R3S RACES - Skaife avoids long arm of law for 'Creek win
29/4/2001 21:30 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
What should have been a Ford blue-wash finished as another red letter day for the Holden Racing Team, as Mark Skaife won a highly contentious third round of the Shell Series at Eastern Creek Raceway.
In front of over 32,000 fans and under surprisingly sunny skies, Mark Skaife emerged to win the second race and claim an unlikely overall win. Bright followed his team-mate home to finish on the second tier of the podium, ahead of K-Mart Racing’s Greg Murphy.
Ford’s promising run (they filled the first two rows of the grid this morning) capitulated with bad luck and an officialdom intent to reassert their authority following scathing criticism the past few weeks.
Craig Lowndes drove to a famous victory in the first race, only to have the result stripped from him when stewards deemed the Gibson Motorsport ace passed Murphy under a yellow flag. Lowndes was handed a time penalty of 29-seconds, the effective time taken for a stop/go penalty, which pushed him back to 12th for the second heat.
Marcos Ambrose, second in the first race, was also dealt a time penalty after an altercation with Murphy. Meanwhile, Ford-Tickford Racing’s auspicious charge ended with a troublesome safety car and mistimed pit stops in the first race.
It all played into the hands of Mark Skaife, whose mood had improved considerably than that of yesterday afternoon.
"After a stupid error in qualifying yesterday, I certainly didn't give myself a chance of winning from tenth on the grid," Skaife said. "I was just looking to score as many points as I could.”
Jason Bright’s productive day, fourth and second in the two races, was a points consolidation after his Clipsal 500 win. He retains the Shell Championship Series lead.
"After opening practice I wasn't expecting too much from the weekend," Bright said. "I surprised myself by qualifying as high as eighth, but was concerned that we would be slow and holding guys up on the track, but the car gradually got easier to drive as the day wore on."
Race one saw second-rowed Glenn Seton courageously run down the outside of Ambrose and Lowndes to lead the field through the turn one sweeper. Greg Murphy was equally brave, sneaking down the pitlane wall to slot into third.
Ambrose inflicted revenge a lap later, taking Murphy’s position away from him at turn ten. Meanwhile, Jason Bargwanna and Steven Ellery came together, sending Ellery into a spin and Bargwanna into pitlane.
Craig Lowndes’ attempt at taking the lead from Seton failed, allowing just enough room for Marcos Ambrose to lunge past the Gibson Falcon.
Lowndes led a horde of cars into the pits on lap 10 for his mandatory stop, joined by Mark Skaife, among others.
Ambrose, Bright and Murphy did the same a lap later, moments before the safety car was called to the circuit after Paul Romano’s Commodore became beached.
It left the Ford-Tickford Falcons stranded at the front of the parade, unable to complete their compulsory stop until the restart on lap 11.
Lowndes was soon in his rightful first place, holding a comfortable margin over Murphy and Ambrose.
The Ford gun took the chequered flag ahead of Ambrose, who pushed past Murphy on lap 18. Brad Jones was a highlight, charging from 24th on the grid to claim seventh. Seton and Richards, race leaders on lap 15, finished 19th and 16th respectively.
But the celebrations for Lowndes were short-lived. His relegation to 12th for the second race was as a result of passing Murphy, who was exiting pitlane at the time, under yellow conditions; an accusation Lowndes refutes.
"We looked at the Channel 10 footage from the camera mounted in my 00 Falcon, and it’s evident that the position of Murphy’s car blocks my view of the flag marshalling point," Lowndes explained.
"I would have needed x-ray vision to see the flag, and the brakes of a jumbo jet to slow down enough to let his car, which was re-joining the track, pass me."
Greg Murphy and Mark Skaife formed the revised front row for race two, Murphy getting away to a brilliant start – too brilliant, according to officials. He was handed a costly stop/go penalty for movement before the green lights.
Skaife learnt from the first race, bringing his Commodore in for its compulsory service shortly after the pit window opened. HRT’s pitcrew went back-to-back, cladding Bright with new rubber a lap later.
The slick pit work left the HRT duo untouchable out in front, ahead of Radisich, whose struggling Falcon improved throughout the day.
Lowndes resumed racing after his lap 13 stop on the bumper of John Bowe; the duel between the two Fords one of few entertaining moments from the second race. Bowe was declared the eventual winner.
Mark Skaife restored Holden’s Eastern Creek record with a commanding win ahead of his team-mate, Bright.
Radisich and Bowe were to be commended for their third and fourth respectively. Lowndes recovered to fifth, Ambrose to sixth. Murphy fought back from the stop/go doldrums to record an eleventh-place finish.
The reborn K-Mart racer was the big mover on the points table, jumping from tenth to sixth. Bright maintains his 50-point lead over team-mate, Skaife.
Hidden Valley is the next stop for the Shell Series circus, in two week’s time.
**RACE ONE - TOP TEN**
1st GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing) - VX Commodore
2nd MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
3rd JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
4th JOHN BOWE (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon
5th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
6th BRAD JONES (OzEmail Internet Racing) - AU Falcon
7th PAUL MORRIS (Big Kev Racing) - VT Commodore
8th PAUL WEEL (K & J Thermal Products Racing) - AU Falcon
9th CAMERON McLEAN (Greenfield Mowers Racing) - AU Falcon
10th TONY LONGHURST (Rod Nash Racing) - VX Commodore
**RACE TWO - TOP TEN**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
2nd JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
3rd PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
4th JOHN BOWE (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon
5th CRAIG LOWNDES (Gibson Motorsport) - AU Falcon
6th MARCOS AMBROSE (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon
7th GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
8th TODD KELLY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore
9th CAMERON McLEAN (Greenfield Mowers Racing) - AU Falcon
10th GARTH TANDER (Valvoline-Cummins Racing) - VX Commodore
**CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE**
1st JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [940]
2nd MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [890]
3rd STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [716]
4th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VX Commodore [713]
5th TODD KELLY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [633]
6th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [624]
7th CRAIG LOWNDES (Gibson Motorsport) - AU Falcon [623]
8th MARCOS AMBROSE (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon [608]
9th GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [596]
10th STEVEN RICHARDS (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [552]
For complete race results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?29/04/2001.ARDC
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