V8 Supercars Round 3

[fpv_gtho]

This weekend the V8's are going around Pukekohe Park raceway, and both Greg Murphy and Marcos Ambrose have been performing brilliantly so its hard to tell yet whether Murphy will extend his winning streak in his homeland of New Zealand to 4 straight victories, or Marcos Ambrose will once again break a Holden stranglehold on a round and gain enough points to regain 1st position in the points. Shootout and 1st 100km race is on Saturday, whilst the final 2 150km races are on Sunday, with rain and showers forecasted

[Ferrari Tifosi]

I wish we had same day coverage of the V8 Supercars here in the states, for it is a very interesting racing series.

[Falcon500]

Avesco is tight...only people who are big pond users can acsess the avesco site now!
But that said that bright got 1st then ambrose then skaife....i didnt see any info on murph...who hasnt in fact been doing too damn crash hot this year(hanst been doing too bad either but not great) and both betta electriacl car,jason bargwanna and a few other odditys where upthere...

[fpv_gtho]

yeah theres JB as well in there, steven richards, both HRT, both 888, ambrose, bright, murphy and bargs to round out the lineup for tomorrow's shootout, so no doubt all eyes will be on ambrose and murphy (mostly murph though).

[Falcon500]

Qualifying
Race Day: Friday, 14:25-15:10 Race Duration: 20 Minutes Reverse Grid: N

Pos Car Entrant Driver Vehicle Laps Fastest Lap Fastest Lap Time Gap
1 50 PWR Performance Products Jason Bright Holden Commodore VY 11 9 0:56.3655
2 1 Pirtek Racing Marcos Ambrose Ford Falcon BA 11 9 0:56.6062 0:00.2407
3 2 Holden Racing Team Mark Skaife Holden Commodore VY 13 11 0:56.6209 0:00.2554
4 22 Holden Racing Team Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VY 11 8 0:56.7160 0:00.3505
5 51 Kmart Racing Team Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VY 10 10 0:56.7184 0:00.3529
6 11 Castrol Perkins Motorsport Steven Richards Holden Commodore VY 14 11 0:56.8207 0:00.4552
7 888 Team Betta Electrical Max Wilson Ford Falcon BA 15 9 0:56.8786 0:00.5131
8 88 Team Betta Electrical Paul Radisich Ford Falcon BA 15 11 0:56.9058 0:00.5403
9 12 OzEmail Racing Team John Bowe Ford Falcon BA 17 16 0:56.9423 0:00.5768
10 10 Larkham Orrcon Racing Jason Bargwanna Ford Falcon BA 14 13 0:56.9425 0:00.5770
11 9 Caltex Havoline Race Team Russell Ingall Ford Falcon BA 13 12 0:56.9526 0:00.5871
12 17 Shell Helix Racing Steven Johnson Ford Falcon BA 16 14 0:56.9529 0:00.5874
13 15 Kmart Racing Team Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VY 15 8 0:57.0208 0:00.6553
14 16 PWR Performance Products Paul Weel Holden Commodore VY 17 12 0:57.0298 0:00.6643
15 5 Ford Performance Racing Glenn Seton Ford Falcon BA 15 13 0:57.0829 0:00.7174
16 3 Tasman Motorsport Jason Richards Holden Commodore VX 17 11 0:57.0904 0:00.7249
17 29 Sirromet - Life Style Wine Paul Morris Holden Commodore VY 10 8 0:57.2545 0:00.8890
18 18 Shell Helix Racing Warren Luff Ford Falcon BA 17 14 0:57.2793 0:00.9138
19 44 Holy Grail Wine/Alphawest Simon Wills Holden Commodore VY 12 10 0:57.4051 0:01.0396
20 34 Repco Valvoline Cummins Team Garth Tander Holden Commodore VY 14 5 0:57.4657 0:01.1002
21 6 Ford Performance Racing Craig Lowndes Ford Falcon BA 13 6 0:57.4761 0:01.1106
22 21 OzEmail Racing Team Brad Jones Ford Falcon BA 16 3 0:57.4974 0:01.1319
23 20 Larkham Orrcon Racing Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon BA 15 14 0:57.5168 0:01.1513
24 33 Repco Valvoline Cummins Team Cameron McConville Holden Commodore VY 14 9 0:57.5283 0:01.1628
25 8 Castrol Perkins Motorsport Paul Dumbrell Holden Commodore VY 14 12 0:57.5393 0:01.1738
26 23 WPS David Besnard Ford Falcon BA 15 9 0:57.5584 0:01.1929
27 31 Super Cheap Auto Racing Steve Ellery Ford Falcon BA 10 10 0:57.5756 0:01.2101
28 75 Toll Racing Anthony Tratt Holden Commodore VY 17 15 0:57.6387 0:01.2732
29 021 Team Kiwi Racing Craig Baird Holden Commodore VY 11 8 0:57.7102 0:01.3447
30 14 IMS - Hydralink Mark Porter Holden Commodore VX 17 17 0:57.8811 0:01.5156
31 7 Castrol Perkins Motorsport Tony Longhurst Holden Commodore VX 17 14 0:57.9201 0:01.5546
32 45 Holy Grail Wine/Alphawest Dale Brede Holden Commodore VY 15 3 0:58.0219 0:01.6564

