Lexmark Indy 300 Surfers Paradise.

[charged]

Race 2 today was won by Garth Tander, in the HSV DT Commodore. Race 3 was more controversial this weekend. Rick Kelly won from his older brother Todd, Mark Winterbottom (Frosty) came 3rd, and Jason Bright and Russell Ingall came 4th and 5th respectively, but when Craig Lowndes gave Brighty a touch up, he lost ground and a position to Russell. However he took a shortcut after Ingall gave him a little push, however even after Campbell Little told him LET INGALL PASS Ingall gave Lowndesy the smallest push, thus blasting the 888 Falcon across the corner. After that Lowndes got a black flag and came 14th just behind one of the WPS cars. Tander was 2nd in the 3rd race when he hit the wall.
Championship Standings (Top 3) after Surfers Paradise
1. Craig Lowndes Falcon BA 2601 points
2. Rick Kelly Commodore VZ 2571 points
3. Mark Winterbottom Falcon BA 2248 points
So there you go. I'd say the favourite will be Rick Kelly to win the championship. Why? Because Symmons Plains is good with the HSV DT (Tander winning last year), Bahrain (Tander winning there as well, will get good support from Kelly) and Phillip Island

I personally think Rick will chuck it away, lowndes can handle the pressure. he just needs some help from Jason Not so Bright, and Russell Ingall to get out of his way. Ford will not be happy if what happened at Indy happens again.

Lowndes had the pace over Rick at PI last year going by fastest lap times he was 3 tenths quicker than Kelly , he just had a bad last race. Lowndes qualified P1 and Rick was P6

At Symonns Plains Lowndes finished 4th in the points 4 points behind Rick Kelly for the weekend, which is meant to be a Holden track. Rick qualified P4and Lowndes P9 for the first race. Lowndes is a better racer than Kelly IMHO.

So with 31 points advantage, personally I cant see Lowndes losing if he gets consistent top 5 finishes. I think he will do better than top 5 though.

Only time will tell ?

[fpv_gtho]

The dark horse will be Bahrain. The Walkinshaw teams advantage will be seen there considering they share data, so by qualy it'll be like a normal round for them, whilst 888, FPR and SBR are probably a fair few tenths off their pace.

[blackhonda]

There needs to be a shift in how Ford does business re: V8 touring cars. In NASCAR manufacturer teams work together in a loose way to get their brand of car to the front, then the drivers sort it out from there. Until the Ford teams start working together they will always be vulnerable to results like todays, Brighty was clearly slower and should have moved over to benefit Fords' leading c'ship contender, it was just plain dumb racing

[fpv_gtho]

I think theyve done themselves no favours by trying to attract so many Holden drivers over. The last few years Lowndes, Ingall, Bargwarna and Bright swapped and now Steven Richards looks like he'll be going to FPR. Thats alot of big heads to try and convince to move over in favour of one of them.

[blackhonda]

I think theyve done themselves no favours by trying to attract so many Holden drivers over. The last few years Lowndes, Ingall, Bargwarna and Bright swapped and now Steven Richards looks like he'll be going to FPR. Thats alot of big heads to try and convince to move over in favour of one of them.

Yep I agree, we've (Ford supporters) have benefited from the talent influx, but the teams strategies, certainly at the business end of the season, need to be streamed towards ensuring a Ford win in the championship. Just watching the last race yesterday, Todd Kelly played the perfect rear gunner for his brother. That HRT Commodore was going to be very hard to pass and Ford teams have to get the same message/idea through their heads.

[Daz27]

All these guys are directly contracted to FORD though, and then let out to teams. What shits me is that Ford doesnt say hey look guys, you all drive for us as a manufacturer, Lowndes IS the only one who can realistically take the title this year, so ****en help him. If those idiots in the red camp can form a conga line behind prick kelly (im a kelly too btw, dunno bout bein related, possible they only live bout 150 ks away..., shudderen at the thought tho) then surely team blue can do the same. Maybe these guys need to learn a bit from Nascar as in manufacturer tactics.
Have to say I was thoroughly pissed at Brighty, and bloody Ingall too. And, btw I dont know if you guys noticed but Lowndes DID re-address his stuff up...
Het Charged, I agree with ya matey, how hot is Brighty's missus? She gets a solid 9 lol, outta ten of course....

[fpv_gtho]

And, btw I dont know if you guys noticed but Lowndes DID re-address his stuff up...

I dont think CH10 showed the footage, but ive certainly heard alot of people state they saw it happen. Bottom line, i dont think Lowndes managed to complete the lap before he was handed the penalty, which is pretty dodgy just by itself.

