SBR: Winterbottom finishes season in grand style
31/8/2003 21:27 (Press Release) -
Stone Brothers Racing's Mark Winterbottom finished the Konica V8 Supercar Championship Series the way he started it at Mallala in South Australia today - in impressive style.
Winterbottom started from pole in his Milligans Food Group AU Falcon and won all three races, including the reverse grid event, in his most impressive performance of the six-round championship.
Today's victory gave Winterbottom, now living on the Gold Coast, four round wins from six starts.
The 21 year-old dedicated the weekend's win to former Ford Motorsport boss Howard Marsden, who passed away with cancer last week.
The SBR team raced with special Howard Marsden emblems on Winterbottom's car as a mark of respect today.
"It was great to finish the championship on a high like this, it really makes you feel like you have earned it even more," said Winterbottom, who wrapped-up the championship at round five in Winton earlier this month.
"I would like to dedicate the win to Howard Marsden who did an enormous amount for me through the Ford Kartstars program, Formula Ford and with this current SBR deal.
"It would be great if we could continue to fly the Ford flag for Howard in the up coming endurance races.
"I also have to thank Milligans Food Group, Caltex, Bosch and all our other sponsors for giving us the opportunity to challenge for this championship."
Winterbottom took an early lead in race one and had built a handy gap on the field when a safety car period was required.
Undeterred, Winterbottom got the jump on the re-start and ran away with the win from Matthew White and Andrew Jones.
Winterbottom started the reverse grid race from the back, but worked his way through the field on the flat Mallala layout to claim another win.
Race three was uneventful and Winterbottom charged away from pole position to win the race by more than eight seconds from White.
Winterbottom will now join regular V8 Supercar driver Mark Noske in the second SBR Falcon, sponsored by Caltex Havoline and Pirtek, at the Betta Electrical Sandown 500 on September 12-14 and the Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 at Bathurst on October 9-12.
--Stone Brothers Racing press release
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