R13S RACE 2 & 3 - Kelly shines at soaked Sandown
3/12/2001 12:37 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
K-Mart Racing’s Todd Kelly has won the Grand Final of V8 Supercars, the V8 Ultimate at Sandown Raceway.
The 22-year-old former Holden Young Lion completed his meteoric rise to the elite echelons of the sport with his debut round win, claiming his second race win along the way.
He won this morning’s second 150km race (the first race, in which he finished third, was held yesterday) before finishing third in the final event.
"We have had the speed at other rounds this year, but perhaps not the luck,” said Kelly, who becomes the youngest winner of a Shell Series round since a 21-year-old Craig Lowndes in 1996.
“Now the team has the experience at all the tracks, I am looking forward to a more consistent 2002. I want to win a few more rounds next year."
Lowndes today finished second overall, putting a difficult first year with Ford behind him to win the final race – just his second of the year.
Marcos Ambrose diced with Lowndes over the final few laps of race three, but was denied his first V8 Supercar race win. He finished third overall on the day.
After winning yesterday’s first race, Shell Series champion Mark Skaife didn’t figure in today’s results. He finished fourth in the morning race, before retiring after a heavy shunt in the final event.
"The reality is it was a tougher championship to win this year," said Skaife of his title win. “Ford put in a greater effort and there were more drivers vying for every race win, as we have seen this weekend.”
Russell Ingall had a trying day, but did enough to retain second place in the championship and the dreaded ‘bridesmaid’ tag for a record third time. Jason Bright held down third, ahead of Greg Murphy.
Steven Johnson, despite retiring from race two today with a blown engine, finished as Ford’s best in fifth.
“It's been great to see Steve make a breakthrough and be a consistent front-runner,” father and Shell Helix Team Principal, Dick Johnson, said, “I'm just sorry we couldn't sustain the challenge for the championship.”
Today’s so-called dead rubber produced some frenetic racing, as constant heavy rain made for treacherous conditions in both races.
The first race saw a K-Mart Racing Team one-two: Kelly leading home teammate Greg Murphy and Craig Lowndes.
Murphy made a miraculous start from the fourth row to figure in an entertaining squabble for the lead over the opening laps (after a brief safety car period for a first-lap nose-to-tail accident).
Precise pit strategy saw the K-Mart cars emerge in the lead after the flurry of stops, with Kelly firmly in control, and went on to win from Lowndes and Skaife. Kelly finished more than ten seconds ahead of his teammate.
Jason Richards, from the fledgling Team Kiwi Racing outfit, did his nation proud finishing ninth, while Jason Bargwanna recorded a year-best seventh.
Controversially, the Holden Racing Team were fined $1000 – but awarded no racing penalty – when Team Manager Jeff Grech neglected his responsibilities as the car controller to clear Skaife’s radiator during his stop.
As conditions worsened, race two saw the standing start abandoned in favour of a rolling start.
Lowndes made his pit stop early, along with the majority of the field, but was forced back into pitlane a few laps later after an off-track excursion. But making the stop under yellow flags left him still in contention and on a charge.
As racing resumed (once Glenn Seton’s Falcon was extricated from the turn one sand), Lowndes quickly moved to third, behind Kelly, as both began reeling in race leader, Ambrose.
Sweeping past Kelly, Lowndes hounded Ambrose before slipping down the inside of the Pirtek Falcon along the back straight on lap 45 of 48. Ambrose, impaired by a loss of engine power, regained the lead with a brave move on the final corner, but Lowndes again muscled past on the following lap and went on to win.
“It is disappointing not to win the race,” Ambrose said, “but we were losing top-end speed and dropping cylinders so there wasn't a great deal I could do about it.”
Said Lowndes: "I certainly did it the hard way! It was lucky for me that I had good drive out of corners and that Marcos had engine troubles."
Kelly finished in third, ahead of a luckless Jason Bright. Paul Morris ran strongly to take fifth, while John Faulkner also finished inside the top ten.
Kelly is the tenth round winner of the 13-round series, in a year that, despite Mark Skaife’s dominance, was the most open in history.
And yet, the season finished much as it did last year: Holden (and TWR Australia) firmly on top, Ford nipping at their heels, and the incomparable Skaife walking away with the ultimate honour.
They’ll all be back to do it again next year, beginning on the streets of Adelaide for the Clipsal 500 in March.
>> RACE TWO - TOP TEN >>
3rd TODD KELLY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore
8th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore
2nd CRAIG LOWNDES (Gibson Motorsport) - AU Falcon
1st MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
6th MARCOS AMBROSE (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon
6th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
9th JASON BARGWANNA (Valvoline Cummins Repco Team) - VX Commodore
8th STEVEN RICHARDS (Ford Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
9th JASON RICHARDS (Team Kiwi Racing) - VT Commodore
10th STEVEN ELLERY (Super Cheap Auto Racing) - AU Falcon
>> RACE THREE - TOP TEN >>
1st CRAIG LOWNDES (Gibson Motorsport) - AU Falcon
2nd MARCOS AMBROSE (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon
3rd TODD KELLY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore
4th JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
5th PAUL MORRIS (Big Kev Racer) - VX Commodore
6th RUSSELL INGALL (Perkins Motorsport) - VX Commodore
7th RICK KELLY (Holden Young Lions) - VX Commodore
8th LARRY PERKINS (Perkins Motorsport) - VX Commodore
9th SIMON WILLS (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon
10th JOHN FAULKNER (John Faulkner Racing) - VX Commodore
>> CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE >>
1st MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [3478]
2nd RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VX Commodore [2875]
3rd JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [2819]
4th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [2724]
5th STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [2532]
6th TODD KELLY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [2479]
7th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [2109]
8th STEVEN ELLERY (Super Cheap Auto Racing) - AU Falcon [2086]
9th MARCOS AMBROSE (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon [2073]
10th GARTH TANDER (Valvoline Cummins Repco Team) - VX Commodore [2047]
For complete race results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?02/12/2001.SAN
|
|
