Jim O’Halloran’s Weblog

Published June 3rd, 2003 by Jim O'Halloran

V8 Update - Rounds 3 and 4

Well, you can’t say that the V8’s have been boring lately. Following on from Craig Lowndes’ win at Phillip Island, Marcos Ambrose has chalked up two more wins for Ford, first at Eastern Creek, then following it up at Winton with another.

Of course the big discussion point after that race was the drive through penalty handed out to Greg Murphy, but even qualifying at Winton wasn’t without its dramas. I think the vast majority of race fans would have to feel sorry for Greg though. When you look at the reply from inside his car, Craig Lowndes had his car up on the ripple strip on the inside of the sweeper. When the back end started to slide Craig caught it and began drifting to the outside the the curcuit. At that point he jumped on the brakes to try and settle the car and arrest the drift, and left Greg with no where to go. The way the officials saw it was that Greg Murphy punted Craig Lowndes from behind, and gained advantage from doing so, which requires a penalty. However, it wasn’t a passing move, and even Craig said later that it wasn’t Greg’s fault. Of course, the funniest part of the whole incident was listening to Niel Crompton go off at the officials while he was commentating the race.

I really don’t think the points system for this season is working terribly well… Marcos Ambrose has won 3 of the 5 races held so far this year, but is only 4th on the championship? Go figure. People were arguing for change after last season because Mark Scaife was able to run away in the points after the first few rounds. But people forget that Mark was uncatchable on the track. When a driver is totally dominant on the track, why shouldn’t he be dominating in the points as well? The new system makes it harder to have a “run away leader”, but its not rewarding those who deserve it in my opinion.

In the ongoing Holden ownership soap opera, Holden have announced that Mark Scaife will buy HRT.

Holden has announced plans for five-time touring car titleholder and reigning V8 Supercar champion Mark Skaife to become the sole owner of Holden Racing Team.

Of course TEGA still need to approve that, but I’d say its as good as done… The new BA looks like a much better car than the old AU, especially in the hands of Stone Brothers Racing. I can’t wait for Barbagallo this weekend!

| Post in Racing - V8's, etc |