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Murph in 5th as i said hes off pace...has been all year...he still liklybut im not going to be too suprised if he did loose this year...i also only just noticed craig barid in in the to[p 10 in points....strange hes a good racer buteven in team brock had no luck...

[fpv_gtho]

consistency is the key remember, its whats got Bargs sitting at 5th in the championship so far, but still team kiwi are relatively small i suppose, so theyre doing good to stay infront of the likes of super cheap, anthony tratt etc.

[motorsportnerd]

Not sure why you're having problems with the AVESCO website Falc. For those who are interested the official website of V8 Supercars is www.v8supercar.com.au. It was working for me this evening, so I don't think Bigpond users are the only ones able to access the site.
Interesting storey on the site. Apparently David Besnard (WPS Motorsport Ford Falcon) missed the first practice session because he left his helmet at the hotel!!! His team bose Craig Gore was not very impressed and fined him $10,000!
Worth noting that NZer Greg Murphy was fifth in qualifying and his attempt to win four Pukekohe rounds in a row is off to a good start. And another NZ driver, Paul Radisich was 8th. The other NZ drivers were not so far up the grid for their home race. Jason Richards (Tasman Motorsport Holden Commodore) was 16th; Simon Wills (Team Dynamic Holden Commodore) was 19th; Craig Baird (Team Kiwi Racing Holden Commodore) was 29th; Mark Porter (IMS Racing Holden Commodore) was 30th.
There are a total of six New Zealand drivers chasing a win in their home round and only one of them (Paul Radisich) drives a Ford. Though, technically, Steven Richards (Castrol Perkins Holden Commodore and son of 7 times Bathurst winner kiwi Jim Richards) is also a kiwi as he was born there. Unsurprising the majority of the Pukekohe crowd tend to support Holden and particularly Greg Murphy. I guess they'd accept a Ford victory provided it was Paul Radisich who won for Ford.
Photos are of Jason Bright's PWR Commodore; Jason Richard's Tasman Commodore;Craig Baird's Team Kiwi Commodore and David Besnard's WPS Falcon.

[fpv_gtho]

i'd say its more that theyre fans of Murphy. also considering its only been him winning there so far, you could understand a certain holden bias in the grand stands but still dont forget Ross and Jimmy stone come from New Zealand as well, so does that include a warm reception for Ambrose or Ingall if they win?

[Falcon500]

Kiwis are sheep if ford starts winning for a couple of years they be swinging ford flags...they like to back a winner.....ive heard this from several kiwis over the years....

Isnt mark porter in the hydralink car?

Eventuallyi got it working but it wantedme toaccept some kind of email about big pond *delete* ambrose nearly won it in 02...personally i think its only been dumb luck that murph has won so often....

[fpv_gtho]

well true i guess, its not as if hes taken all 3 events there so far like he took bathurst last year or something.......maybe hes just workign with more confidance than the other drivers, and the end of last year, amrbose's confidence wouldve been hanging by a thread

[Falcon500]

I ment pukekoe...but healso takes someof the most agressive lines their...he gos asfast as he can and really does some desperate moves....well at pukekoeanyways...i think one day hell come unstuck there....

[motorsportnerd]

Kiwis are sheep if ford starts winning for a couple of years they be swinging ford flags...they like to back a winner.....ive heard this from several kiwis over the years....

