V8 SUPERCARS IN TITANIC BATTLE
Most of you would know that I recently travelled around the world to places far far away from Oz. But I have kept my finger on the pulse of the local V8 scene to bring you up to date with what has been happening. And as is usual for the professional teams in the leadup to the end of the so called 'Sprint' races, and into the traditional two endurance races which include the daddy of them all, Bathurst, there has been plenty of action.

ROUND 6, SANDOWN PARK - VICTORIA
The teams made the trek back south from the Northern Territory and the Hidden Valley circuit, and many had a lot of panel work to do. HRT had to figure out how to get their two cars back to the front of the field, where they have been for so long, but not in NT! Garth Tander was looking forward to his new VT Commodore being finished, but with mixed emotions maybe, as he has been setting the world alight in the older VS!

The Ford teams knew to keep the young Jason Bright in front after Hidden Valley may be hard, as the Victorian teams know the Melbourne Sandown circuit very well, including Glenn Seton and teammate Neil Crompton, while Paul Radisich was after another good result. Team boss Dick Johnson was going to the historic Sandown circuit for the final time, and wanted to give his many Victorian fans a good result to finish up with.

Craig Lowndes started the HRT revival by taking a spectacular pole position, under the qualifying lap record by almost half a second - previously held by teammate Mark Skaife! Skaife had the number 2 Commodore in second place, while the developing CAT Racing team AU Falcon of John Bowe showed the increasing potential of the team by taking third. However, the top 14 cars were covered by less than a second! Seton and Bright were next up in their Falcons.

'It will be important to get to the first corner first' said Lowndes after qualifying, And this is what Mark Skaife did on Sunday, taking the lead and the win of the first two heats. Lowndes took second in both, after tussles with Bright and Seton were resolved in the HRT driver's favour. However over the three heats Paul Radisich showed why he is so highly thought of around the world by taking third overall on the day. 'It's hard to get a podium these days!' said the Kiwi afterwards. Dick Johnson gave his all and came up with his best result of the year. Falcon drivers Bright and Seton battled hard for much of the racing day, finally Seton gained the upper hand in race three and took the points.

ROUND 7 - QUEENSLAND RACEWAY
The teams then headed north to the brand new Queensland Raceway, near Ipswich north of Brisbane. The circuit was a virtual unknown, as very little testing had been done here, and the testing that had been completed was by the 14 cars based in Queensland. But just to compound that theory, John Bowe went and stuck the Perth based CAT Racing Team AU Falcon on pole! He was joined on the front row by the Enforcer, Russell Ingall in his Castrol Racing Commmodore, while the first HRT car was Lowndes, in third. The circuit would get grippier over the weekend as more rubber was laid down on the circuit, but how would the tyres fare here?

The expected crowd of 30,000 people did not materialise on Sunday - almost 42,000 turned up! Sensational stuff! The crowd was obviously there to cheer on their local heroes. Russell Ingall started the day strongly by taking the win in the first heat, but the Castrol team would struggle for the rest of the day. Garth Tander took heat 2 and John Bowe crossed the line first in heat three but was excluded for overtaking Tander under yellow flags when Chris Smerdon beached his Commodore late in race 3. Bowe's exclusion gave the Valvoline Cummins driver Tander his first championship win, and made him the youngest driver to win a round of the Shell series since Lowndes in 1996. The 22 year old West Australian was rapt. He has come from a Formula Ford winner two years ago to the big time with Gary Rogers Motorsport.

HRT's Craig Lowndes had a steady but unspectacular day to take second overall, while fighting for third place all day were the Falcons of Radisich and Bright, ending the day on equal third place points.

ROUND 8 - CALDER PARK - VICTORIA
The Tickford Ford Racing team factory driver Neil Crompton could almost taste his first Shell series pole until the last couple of minutes, when Jason Bright, the two HRT drivers and Russell Ingall all went under the existing qualifying lap record (Skaife's!) and relegated the speedy Sydney driver to fifth. The grid would be slightly more spread out this time, a new trial to se if it would reduce the carnage of some V8 Supercar starts. this would apply from the fifth row back.

The start of race two saw the most drama, with the brand new VT Commodore of Lowndes being scrapped in a major high speed accident down the main straight towards the tight turn one. An altercation between Tander, Ingall and the Wynns Commodore of Steve Richards saw Richards car clip the left rear of Lowndes machine, flipping it over before it slid on it's roof across the circuit and rolling towards a wall before hitting it and ending up lying on it! The young Victorian hurt his knee ligaments, and ended up missing some races.

This blew the day right open, as a similar incident on the restart was lucky not to put Bright into the same wall! John Bowe was one of the first to say that he thought the new staggered grid should be for the whole grid, including the first four rows. This set up Garth Tander to win his first round, as the Queensland Raceway appeal had been upheld, and Bowe given the race three win. 'As soon as I got in front of Skaife I knew I could win, nobody was going by me today' said an elated Tander afterwards. However Skaife took the round, and Tander second and Bowe third.

