R3 PREV – OzEmail on-line for Supercar podium
2/5/2003 16:47 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
At least one of OzEmail Racing’s wily odd couple, John Bowe and Brad Jones, will win races this year.
Jones is sure of it, putting his reputation on the line to boldly announce his modest Albury garage has come of age and ready to take its place on the V8 Supercar podium.
The prolific motorsportsman, 43, and his veteran partner, 49-year-old Bowe, are, like their team, getting better with age.
With Ford’s revolutionary BA Falcon as the base, Jones says the team is close to uncovering a race-winning package – perhaps as soon as this weekend, with the circus stopping at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway for round three of the series.
“I have no doubt that one of our OzEmail Falcons will win races,” Jones said this week.
“We came close to doing it last year and the new BA is a better car than what we had then, so there is no reason why we can’t. We have the same ability and the same desire."
Bowe, a starter in the first two top ten qualifying shootouts this season, was inside the top five after today’s opening 35-minute hit-out, won by Garry Rogers Motorsport’s Garth Tander.
And Jones believes the OzEmail Falcons can only get faster, with mystery “rocket science developments” close to being implemented.
“I know that some of our fans are wondering why we haven’t been as competitive as we were,” Jones said, “and I want to reassure them that OzEmail Racing will be giving the big boys a run for their money very soon.”
With another 300km feature race on Sunday, this weekend is set to be an epic battle between former teammates Mark Skaife and Jason Bright.
Separated by Holden’s team reshuffle pre-season, the Holden Racing Team’s reigning champion Skaife trails Team Brock’s Bright by just six points.
Consistency has seen both climb the championship table early, but a winless Bright will launch a make-or-break assault on victory this weekend.
“It’s all about winning,” Bright said. “That’s what we race for. Podium finishes are fine, but it doesn’t make up for a win, especially when we should have won at Phillip Island.”
Tensions are still simmering between Bright and Ford’s Marcos Ambrose after their controversial altercation at a rain-soaked Phillip Island last month.
“I was 15 seconds ahead of [eventual race winner Craig] Lowndes when Ambrose hit me, so there’s not too much doubt I would have still been in the lead when the race was called,” Bright said this week.
Ambrose, one of three race winners this season, is outside the top ten in the championship and aiming to end a six-year drought for Ford at the technically-tricky Sydney circuit.
The Ford star was second in today’s interrupted session, 0.14secs outside Tander’s surprise fastest time set in the dying seconds.
"We have good outright speed, but we just need to make it more comfortable and nicer to drive,” Ambrose said. “We did about four really solid laps in a row, so it is also consistent at this stage.”
Kmart Racing’s Greg Murphy was third, ahead of Skaife who topped the time sheets for most of the session.
More practice is scheduled for tomorrow morning, ahead of qualifying and the Top Ten Shootout.
It’s a double-header V8 Supercar weekend, with the aspiring Konica Series drivers competing in round three of their championship. Series leader, Stone Brothers Racing protégé Mark Winterbottom today claimed pole position for the weekend's three races.
Practice results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?04/05/2003.ECIR.P8
|
|