[Daz27]

Ten showed Lowndes infront of Ingal in one shot, cut away to some crap with rusty or someone, and then next shot of the cars Ingal was in front of Lowndes and Lowndesy was spewing. Im not exactly certain about how quickly they need to redress, but Ingal was a few hundred metres back, with whoever on his tail, if Lowndes slowed then the other guy would have had him too.
NOT HAPPY, looks like them wankers in race control are manipulating the championship YET AGAIN. Someone should think about telling those old farts Bond and Schenken to piss off, heres your gold watch, go watch V8's on your lounge.

[fpv_gtho]

That couldve been it. I was thinking the same thing though, if Lowndes had gotten out of the throttle to let Ingall past immediately, he wouldve had Courtney right on him as well.

I dont know what they can really do with race control. Every year they seem to try and fix the inconsistency and it only seems to make it worse. It wasnt that long ago i was watching some NRL thing where Phil Gould was complaining the ref's didnt understand the game when they made some of their decisions. Perhaps they need more former drivers in race control, although that doesnt explain Bond.

[Daz27]

Schenken raced in F1 in the seventies. Bond was a legend in his own right. Not sure who else is up there, but clearly they are all either biased or incompetent.
Just aggravates me, whenever you have a referee its always 'up to there interpretation of the rules' Sometimes these guys just have no idea. Or, they make a call to make the racing 'more exciting' by dudding a competitor. I think from next year on, there shouldnt be penalties handed out during the course of a race. At all, regardless of the misdemeanor commited. They should let the race go on unhindered and if theres a case, then add a time penalty. And also, as they do now, allow the drivers an opportunity to redress the situation.
The current race direction has to be changed. They try, I give em that but theyre not upto it, they stuff somethen up every round. Time for new blood. Get Longhurst in there. And let him punch people.

[Daz27]

What happened between Alan Gurr and Paul Morris?

[fpv_gtho]

From what the CH10 guys were saying, Gurr passed Morris on the final lap of R1. Its not the first time ive heard Morris chuck a fit over something Gurr's done. Last time i think it was Gurr binned the car at Bathurst, Morris said infront of live TV that he was dropped.

[fpv_gtho]

Schenken raced in F1 in the seventies. Bond was a legend in his own right. Not sure who else is up there, but clearly they are all either biased or incompetent.
Just aggravates me, whenever you have a referee its always 'up to there interpretation of the rules' Sometimes these guys just have no idea. Or, they make a call to make the racing 'more exciting' by dudding a competitor. I think from next year on, there shouldnt be penalties handed out during the course of a race. At all, regardless of the misdemeanor commited. They should let the race go on unhindered and if theres a case, then add a time penalty. And also, as they do now, allow the drivers an opportunity to redress the situation.
The current race direction has to be changed. They try, I give em that but theyre not upto it, they stuff somethen up every round. Time for new blood. Get Longhurst in there. And let him punch people.

If your not already about to tear apart CAMS, this will only make it worse. Ive heard on another forum from someone who's got their head pretty close to the ground re V8's, that CAMS are looking into some of the comments Lowndes made, with heavy reference to Ambrose at Barbagallo last year.

[Daz27]

Stupid F**ken CAMS thinks its the bloody FIA doesnt it.
Its not that its about Ford or Lowndes thats pissing me off, its the general fact that these guys are scared of being shown to be fools.
Theyve done similar things for so long, be it against Murph or Skaifey or whoever, they clearly are out of touch. And yet other stuff goes completely unnoticed.
I remember a while ago, they said the rules would be set, every possible incident had either a contingency or a penalty. No variations they said.
What a load of crap.
Morris said last year that Gurr would never get a V8 drive again... Longhurst didnt punch him hard enough in my opinion.
I missed what Craig said after the race, what did he say?

[fpv_gtho]

Bit of an update here.

Lowndes has issued a statement backtracking the comments he made regarding the penalty, but CAMS are still looking at maybe a fine and championship points being docked. Ive heard it could be $20K, which is absolutely ludicrous considering Ambrose was handed a $10K fine for something far more to the point than what Lowndes said.

888 data also shows that for the first race, Lowndes' front wheels were at 42km/h when he was warming his tyres. The rules actually state they cant "stop AND do practice starts/burnouts". So much for stopping. The wording of the rules also insinuates unless you do both, youre clear.

12hrs to get him for the burnout, 45 seconds to get him for the cut chicane. Both suspect penalties IMO.