ROUND 9 - SYMMONS PLAINS - TASMANIA
The annual trip across Bass Straight (between Melbourne, Victoria and the island of Tasmania) would see a surprise front row for race one - an all Kiwi front row! Paul Radisich had the car where he always believed it should be - on pole while Melbourne based New Zealander Greg Murphy had the Wynns Racing Commodore in second. 'Must have something to do with the similar line and latitude to NZ!' quipped Greg afterwards. Skaife qualified third after changing engines between practice and qualifying. Crompton had the factory Ford in fourth, following his good qualifying speed at Calder.

Race day dawned Tasmania, sorry wet and cold, and this would continue all day. Visibility at times must have been atrocious. But the first heat of the day saw the first race win for Greg Murphy since 1997. The second race was headed the same way until he spun trying to lap a slower car. Skaife then took over a lead he was not going to relinquish. Second on the day was the second Valvoline Commodore to feature in podium finishes this year, Jason Bargwanna. With a fourth, second and third, he was racing by the brake lights of other cars for most of the day due to a misted windscreen, but the result shows how well the VT Commodore from Garry Rogers Motorsport is going. Ingall took third, with a hard day's racing behind him. 'It was racing with a capital 'R' today!' he said later. ' I was chasing Skaife for the lead in race three, and saw him sliding everywhere and thought 'I can get by him here. Then I went for it, and did the same, so I had to think again!'

Skaife's result puts him closer in the title race to his injured teammate Lowndes, so the next few rounds would be crucial.

ROUND 10 - WINTON, VICTORIA
Garry Rogers Motorsport were scintillating in qualifying, putting their two team cars on the front row for sponsor Valvoline. Bargwanna ended up in front of Tander, and they were chased by Russell Ingall and the Falcons of Bright and Bowe not too far behind. While Jason Bargwanna has been in the new VT Commodore all year, developing it and honing it into a winning race car, Tander did his fast time on only his 91st lap of driving the new car!

And race day went much the same way for the Valvoline team. Bargwanna was not headed in any of the three races, giving the team three more race wins and their second round win. 'It has been frustrating with the new car' said Jason 'But all the hard work has paid off now. Jason Bright, one of Bargwanna's main challengers when they were on Formula Holden's, secured second place that put some confidence back into the Pirtek squad, while Ingall claimed third with a fast and steady run. He was on his best behaviour with his driving under close scrutiny after some indiscretions earlier in the year. 'I have this light on the dash that flashes CAMS (Confed. of Aust. Motorsport) when I get too close to the car in front, and it has a dollar sign next to it, so I was just cruising!' joked Ingall later. Paul Radisich had a consistent run in the Shell Falcon to take third along with Tander, who got some valuable miles in his new car. Championship leader Craig Lowndes was back, but struggled for much of the weekend, although he drove hard all weekend, showing no ill effects from his Calder crash.

An incident in race 2 saw about a third of the field off the circuit when dirt on the track sent first Murphy spinning off then everybody else. The incident claimed Falcon factory driver Glenn Seton, who would not reappear for the rest of the day, and slipped him backwards in the championship standings.

ROUND 11 - ORAN PARK - NSW
What has been in the past the final round of the Shell series was now signalled the end of the sprint races, with only the two endurance races after this one. The fast and flowing Oran Park circuit near the biggest Australian city, Sydney, saw the resurgence of HRT once more, Skaife had a Commodore VT to play with, and he promptly placed it on pole. Young Queenslander Steve Ellery sprung a surprise in qualifying for his fifth race this year by putting Mark Larkham's old EL Falcon on the second row on the grid, third overall in front of Bright's AU Falcon, with privateer Cameron McLean in fifth place in another of the old model EL Falcons.

The HRT steamroller then took to the circuit on Sunday and blitzed the field, taking two one twos and putting Skaife in good company. He now only needs one more win to equal the outright wins record for a season, held jointly by Allan Moffat and Jim Richards (Steve Richards father - who, incidentally, will race for the CAT Racing team in the Endurance races). Jason Bright kept the Pirtek Falcon out of trouble's way and finished the day third. Bright is still confident of a title win, as the Queensland 500 is held on his home test circuit, and the Stone Brothers Pirtek Falcon team won the Bathurst classic last year. The opposite applied to the Castrol Falcon of Tony Longhurst, who was turfed off the circuit and beached the car on the first lap of the opening race! Paul Radisich had to start 14th in race one and chased home Ellery and Tander in the end to take sixth. Ellery's result was most impressive considering his lack of race miles this year, and the old car.

So the next race was the first endurance race of the year. Next week I hope to have some images from the race and a report, so see you all then!

Neil Blackbourn - [email protected]

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