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  V8 Supercar

Ambrose's Adelaide

Marcos Ambrose showed that his 2003 form was no fluke as he won both races at the Clipsal 500 on the weekend, following on from his race one victory last year, not forgetting his championship title. In contrast, the man he took over from as champion, Mark Skaife, had a dismal weekend, missing the shootout and making several basic driving errors. Still, by finishing both races Skaife is equal eigth in points 66 behind leader Marcos Ambrose who has 192, who leads Steven Richards by six points.

The event sees a 250 km race on the Saturday and a 250 km race on the Sunday, with a compulsory stop for tyres and a compulsory stop for fuel in each race. Fords filled six of the top ten places after qualifying, but after the top ten shootout it was the Holdens of Greg Murphy and Jason Bright on the front row. A notable omission from the shootout was the Holden Racing Team, with both pole king Mark Skaife and teammate Todd Kelly not making the show.

At the start Murphy led Bright, Ambrose, John Bowe, Russell Ingall and Garth Tander through the chicane at turns one and two, before Ambrose snuck down the inside at turn four to move into second place. Lap two saw the first piece of action as Todd Kelly whacked the wall hard on the exit of the turn eight sweeper. Despite his car coming to rest in the run off at the end of the main straight and debris from the collision on the track the race continued under green. Lap six saw a possible result of this, as Max Wilson spun exiting turn three when his right rear tyre deflated. On lap nine Paul Morris got halfway alongside Brad Jones into turn seven, Morris continuing on as Jones spun while soon after Steven Johnson was in the pits with problems caused by the debris from the Kelly incident. After the race the stewards decided that there was no evidence to support a breach of the rules by either driver in the Morris vs Jones incident.

Up at the front the top six were clearing away as a group. Lap 20 saw the safety car came out after Dale Brede spun to a stop on the entry of turn four after hitting the wall exiting turn three. Of the leaders, Ambrose, Bright, Bowe and Ingall came in to change tyres, Ambrose returning to the track best placed in eighth, while Murphy and Tander stayed out. During this safety car period Paul Morris and Warren Luff chose to make both of their compulsory stops, putting them 22nd and 24th but with no further stops to make. Back to racing on lap 24, Ambrose choosing to pit at the end of the next lap to take on his fuel to get some clear track, coming out one place behind Luff who along with Morris had also completed both stops. Lap 28 and Bright and Ingall made their fuel stops, resuming just behind Ambrose.

Two laps later the top two of Murphy and Tander came in for fuel as did Steven Richards for his second stop also for fuel, Tander resuming just ahead of Ambrose despite having made one less stop before Ambrose claimed the place on the next lap into turn four. Anthony Tratt repeated Kelly's earlier incident at turn eight as he slapped the wall on lap 33, managing to limp his back to the pits to retire. Lap 35 saw Murphy in for his second stop as Morris's tactic to make both stops back-to-back saw him up to third. As Ellery bunkered his repaired car in the gravel at turn eight, Tander's came to a halt on pit straight, the engine stopping and refusing to refire, the marshals eventually pushing his car off the track.

Lap 40 and Radisich clipped the tyres on the inside of turn ten, sending him into the tyres on the outside of the same corner, bringing out the safety car, erasing Morris's lead over the field, having been fifteen seconds ahead of third placed Ambrose. The leaders were now Morris, Luff, Ambrose, Bright, Ingall, with early leader Greg Murphy down in thirteenth place, everyone having completed both compulsory pit stops. Back to green on lap 46, Morris dropping to third after going in too deep at turn four, Ambrose taking the lead from Luff later in the lap at the turn nine hairpin. Through the final hairpin Bright demoted Morris another place, banging panels on the way through. The next lap Richards made a similar but cleaner move to take fifth from Ingall.

Lap 48 and Luff was beginning to hold up a train of cars, Bright deciding at turn six he could wait no longer as he made an ambitious move on Luff. Never getting level with Luff, Bright ended up spinning Luff as he saw the door closing, with Bright pitting after squashing the guard onto a tyre. In the ensuing mayhem Richards and Ingall moved past Morris to move into second and third, Morris now fourth and Bowe fifth after passing Lowndes just after Bright pitted. Up at the front Ambrose was almost ten seconds clear. Further back Murphy was on a roller coaster ride: moving from twelfth to ninth from lap 47 to 49, then up to sixth as he gained places due to some oil on the road on lap 50 only to drop back to twelfth on the following lap as oil elsewhere on the circuit then caught him out.

