V8X - DE-BRIEF round 7

1. It was no surprise at all that it rained at Winton. It was the middle of winter after all. What was jaw dropping, however, was Craig Baird on pole for the first time in the almost sponsorless Team Kiwi Commodore.

2. Fellow Kiwi Greg Murphy failed to qualify. The batteries in both Kmart Commodore had gone flat, and his teammate scored the spare. Murphy wouldn't speak afterwards, despite being allowed to race.

3. Pit strategy was everything in the race, seven Safety Car periods keeping all teams on their toes. As ever, Kmart Racing used it all to its advantage and when the chaos settled down it had two cars in the lead.

4."What a wanker, f%@king Holden drivers," Jason Bright remarked after getting knocked off the track by Mark Skaife. Bright dropped to last and Skaife slid onto the infield and there he sat for 25 laps. For all outward signs it looked like yet another driver error for Skaife in what is fast turning into a soiled year for the HRT leader.

5. A couple of laps later it was Marcos Ambrose's turn to feel the frustration of the Winton infield. John Bowe made a move that didn't stick bundling the series leader out of the championship lead. Ambrose eventually let the tyres down and used the pitlane speed limiter to reduce wheelspin to get back into action. He scored 42 vital points.

6. Bowe scored a drive-through penalty for his efforts, killing his hopes of a podium. Only Ingall (2nd) and Wilson (4th) looked a chance now, until Wilson was booted out by Steve Richards in a dodgy looking incident.

7. Jason Richards jumped in front of his namesake after he was slowed by contact with Wilson. He just had the jump on fellow underdogs Cam McConville and Brad Jones as the action was almost getting too hot to follow.

8. Lap 86 and Murphy's fairytale came to an end. He slipped on some mud on the track left by Dumbrell, sucking Ingall and both Richards off with him. Murphy rejoined in third, the others tumbled down the order.

9. Bright charged hard after taking on fresh rubber during the lap 78 Safety Car, working his way onto the podium in just over 20 laps. It was a great drive, and just enough to get him the lead in the series. The championship had taken its final twist for the day, and the 2004 battle was now well and truly alive!

10. Rick Kelly led the final lap but left a gap heading past the yellow flags on the back straight. McConville didn’t need any invitation and took a lunge, timing to perfection his move with the green flag. He only led for two corners but they were the ones that counted. After a few years in the series, one of the good guys was the winner.

Glenn Seton fires his way into the top ten

Qualifying was red flagged after Mark Skaife rammed Steve Richards while on a flyer.

The rain didn't let up on Saturday, but then neither did the hardcore fans.

David Besnard takes a trip through the turn one water crossing in qualifying.

Race Face

Two maidens in Benalla

Craig Baird and Cameron McConville came to Winton with pretty much a full set of doughnuts. Baird had one podium to his name and McConville two, but otherwise it was all zeroes. Post-Winton both walked away with better figures; McConville with a win and Baird with a pole position in his sponsorless Team Kiwi Commodore.

It was an extraordinary weekend, and not just because we saw more rain but because we saw some amazing things. The events were set in motion by constant rain on Saturday; it gave a few guys with not too much performance in the dry a good shot at glory. There weren’t any real surprises in the mix for the Shootout, but Baird scoring pole was a very pleasant surprise. Perhaps the biggest surprise in qualifying was the lack achievement by Kmart Racing. Greg Murphy technically failed to qualify, and Rick Kelly was down in 25th in what must have surely rated as an all-time low for the team. For Murphy, it was the third time this season he has recorded his worst-ever qualifying, and to have done so because of a flat battery must have been galling, especially given the team is sponsored by Exide.

Sunday dawned damp but sans-rain and that meant anything was possible, and generally speaking that’s what happened. Championship contenders Ambrose, Richards and Bright had eventful days with only Bright saving grace on a tough day. We had some sensational racing, and no-one who braved the grimmest of winter weather could have left the track wanting more. There was a quiet patch in this race, and then all hell broke loose and no-one knew what the heck was going on and who was going to win. In the end Cam McConville led for only two corners of the 1200 that made up this race, his brave and perfectly judged overtaking move at the end of a yellow flag section taking Rick Kelly by surprise. There were gasps at one end of pitlane and cheers at the other. All in all, a good day for motor racing.

