R2 RACES - Ambrose slays HRT, but Skaife ultimate survivor
14/4/2002 21:22 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Mark Skaife and the Holden Racing Team empire still reign over the V8 Supercar series tonight, but not before the fiercest attack on its impenetrable fortress yet.
Skaife easily won the second of two 150km showdowns at Phillip Island Raceway this afternoon to claim overall victory on the day.
But he can be beaten, and Ford’s Marcos Ambrose proved it.
Perhaps the Tasmanian recalled the words of AFL coach Leigh Matthews last year, when he said of the unbeaten Essendon club “if they can bleed, we can kill it.” HRT do bleed – no signs of haemorrhaging, but they were susceptible – and Ambrose slayed them to win the opening race.
"We showed that we can take the battle to the very best teams in this championship and come out on top," Ambrose said. "I have kept saying that these HRT guys could be beaten and it's great that we have managed to do that today.”
But the jubilant Stone Brothers Racing garage came crashing back to earth in the second race when Ambrose became involved in an ugly altercation with Max Wilson, damaging his steering and forcing him into retirement.
"The collision with Max not only eliminated both of us, it also gave our rivals a massive points bonus,” he said.
Skaife said he expected to do well this weekend: "We would like to think we could do well here, we always have so we expected a good result.
"I've always said the championship is about risk management, I could have had a dive at Max (Wilson) and Marcos (Ambrose), but I didn't. The key to this is finishing."
The rain cleared today and the action was red hot early. The duel between Skaife and Ambrose was intense while tensions further down the field reached boiling point.
Jason Bargwanna and Greg Murphy had to be physically separated after a heated debate over who was at fault in a frightening crash at the start of race one.
Bargwanna was forced wide at high-speed into the tyre wall on the main straight, the impact hurling his Commodore end-over-end in a spectacular crash reminiscent of Craig Lowndes’ horrific Calder Park start-line crash in 1999.
Bargwanna walked away from the wreck unhurt, before launching into the verbal assault on Murphy on the grid for the full race restart. The usually mild-manned Bargwanna later told Channel Ten “if somebody is going to try and kill me” then they should expect him to fight back.
Murphy restarted the race but later copped a complete disqualification from the results by race stewards.
“It’s hard to be anything but disappointed with what has happened," Murphy said. "Jason continued to move over on me...you never want to see an accident like that, but it was not my fault."
The incident shadowed Ambrose’s inspired drive. While his pit stop for tyres was marginally better than Skaife’s, it was his pace and cool temperament under extreme pressure that saw him hang on for victory.
Skaife was awarded second, despite teammate Jason Bright cheekily making a run on him at the finish line to dead-heat. Bright, however, was later relegated to fifth for not engaging his speed limiter on his trip down pit lane.
With Ambrose’s retirement from race two, the challengers to Skaife were thin on the ground.
An early safety car saw pit lane become dangerously congested with compulsory stopers. Skaife led them in and out, and from there was never headed.
Todd Kelly was an impressive second – securing second on the dais – while Paul Radisich fought his way to third.
"After crashing in practice at Adelaide and not finishing either of those races, this weekend is a great comeback," said Radisich, who finished equal third with Ambrose in overall points.
Best-on-track was arguably Cameron McConville, who started the day on the last row of the grid, having pre-qualified on Friday, and finished race two in fourth place.
"I'm absolutely stoked,” he said. “We made small changes to the car between races that were definite improvements and again we called it right to pit early – the guys deserve full credit for their fast stops.”
Bright’s bad luck continued in race two, served a black flag when he, perhaps tactically, lagged behind the safety car while momentarily leading.
Craig Lowndes also had a forgettable day, punching into Max Wilson’s stricken Falcon, stranded in the middle of the track after the altercation with Ambrose.
Greg Murphy moved to second in the championship standings despite his run-in with Bargwanna, though it has allowed Skaife to sneak away and extend his already imposing series lead to 276 points.
The final verdict: they can be beaten – but probably not stopped.
"The championship is looking pretty good,” Skaife said, “but it is a long series and we've got to keep our heads down."
Race one results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?14/04/2002.PHIL.R4
Race two results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?14/04/2002.PHIL.R9
V8 Supercar Championship Series points:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?14/04/2002.PHIL.V8S.S
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