Ingall grabbed second on lap 50 but Richards took it back from him two laps later. A gainer in all this mess was Bright's teammate Paul Weel, moving up to sixth on lap 51 and fifth four laps later having started the race at the very back after failing to set a lap time in qualifying. A little further back Murphy restarted his charge up the order, back up to ninth by lap 55, then taking a place on each of laps 62, 63 and 64 to move up to sixth place. Next on Murphy's list was Weel on lap 68 followed by Morris the following lap. And that was how it stayed until the end, Ambrose taking a comfortable win ahead of Richards and Ingall, Murphy fourth and Weel in fifth.

Race two saw Ambrose beat Richards into the chicane at the start, with Ingall right behind, Murphy and Morris completing the top five, Weel taking fifth into the final hairpin just before the end of lap one. As Ambrose stretched his lead, Weel pressured Murphy, getting alongside into turn eight on lap seven before ducking in behind and pouncing at the turn nine hairpin on that same lap. Already Paul Radisich, Max Wilson and Jason Bright had pitted for tyres. The first drama of the race was on lap ten when almost simultaneously two things happened.

First, Mark Skaife had half an attempt to pass Glenn Seton at the turn nine hairpin, only to realise it was not going to work, and so Skaife spun himself out to miss Glenn Seton. Meanwhile at the other hairpin, Murphy was also facing the wrong way after he got a light tap in the bumper from Morris as their braking points didn't quite match up. It wasn't over yet, as the next lap saw Seton pile into the side of Morris, with Paul Dumbrell also suffering damage to his right rear door in the incident, the lock being broken. Meanwhile Ingall was in pitlane with what turned out to be terminal engine problems.

Lap 14 saw Johnson hit the tyres exiting turn ten, forcing him to pit, with Dumbrell visiting the pits soon after after being black flagged for his flapping door, the decision to do so taking a lot less time than the 45 minutes it took to do the same to Mark Skaife at Bathurst last year... Lap 17 saw the end of Warren Luff's race, going off at turn ten just like his teammate Johnson except Luff went head on into the tyres. In came the leaders on the next lap for tyres as the safety car headed out onto the track. Ambrose retained the lead ahead of Richards, Todd Kelly (who didn't pit), Weel and Bowe. Meanwhile the three drivers who had pitted early under green were now in the top ten after being well down the order beforehand.

Back to green on lap 22, with Morris taking his drivethrough penalty soon afterwards for his incident with Murphy, which seemed less deliberate/malicious than his incident with Jones the day before, which Morris was not penalised for... This is not to say the penalty was wrong, but it seemed inconsistent with proceedings from the day before.

An error by Bowe at the chicane on lap 24 allowed Rick Kelly and Bright to sneak through at turn four, these two having been big gainers after the mayhem at the hairpins around lap 10. Rick and Todd Kelly came in on lap 27 and 28 for fuel and tyres respectively, Murphy also in on lap 28 for fuel with Skaife making his stop on lap 29 for fuel, all except Todd Kelly having made both stops.

The rest of the leaders remained on track, Bright passing teammate Weel for third on lap 33 being the only change at the front until Ambrose pitted for fuel on lap 40. Meanwhile lap 38 saw a rare event, as totally unprovoked Mark Skaife went too deep under brakes at turn four and ran up the escape road, losing four places in the process. Lap 43 saw Bowe in for fuel, lap 45 for Weel, lap 49 for Richards and Bright on lap 51, returning Ambrose to the lead. Richards was soon back up to second, with Bright in third, Weel fourth and Rick Kelly fifth.

Next up was Bowe, who was under pressure from Radisich for several laps before finally getting alongside down the main straight into the turn nine hairpin. As Radisich just got his nose in front, his car drifting a few inches to the left, contact was made with Bowe's car which had moved almost a car width inwards since the start of the manouevre, Radisich locking his brakes while Jason Bargwanna slipped through, while Bowe spun and pitted with a flat tyre. Later in the race Bowe received a drivethrough penalty for his part in the incident.

Lap 61 saw more action on the track. David Besnard, who earlier in the race had received a nudge from Skaife as Skaife looked to pass, was once again under attack from Skaife. Into turn four, Skaife made a move which never really looked like being successful, and so both cars went off. As it happens, the stewards disagreed with this assessment as they handed Besnard a drivethrough penalty for the incident later in the race, so it seems if a car gets partly alongside, you should wave them through... Despite the fact that both cars were back on their way less than five seconds after coming to a stop, the safety car came on to the track, this being the same safety car that stayed off the track when two drivers scattered debris on the track after hitting a wall at 200+ km/h.