I was last at Pukekohe for the 1996 V8 event (non championship). Murph won all the races. The support for him was incredible. Radisich was driving one of Alan Jone's Falcons, but his support was no where near as solid.
However, back in 1993, Radisich took a Rousesport Ford Mondeo Super Tourer to Pukekohe for the second round of the Nissan Mobil 500 series of that era. He shared it with Glen Seton. Seton crashed the car at Wellington in the first round of the series, while leading. However, they won at Pukekohe and the support for Radisich at Pukekohe that year was very strong. By the way, the opposition in that 1993 series was a Peugeot 405, Opel Vecta, an ancient Group A Commodore and several near standard Porsches. Radisich had just won the World Cup and the Mondeo was the state of the art Super Tourer of the time, so it should have dominated. I remember it lapped Pukekohe at around the 60 second mark - so 4 seconds slower than todays Supercars.
So there may be something in your argument. I think the crowd will cheer on Radisich if he does well and due to the kiwi connection they'll probably accept a win by either of the Stone Brother's Falcons. However, since all but one of the NZ drivers is in a Holden, it shouldn't be any surprise to see mostly Holden flags in the crowd. If they all drove Fords that would change. Patriotism is the rule over there ahead of marque support. And enough about sheep... us kiwis - we're a sensitive bunch .

Isnt mark porter in the hydralink car?....

Yes he is. He's a kiwi - drives for Team Kiwi in the Konica series. IMS (Imrie Motor Sport) is the entrant. Guess I should have referred to it as the Hydralink entry.

[Falcon500]

I ment sheep fully in the follow each other sense....if youcan name another creature that has the same charictoristic im open too it

Jason Bright won and in the last 2 races they where rather dominant performances...his response from the croud was poor....
Marcos Ambrose came 2nd for the weekend and dropped off after dominatly winning the first race...his reponse was very poor...
And Greg Murphy came 3rd...quite the effort when youconsider what the competition is like...his reception while the best...was piss weak!
It was strange there ewhere no boos...but notmuch of anything else either...are they race fans or what?
Well its just easier its the most dominat feture of the car....
Also on a side note this race yeilded very littlefruit to everyone but marcos ambrose who regained 1st posi...all the others who came on the podium are a fair way off the podium...and many people sufferd this racelike lowndes with numerous problems,skaife with much the same problem...paul morris had a big stack right before the finish...and poor paul radasich he was doing sowell too....theworst off this day...Holden raceing team...their hopes for the year are effectivly dashed....

[motorsportnerd]

I missed the first race (blame a taxi ride from Melbourne airport to a hotel at that exact time). However, I understand Ambrose drove well and Skaife got tapped off by Steven Richards.
The other two races were interesting. Bright diffinately the class of the field. Murphy tried in the closing laps of race two, but couldn't do it. And Radisich was a little unluckly (or lucky if you consider getting away with any damage at that part of the circuit to be miraculous). He certainly had speed. Max Wilson also needs some luck.
Skaife has to take the overall bad luck award of the day though. I guess the championship is all over for him.
Ambrose continues to look good. Steven Richards is once again in the top three without winning any races (just like the first half of last year). And all the Ford teams except Stone Brothers need to pull their finger out. Ford has on paper the best driver line ups and teams, but the Holden teams are still somehow coming up trumps.
I didn't rate Bright at the start of the year. PWR had lost Brock and also their Betta Electrical support. And they were giving the other Holden teams a head start in development of the VY. However, looks like I was wrong not to rate them. They're doing very well. Bright in particular is a contender.
And I'm going to nominate an early surprise of the year. Team Kiwi and Craig Baird. They're 6th in the championship standings at the moment. Would anyone have picked that?

[fpv_gtho]

same here, i missed the first race after expecting to have some saturday coverage for race 1 and the shootout (after realising they werent gunna do it and having already watched the GTP races on 9 at Adelaide) then on sunday i got stuck into GTA on my PS2 and realised too late the race was on

HRT's gotta really be looking pretty glum right about now. Crompton made a pretty rash prediction (coming from his words mind you) that both HRT drivers are well out of championship contention, with Skaife being about a rounds worth of points behind Ambrose. Whether Skaife's laying it all on himself or its something in the team itself, who knows really.

it will be interesting though to see whether Skaife and HRT lift their game back up and Murphy and Bright close the gap on Ambrose. If Ambrose keeps on the podium throughout the year, he doesnt really have to worry about a true defense of the championship until about Bathurst