Round 12 V8 Supercars Desert 400

[forza_autodelta]

Ok does anyone have the final results and more importantly the points after the Bahrain round?

here's the top 10 driver championship^(damn so close!!!! ):


1 Rick Kelly 3,068
2 Craig Lowndes 3,061
3 Mark Winterbottom 2,792
4 Garth Tander 2,709
5 Russell Ingall 2,612
6 Jason Bright 2,611
7 Todd Kelly 2,508
8 Steven Richards 2,481
9 Steven Johnson 2,234
10 James Courtney 2,197

for more go to the official website

[adrenaline]

James Courtney has done a fantastic job to break into the top ten in his first ever season - I wouldn't have thought it possible with all the drama he's been involved with.

[forza_autodelta]

James Courtney has done a fantastic job to break into the top ten in his first ever season - I wouldn't have thought it possible with all the drama he's been involved with.

i agree , his season before Bathurst has been a miniature disaster

[Daz27]

Hes a star. No doubt about it. That shunt at Silverstone ****ed his F1 career IMO. He should have gone heaps further.

[Monty_Burns]

Clipsal 500 was obviously a bit of a disaster for him, but since then he's been coming good - particularly after Round 6 at Queensland Raceway. At Bathurst, I thought he was outstanding - particularly in his first stint. He'll be winning rounds in 2007, methinks.

The points system.......its not fair, but it always seems to set up a mouthwatering end to the season - just 7 points between Kelly and Lowndes....bring on Phillip Island!!

[nota]

Anyone notice how big the crowd wasn't?

Especially in races 1 & 2 it appeared like our pitcrews outnumbered their spectators - can't bode well for Big Tony's plan for world domination, at least at Bahrain

On this circuit the cars looked almost lost on those big wide straights, which really brought home how close V8 Supercar looks to Nascar these days. The cars, pitlane, the billion-point system, the racing itself (which imo was a bit of biffo between mostly boredom) and especially in the style of TV presentation, which relentlessly pursues the cult of personality - such as any exists - with commentators chumming up to 'our new heroes' etc. Particularly risible is the way most drivers conclude interviews with the obligatory fake smile & thumbs-up for us punters, even if their car's fu**ed

At other times the (albeit identical) cars seem incidental, like they may as well be racing washing machines ..


[neverendingwhinge/]

[adrenaline]

Bahrain was only ever going to have a maximum of 12,000 spectators for V8s. I like the wide track, it makes for interesting racing/ passing moves.

[fpv_gtho]

Hes a star. No doubt about it. That shunt at Silverstone ****ed his F1 career IMO. He should have gone heaps further.

I thought it was Monza. This was the Jaguar test right?

James Courtney has done a fantastic job to break into the top ten in his first ever season - I wouldn't have thought it possible with all the drama he's been involved with.

Dont want to take too much from Courtney, but Ambrose in his rookie season finished 8th, albeit with a different point system (IIRC it didnt reward consistency so much) but Ambrose also came fairly fresh from open wheelers. Courtney at least has been doing Super GT in Japan. Ambrose also had pole positions and a round win to boot.

I'd have to say i prefere'd the open track, too. Definately seemed to go better than Shanghai with that awkward sequence of corners going into turn 1,2,3....It seems more and more people are complaining about a lack of overtaking in V8's nowadays, but stick them on a decent track and theyre going 4 wide into the braking zone, and over-under-over-under-over undering through half the track.

[adrenaline]

Dont want to take too much from Courtney, but Ambrose in his rookie season finished 8th, albeit with a different point system (IIRC it didnt reward consistency so much) but Ambrose also came fairly fresh from open wheelers. Courtney at least has been doing Super GT in Japan. Ambrose also had pole positions and a round win to boot.

Didn't Ambrose start his first ever V8 race on pole?

IIRC Courtney was robbed of a round podium at QLD. Third in Bathurst is also fantastic for his second attempt at it. I think he would be ALOT better off if he had been more consistent this year - atleast finishing all of the races would have helped him.

[fpv_gtho]

Yes, his first race which was one of the AGP support races he stunned everyone with pole.

[adrenaline]

I remember it says in his autobiography that Skaife went up to him and asked him which corner he cut It goes on to say he blew the start and dropped multiple positions.

[nota]

Bahrain was only ever going to have a maximum of 12,000 spectators for V8s.

Where we these mythical 12,000 spectators? The only 'crowd' I could see was in the main grandstand and in the first two races it was virtually empty - there wouldn't have been much more than 50-100 people

I've seen bigger crowds hanging around a late nite pie van

[charged]

Bahrain was only ever going to have a maximum of 12,000 spectators for V8s. I like the wide track, it makes for interesting racing/ passing moves.

We get bigger crowds at a State Round , hopefully Tony Cockrane got plenty of cash from someone, as he wouldnt have made to much from ticket sales. Me and a mate were laughing at Diffy saying there has been massive interest in the V8's over in Bahrain.

Personally I think they should forget about overseas jaunts as the only people who seem to cars about the V8's are us Aussies. They should of had the event at Eastern Creek instead of overseas. The last round will be very interesting.

Regarding the width of the track, it certainly the drivers many options regarding lines, it also seemed to confuse a few of them as they had too many options, one P Morris comes to mind, hard luck story goes th DJR team, they had some very bad luck on the weekend, hopefully there luck changes.

Hopefully the telecast times at 11pm wont become the norm when channel 7 takes over next year

[Monty_Burns]

Personally I think they should forget about overseas jaunts as the only people who seem to cars about the V8's are us Aussies.

Don't be forgettin about us Kiwis now We get something like 100,000 across a weekend into Pukekohe, and in 2008 the NZ round is heading to a street circuit in Hamilton, where they reckon they'll get 160-170,000.

The crowd at Bahrain looked to be about.....I dunno, twenty?? Any idea on how many fans made the trip from down under, or were all twenty of them locals??? There looked to be far more people in pitlane than in the stands. Apart from that stand on the straight where that enormous crowd were stationed, every last seat at the place was empty In Shanghai, there looked to at least be a decent crowd building.

On the track - I thought the racing was great, with heaps of overtaking, and people going three or four wide down the straight - top motor racing. The biggest bonus for me, was that since the races werent on Sunday, NZ viewers got to see all 3 races back to back, without having to stay up till 1am Monday morning......yay!

On another matter entirely - wouldnt it just be the dream scenario to have Lowndes and Kelly on together on the front row at Phillip Island??

[adrenaline]

Where we these mythical 12,000 spectators? The only 'crowd' I could see was in the main grandstand and in the first two races it was virtually empty - there wouldn't have been much more than 50-100 people

I've seen bigger crowds hanging around a late nite pie van

I didn't state that there were 12,000 spectators, rather I said that it was maximum 12,000. I too noticed the lack of spectators.

Regarding the overseas rounds, I think they are brilliant. It's an opportunity to race at world class circuits in other countries - and it's all about the racing. Bahain offers a circuit alot better than Eastern Creek. It's also nice seeing our sport being showcased to other parts of the world.