The race went back to green on lap 65, Ambrose and Richards breaking clear as Richards's quasi-teammate Anthony Tratt caused havoc for the rest of the field as they tried to lap him (except when Richards lapped him). Into the hairpin on lap 66 Cameron McConville went to have a look to lap Tratt but had the door slammed shut in his face, Jason Richards getting McConville sideways as they both slammed on the brakes to avoid Tratt. This allowed Richards to pass McConville down the next straight as McConville now came under pressure from a train of cars, Murphy taking another place from him at turn seven on lap 67.

As Murphy moved past it allowed Todd Kelly to get alongside McConville, McConville initially squeezing him before letting him go before the fast sweeper at turn eight. As they entered turn eight, a one line 200+ km/h corner that sees cars in the wall when they step just off the racing line, Paul Dumbrell made a suicidal move half alongside McConville. With McConville still in front they turned in, McConville somehow realising Dumbrell's presence and giving some room but it was not enough, Dumbrell spinning McConville in front of a pack of cars, with McConville and three other cars' races ended by the incident.

Needless to say the safety car was back on the track again. Amazingly, no penalty was given to Dumbrell in the remaining laps of the race for an incident which immobilised four other cars. In front of the whole incident was Tratt, who had just received the bad sportsmanship flag for blocking other cars, and had indirectly caused the incident, yet received no penalty of any kind, not even for his consistent holding up of cars lapping him.

Eventually the mess was cleared and the race restarted on lap 73. After all that excitement, the run to the finish saw no movement in the top ten, though several late braking manouevres by third placed by Bright on Richards almost came off. Up front Ambrose held on to take the win ahead of Richards for the second day in a row with Bright a close third, Bright's teammate Weel in fourth and Jason Bargwanna escaping all the mayhem to finish in fifth.

After race two, an inquiry was held into the multi-car incident on the back straight, with Paul Dumbrell found to be failing to exercise reasonable care in attempting to overtake, and was penalised 75 points and hit with a $10,000 fine, dropping him from seventh to eighteenth in the standings. Dumbrell's team has announced they will appeal the decision, with the hearing later this week.

Elsewhere in stewards' decisions, at the end of the weekend there were three decisions in which a Ford was in front of a Holden and contact was made. In all three cases the decision was not in favour of the Ford, with two Fords being spun and no penalty for the Holden in each case, while in the third case both cars went off and the Ford was penalised. Yet two incidents in which cars of the same make were involved, the decision that was made seemed to make sense...

Result of V8 Supercar Championship Series, Round 1 of 13, Clipsal Adelaide 500, Adelaide Street Circuit, Australia:

Race One

Pos  Driver                   Car
 1.  Marcos Ambrose           Ford Falcon BA
 2.  Steven Richards          Holden Commodore VY
 3.  Russell Ingall           Ford Falcon BA
 4.  Greg Murphy              Holden Commodore VY
 5.  Paul Weel                Holden Commodore VY
 6.  Paul Morris              Holden Commodore VY
 7.  Mark Skaife              Holden Commodore VY
 8.  Paul Dumbrell            Holden Commodore VX
 9.  John Bowe                Ford Falcon BA
10.  Glenn Seton              Ford Falcon BA

Race Two

Pos  Driver                   Car
 1.  Marcos Ambrose           Ford Falcon BA
 2.  Steven Richards          Holden Commodore VY
 3.  Jason Bright             Holden Commodore VY
 4.  Paul Weel                Holden Commodore VY
 5.  Jason Bargwanna          Ford Falcon BA
 6.  Rick Kelly               Holden Commodore VY
 7.  Paul Radisich            Ford Falcon BA
 8.  Jason Richards           Holden Commodore VX
 9.  Greg Murphy              Holden Commodore VY
10.  Todd Kelly               Holden Commodore VY

Pos  Driver              Team
 1.  Tony Kanaan         Andretti Green Racing Dallara-Honda
 2.  Scott Dixon         Chip Ganassi Racing GForce-Toyota
 3.  Dan Wheldon         Andretti Green Racing Dallara-Honda
 4.  Alex Barron         Cheever Racing Dallara-Chevrolet
 5.  Darren Manning      Chip Ganassi Racing GForce-Chevrolet
 6.  Helio Castroneves   Team Penske Dallara-Toyota
 7.  Bryan Herta         Andretti Green Racing Dallara-Honda
 8.  Tora Takagi         Mo Nunn Racing Dallara-Toyota
 9.  Buddy Rice          Team Rahal GForce-Honda
10.  Greg Ray            Access Motorsports GForce-Honda

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