V8 Supercars: Round 13 Phillip Island, Caterpillar Finale

[SlickHolden]

I hope Garth tander wins. He should be champ in 06.

[Daz27]

Hey HSV...Ford already has the title buddy... Drivers title is the one left undecided. I hope Lowndes blows young Rick to the weeds...
And old Bowe'y, hes still got it, put him in a 888 car and he'd fly. Noone was more intimidating than John Bowe in his day. Ironic that the fortunes of DJR went to crap at roughly the same time JB left the team.

[blackhonda]

And old Bowe'y, hes still got it, put him in a 888 car and he'd fly. Noone was more intimidating than John Bowe in his day. Ironic that the fortunes of DJR went to crap at roughly the same time JB left the team.

You're dead right there Daz, and I reckon it's because of JB's ability to sort a car, something that has been lacking at DJR ever since he left. JB has driven just about everything, I can remember watching him set the outright lap record at the old Surfers Paradise track in the Veskanda sports car. He was always seriously quick no matter what he was in, it's just a shame that Team BOC hasn't been able to give him the equipment that his talent warrants

[Monty_Burns]

72 60 51 45 39 36 33 30 27 24 18 15 12 9 6

Theyre the points for a whole round, so Adelaide is half that per race, Bathurst and Sandown the whole lot, and everywhere else is 1/3 that per race.

I reckon you should get doubled the points for Bathurst - each of the three-race weekends is 400km combined (are they??), and Clipsal/Sandown are both 500km.....Bathurst is doubled that. There should be some extra incentive to win the Great Race (though it would make it more risky making those 50/50 moves, I suppose).

Also, I think there should be a small amount of bonus points for poles and/or fastest race laps - so that Skaifey at least gets something for his troubles

On something else entirely, it seems that since Marcos Ambrose's Nascar Truck season is over, he'll be over in Aussie for a little while, and he'll be on the commentary team. He's done himself proud over there, methinks.

[Monty_Burns]

If Rick Kelly wins, not only will he beat Lowndes, he will put Ford's championship reign to an end.

Piss Take?????

[fpv_gtho]

DJR were still pretty competitive when Radisich was there. Bowe left around the same time Ross and Jimmy Stone left so any drop in performance could be doubly explained at the time.

Monty, some people believe the drivers should get less points at Bathurst, and perhaps rather than all rounds being equal, all races are. It could worlk, that way a DNF at Bathurst is as bad as 1 DNF at Indy, as opposed to 3 at Indy.

[Daz27]

Any word on how the Rat is going btw? Hows the sternum fracture healen up?

[fpv_gtho]

Not too sure but i havent heard of any complications. He should be right for Adelaide next year though.

[SlickHolden]

DJR went down with the stone boys exit i think.

[fpv_gtho]

DJR went down with the stone boys exit i think.

I dont think its that simple. Sure, Bowe's title in 95 was probably the last time they peaked, but theyve won plenty of races since then with Radisich. Jnr Johnson only has a reverse grid round to his name however, and when they keep changing 2nd drivers from Max Wilson, Warren Luff, Glen Seton and Will Davison, theyre never going to get too far.

[SlickHolden]

But they lost there fear factor, The Stone brothers build powerful engines DJR was feared for having massive power and speed, They always seem too get there cars up together up front, The brothers knew what they were doing and made life easy, But things got harder and they didn't have the fear factor after they left it got tuff. We know where they would be now if they were still with DJR. And they always knew they could do it on there own i think and wanted too prove it.
I don't want too bag drivers but jnr dick worrys me is he fully up too it? Is he just a good driver that will never be great?.

[fpv_gtho]

Ross and Jimmy arent engine guys though, theyre just engineers. You cant really put down an engine advantage to just those two.

[SlickHolden]

It just seemed like the sbr cars sound soo much like the djr cars of yesterday.

[Daz27]

As far as I know they ran the engine program at DJR in the 90's. And for straight line grunt, those stone motors were the bomb. Year after year going up and down the hill at Bathurst the DJR cars were awesome. If a lil fragile at times.
Either way, this weekend is going to rock, and theres going to be a bunch of happy and sad people and all I can say is that I hope my team wins hehe.

[Monty_Burns]

Shootout results:

Pos Car Entrant Driver Vehicle Laps Fastest Lap Fastest Lap Time Gap
1 22 Holden Racing Team Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VZ 1 1 1:34.1747
2 2 Holden Racing Team Mark Skaife Holden Commodore VZ 1 1 1:34.4167 0:00.2420
3 16 Toll HSV Dealer Team Garth Tander Holden Commodore VZ 1 1 1:34.4215 0:00.2468
4 6 Ford Performance Racing Jason Bright Ford Falcon BA 1 1 1:34.5675 0:00.3928
5 888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Craig Lowndes Ford Falcon BA 1 1 1:34.6344 0:00.4597
6 3 Tasman Motorsport Jason Richards Holden Commodore VZ 1 1 1:34.7271 0:00.5524
7 5 Ford Performance Racing Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon BA 1 1 1:34.9052 0:00.7305
8 18 APVC Racing Will Davison Ford Falcon BA 1 1 1:34.9993 0:00.8246
9 15 Toll HSV Dealer Team Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VZ 1 1 1:35.0851 0:00.9104
10 4 Jeld-Wen Motorsport James Courtney Ford Falcon BA 1 1 1:35.0909 0:00.9162

Looking good for Lowndes - four positions ahead of Rick. I'spose it's Tander's job to hold up the 888 Falcon.

'Tis an all-HRT front row. They've been very very quick all year, and they really should be getting regular podiums. Now that it's the end of the year, they'll probably win this round (though I'd love to be proved wrong).