R5S RACE 2 & 3 - Dad chuffed as Junior takes dream win
10/6/2001 22:02 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Steven Johnson took the last, tentative step from under the imposing shadows of his immortal father today with a famous round win on the streets of Canberra.
The Johnson clan track-side was euphoric as Steven tasted his first Shell Series victory champagne on the GMC 400 rostrum.
The Shell Helix ace finished third in the final 50-lap race, after recovering from twelfth in the morning’s reverse grid encounter. With his race win yesterday, it was enough to secure overall victory from a resurgent Garth Tander and consistent Mark Skaife.
“Wow, I’ve dreamt of this day and it’s even better than the dream,” an elated Johnson said.
"What made it more special was seeing Dad with a big smile on his face and just to hear him say ‘well done’ to me – you’ve no idea how hard that was for him to say."
Mark Skaife was a resounding winner in the final double-points race, after starting close to rear of grid following a fiery race two. The win snared Skaife the Shell Championship Series lead, leapfrogging team-mate, Jason Bright.
“The team made a brilliant call on strategy, bringing me in for both my compulsory pit stops before lap ten of the 50 lap race, and it all played into our hands from there,” Skaife said.
Garth Tander may have revived his slim championship hopes this weekend, grabbing a big bag of points by finishing second to Skaife in the final race.
"It has been a pretty ordinary year before this weekend for us,” Tander said. “We had a few personnel changes in the team and it has taken us a while to really gel, and it is just starting to work for us now.”
Defending GMC 400 champion Steven Richards won the morning’s 25-lap race, gifted to him by the full reverse grid format.
"We certainly showed that when things go our way, we are as good as anyone else out there,” Richards said.
The Ford-Tickford driver had a trouble-free run from the front row to win ahead of Marcos Ambrose and Jason Bargwanna.
Ambrose’s raid began back in 28th after his retirement yesterday. He decimated the lap record twice and timed his pit stops to perfection on his charge to runner-up.
Paul Radisich, too, stormed through the inverted field from 22nd to finish fourth, avoiding the carnage that had a number of drivers seeing red over the controversial format.
Skaife was the hardest hit; severely battle-scarred and fuming post-race after an incident with Rodney Forbes that bent his Commodore’s front-end. He crossed the line as last-placed finisher.
Brad Jones also came to grief on the final turn, allowing Ambrose to put pressure on Richards over the final laps after a safety car period.
Combined points for the first two races left Radisich and Craig Lowndes sharing the front row for the all-important third heat, in front of an all-Valvoline-Cummins second row.
After Radisich got the jump from Lowndes and Bargwanna, Larry Perkins instigated a flurry of pit stops on lap five. Pitlane was a hive of activity over the next half-dozen laps as most teams elected to make their compulsory tyre and fuel stops in succession.
But Lowndes did not. With just his splash-and-dash fuel stop under the belt, Lowndes charged on to build a seemingly-unbeatable 70-second lead over the field.
It was a knife-edged gamble that ultimately failed, when the safety car (called to guide the field around John Faulkner’s stranded Commodore) put an end to his chances.
His car later expired with a mystery engine shutdown; “I went for the throttle and found nothing. The engine just cut out,” he said.
It left his former team-mate Mark Skaife in the lead, staving off challenges from fast-man, Marcos Ambrose.
Ambrose’s bid to tackle the HRT Commodore wasn’t helped with a senseless display of blocking by backmarker Anthony Tratt, though his horror weekend finally came to a close when a rear wheel strayed from his Falcon.
Tander, Johnson and Bright engaged in a tense battle for the minor places, though points-minded logic eventually prevailed. John Bowe finished behind in fourth, while Paul Radisich brought his Falcon home, minus a cylinder, in seventh.
“The car was good, very good,” Johnson said, “and I knew I could probably get by Garth (Tander) for second but it was risky, and winning the round was more important.”
Skaife easily won his internal points duel with Bright, leaping ahead of his team-mate on the points standings. Johnson moved to third.
Teams will bend their cars back into shape over the next week before embarking on the long road trip across the Nullarbor, for round six of the Shell Series at Barbagallo Raceway in a fortnight’s time.
**RACE TWO - TOP TEN**
1st STEVEN RICHARDS (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
2nd MARCOS AMBROSE (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon
3rd JASON BARGWANNA (Valvoline Cummins Repco Team) - VX Commodore
4th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
5th JOHN BOWE (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon
6th CRAIG LOWNDES (Gibson Motorsport) - AU Falcon
7th GARTH TANDER (Valvoline Cummins Repco Team) - VX Commodore
8th PAUL WEEL (K & J Thermal Products Racing) - AU Falcon
9th MARK LARKHAM (ICS Team Smartcar) - AU Falcon
10th RODNEY FORBES (Rodney Forbes Racing) - AU Falcon
**RACE THREE - TOP TEN**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
2nd GARTH TANDER (Valvoline Cummins Repco Team) - VX Commodore
3rd STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
4th JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
5th JOHN BOWE (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon
6th STEVEN ELLERY (Super Cheap Auto Racing) - AU Falcon
7th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
8th MARK LARKHAM (ICS Team Smartcar) - AU Falcon
9th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Race Team) - VX Commodore
10th STEVEN RICHARDS (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
**CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1360]
2nd JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1346]
3rd STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [1082]
4th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VX Commodore [1079]
5th MARCOS AMBROSE (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon [986]
6th STEVEN RICHARDS (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [929]
7th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [912]
8th GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [900]
9th TODD KELLY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [858]
10th CRAIG LOWNDES (Gibson Motorsport) - AU Falcon [835]
For complete race results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?10/06/2001.CANB
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