Coming into Phillip Island we had two drivers fighting out the title, with seven points separating them. After race one of three, they were locked together on points. It was race three when things got a bit interesting.
Rick Kelly (Toll HSV) was leading Craig Lowndes (Team Better Electrical) but it was Rick's brother, Todd, who got the jump off the line. The order was Todd, Craig and Rick...and then all hell broke loose. Craig had a look under Todd down the hill into the hairpin at the same time Rick did the same on Craig. Rick then tapped Craig who slammed into Todd, taking them both off leaving Rick to serenely sail away with the title...albeit via a drive-through penalty for "creating an avoidable collision."
So to 2007 then where, amazingly, we had a Toll HSV driver and a Team Vodafone (they switched sponsors for this year but it's still Team Better Electrical) driver seperated by seven points going into this last round. After race one, they were tied...can anyone say deja vu?
Well, this time around it was the teammates turn; Garth Tander (Toll) and Jamie Whincup (Vodafone). It was advantage Tander after race two (he won both) as he took a seven point deficit prior to the round into a seven point lead with one race to go.
In other words; all Garth had to do was finish right behind Jamie after 27 laps (120 km) and the title would be his...sounds easy doesn't it?
It looked quite good too as Todd Kelly led (his last race for the Holden Racing Team...he's being replaced by Tander for 2008) into turn one with Garth slotting in behind him and Jamie right on Garth's rear bumper. The pitstops shuffled the order a touch as Todd came out in front of Jamie, with Garth in third...and a hard charging Craig Lowndes showing some serious pace in the second Vodafone entry.
Tyres are critical around 'the Island' and the Vodafone boys have been one of the lightest wearing teams this year and that proved to be crucial as while Todd skipped away from Jamie initially, the gap was diminishing as we got into the final 15 laps (the leaders choosing to pit early as fresh tyres were worth about a second a lap...that's how Jamie nipped by Garth). In fact, with seven (there's that number again) laps to go, the top four were within two seconds of each other and setting times to the nearest hundredth of a second.
Craig was busy giving Garth a few little love taps, just so Tander knew he was back there, and eventually managed to squeeze him over enough to slip by into third. The seven point gap that Garth had built up was down to two (24 for a win, 20, 17, 15). All Jamie had to do was find a way to muscle past Todd and the title would be his...and he gave it his best shot.
But it was not to be...Garth Tander held on to win his first V8 Supercar Championship as the Toll HSV boys went back-to-back. Quite similar to NASCAR actually...even the number of overall races; V8's do 37...of course, the races (Bathurst excepted) aren't as long but not even NASCAR with the Chase produced such a close title finish...maybe there is something to be said abut shorter races (after all, the Truck series had the closer final race battle...until Skinner's car let him down).
So like last year, Ford won the battle (Bathurst) while Holden won the war...let the 12 month gloating begin *laugh*
After a decade in the sport, Garth captured the title that had eluded him for so long.
Oh and guess who was in town to see this round? Some bloke by the name of Dale Earnhardt Jr...and he was impressed with what he saw.
(this is from the V8 supercar website by the way):
“We’ve become fans of V8 Supercars from watching on television. This series has come a long, long way since I started watching it. I would be quite proud to showcase this off to anyone,” said Earnhardt.
“In a perfect world I would come and race fulltime in the V8 series for a year. I believe I would enjoy it. I like the format over the weekend as far as the rounds go.
“It is definitely different to how we approach the weekend. I would definitely enjoy coming here and racing and dedicating solely to that.
“I could probably talk to the right people and make that happen. I would definitely entertain that. I am going to run my butt off in the Cup cars until I can’t anymore and maybe I’ll move to Australia and race the V8 cars as long as there’s a ride for me.”
Jimmie Johnson has also gone on record saying he'd love to race these things too if his schedule allowed...I believe his exact quote was "I'll race anything."
Nice guys, racing drivers...until the red mist sets in when they pull on the helmet *laugh*
Tez is a rare creature; an Australian who was living in New Zealand before moving to Canada. He's also a Civil Engineer who is hoping to spend his Monday to Friday sitting in front of a computer surfing the inter...uh, working hard for an Engineering Consultant or Contractor when he finds a job. His heart is torn between his two loves; F1 and NASCAR.
Due to his high interest in those, his blogs will likely focus on them with the occasional foray into sports that don't get much (if any) mention on this website. All blogs and/or comments will more than likely have his usual dollop of sarcasm and general Aussie spin on them.
Amazingly, he also managed to score 2 MiB nominations on consecutive days (August 5 & 6, 2007) after announcing he had been keeping track of them...he's considering hiding under his bed as a result.
