falcon
6th GARTH TANDER (Valvoline-Cummins Racing) - VX Commodore
7th JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
8th JOHN BOWE (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon
9th JASON BARGWANNA (Valvoline-Cummins Racing) - VX Commodore
10th DEAN CANTO (RPM International Racing) - AU Falcon
For complete race one results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?08/04/2001.ADEL.R3/
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