Results Hidden Valley

Pos	Car	Driver	Entrant	Vehicle	Rd Total
1	33	Cameron McConville	Repco Valvoline Cummins Team	Holden Commodore VY	192
2	15	Rick Kelly	Kmart Racing Team	Holden Commodore VY	186
3	50	Jason Bright	PWR Performance Products	Holden Commodore VY	180
4	9	Russell Ingall	Caltex Havoline Race Team	Ford Falcon BA	174
5	51	Greg Murphy	Kmart Racing Team	Holden Commodore VY	168
6	31	Steve Ellery	Super Cheap Auto Racing	Ford Falcon BA	162
7	22	Todd Kelly	Holden Racing Team	Holden Commodore VY	156
8	29	Paul Morris	Sirromet-Life,Style,Wine	Holden Commodore VY	150
9	34	Garth Tander	Repco Valvoline Cummins Team	Holden Commodore VY	144
10	5	Glenn Seton	Ford Performance Racing	Ford Falcon BA	138
11	3	Jason Richards	Tasman Motorsport	Holden Commodore VY	132
12	45	Dale Brede	Roadships/Alphawest/World Ind	Holden Commodore VY	126
13	11	Steven Richards	Castrol Perkins Motorsport	Holden Commodore VY	120
14	75	Anthony Tratt	Toll Racing	Holden Commodore VY	114
15	10	Jason Bargwanna Larkham	Orrcon Racing	Ford Falcon BA	108
16	8	Paul Dumbrell	Castrol Perkins Motorsport	Holden Commodore VY	102
17	7	Tony Longhurst	Castrol Perkins Motorsport	Holden Commodore VX	96
18	12	John Bowe	OzEmail Racing Team	Ford Falcon BA	90
19	88	Paul Radisich	Team Betta Electrical	Ford Falcon BA	84
20	18	Warren Luff	Shell Helix Racing	Ford Falcon BA	78
21	48	Mark Noske	WPS	Ford Falcon BA	72
22	021	Craig Baird	Team Kiwi Racing	Holden Commodore VY	66
23	44	Simon Wills	Roadships/Alphawest/World Ind	Holden Commodore VY	60
24	21	Brad Jones	OzEmail Racing Team	Ford Falcon BA	54
25	20	Mark Winterbottom	Larkham Orrcon Racing	Ford Falcon BA	48
26	1	Marcos Ambrose	Pirtek Racing	Ford Falcon BA	42
27	6	Craig Lowndes	Ford Performance Racing	Ford Falcon BA	36
28	2	Mark Skaife	Holden Racing Team	Holden Commodore VY	30
29	14	Will Davison	IMS	Holden Commodore VY	0
30	16	Paul Weel	PWR Performance Products	Holden Commodore VY	0
31	17	Steven Johnson	Shell Helix Racing	Ford Falcon BA	0
32	23	David Besnard	WPS	Ford Falcon BA	0
33	24	Garth Walden	Romano Racing	Ford Falcon AU	0
34	43	David Krause	PWR Performance Products	Holden Commodore VX	0
35	888	Max Wilson	Team

2004 V8 Supercar Championship Series Points ÃÂÃÂ Top 15 (after round 7)

1 Jason Bright 1131, 2 Steven Richards 1126, 3 Rick Kelly 1116, 4 Marcos Ambrose 1106, 5 Russell Ingall 982,

6 Greg Murphy 979, 7 Garth Tander 924, 8 Todd Kelly 897, 9 John Bowe 728, 10 Jason Bargwanna 652,

11 Paul Radisich 646, 12 Glenn Seton 623, 13 Craig Baird 610, 14 Paul Dumbrell 605, 15 Paul Morris 604.

Grumble, grumble!

Of all the incidents in this race it was Marcos Ambrose with the most to lose. That he did lose it through no fault of his own was a big thing. Ambrose was bundled out of the action by John Bowe, left sitting in the mud for the best part of 20 laps and losing 130 championship points. “I respect John Bowe, I have known him a long time but I'm a little confused with that whole deal. Let's just leave it on the track. I am disappointed but we will move on.”

Red Hero

First wins are hard to top and nothing this weekend will do that to superfit Cameron McConville. The GRM driver made a stunning move on the second last corner of the 300km race to score his first win in the series. He qualified in the top 10, and then charged hard all day to outgun young Rick Kelly in a thrilling end to an amazing weekend.

Blue Hero

It was a sad day for Ford, at one stage looking for a clean sweep of the podium before some intermarque rivalry spoilt the day. Our Blue hero came in the end from slim pickings but it should not detract from the efforts of Steve Ellery, who claimed sixth outright after yet another shunt and qualifying only 27th. A good bloke who deserves a bit more luck.