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Round 2
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Round 4
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The V8 circus made it's longest trek of the year, across the infamous Nullabor Plain to Perth for round three of the V8 Supercar war for 1999. Barbagallo Raceway is situated just north of the world's loneliest capital city, Perth in Western Australia, and is built on sand dunes, large ones actually, giving it plenty of gradient, and the surface is very hard on tyres - the surface must withstand all of the 40 plus degree days Perth gets (I should know - I live 10 minutes from the circuit!) |
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| The racing is usually all done on Sunday, but because the WA capital is two hours behind the rest of the country (literally) this meant that to get the usual full two hours racing on a Sunday afternoon, one race would be run on Saturday afternoon, with the other two races in the late morning and early afternoon Sunday. It was a bit strange, teams having to qualify on Saturday morning at about 11am, and then having to get the cars ready for racing that afternoon at 4pm. But then again, they do things different here every year, for television of course! The HRT steamroller kept marching away from the rest of the pack during the packed half hour sessions, with teams working hard to get their drivers out when there was the least traffic. But thirty four entries for the 32 |
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spots meant that qualifying was done in two heats, so the track was clearer and fairer for all. But the result was the same as many rounds lately - HRT taking pole, with Lowndes determined to keep his unbeaten record at Barbagallo intact. The Holden young gun outqualified his teammate Mark Skaife to have the two factory Holdens on the front row. The Ford Falcon of Jason Bright was third, and John Faulkner was right up there in his new VT Commodore.
Race one on Saturday afternoon saw a battle behind Lowndes as he scorched off into the lead, while Mark Skaife had some early attention from Bright, and then from Glenn Seton in the factory Falcon AU. The racing was tight, but early on Russell Ingall fell out of the leading pack and was going backwards, when he was forced to retire due to engine problems. 'The Enforcer' would be back on Sunday. Another to find the DNF list was young Kiwi Greg Murphy, who slid off the circuit at the bottom of the big hill entering the long right hander at the far end of the circuit, 'Kolb'. In a close battle for 7th 8th and 9th with the likes of Ingall, Perkins and Falcon AU driver John Bowe, Murph (no relation to our Murph!) ended up in the infamous WA sand, and that was it for race one. He also would be back. |
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Race two on Sunday morning was the same result, Lowndes racing away from the start, although he was kept in sight this time by Skaife. However, the second HRT Commodore was under fire from Glenn Seton's ever improving AU Falcon, and by lap four 'Seto' was in second, and looking like he may be able to get onto Skaife's tail. Skaife had spun going into turn one, and had flat spotted his 'control' Bridgestone tyres in the process. The chase was then on, and he managed to pull back ten places in 15 laps, passing such drivers as Murphy, Mark Larkham (Falcon), Faulkner, Paul Romano (Commodore), Cameron McLean (best privateer again in his EL Falcon), Ingall and finally Ford's Dick Johnson to take a hard fought eighth. A lap one tangle involving Garth Tander (Commodore) |
| and John Bowe put them both out for the race. Later on in the same spot Murphy had a coming together with Mark Noske, putting them both out. Jason Bright had taken third, while Paul Radisich had shown some Kiwi style to get his Falcon AU (the Dick Johnson Racing second car) up to fourth. He finished ahead of works Ford second driver Neil Crompton in the old style EL, who edged out a very competitive Tony Longhurst in his new AU Falcon. Steve Richards finished the race for Wynn's Racing in seventh place. | |
| Race three would see an emotional farewell beforehand to the retiring Dick Johnson, the national hero making his last appearance as a driver in WA. But the farewell from his fellow drivers wasn't quite as heartfelt - bundled to the infield on the start Johnson got the big shove, damaging his suspension and front aerodynamics and he was out before the race had started. And Seton had made a blinder of a start to get in front of the dominant HRT Commodore of Lowndes. But his lead lasted a lap and a half, and normal business was resumed. The Falcon driver then had to defend his second from the ever consistent Jason Bright, and he was in turn under siege from Paul Radisich. Russell Ingall had produced a great start as well, and continued to pass drivers to get into the |
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second place debate , along with Steve Richards and Garth Tander also in the frame. Neil Crompton was in this group also, along with the WA based team with the Tasmanian driver, John Bowe. However, John Faulkner was in there as well, and the two tangled going into turn one two laps from home, and the sand made sure that that was that for both drivers for the day.
In the end Lowndes again took a clean sweep of the day's racing, keeping his unbeaten run on the WA circuit intact, while Seton came an impressive second ahead of Radisich. Ingall 'Enforced' his way into fourth after a mighty battle, while edging out the ever consistent Steve Richards, ahead of his partner in the winning car a Bathurst last year, Jason Bright. Cameron McLean took the honours for the privateers in each race, and the battle scarred Falcon wound up ninth for the day. The next round is at the Phillip Island circuit in Victoria, the home of the 500cc motorbike Grand Prix, not to mention the World Superbike round also, so entertaining racing is guaranteed. Story and photographs by Neil Blackbourn - click on the highlighted names in the story to view more pictures |
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