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*
Yes, 161 laps around Sandown...which more often than not chucks up some variable weather that only causes problems for the teams and fans at the track as for everyone else, the rain is welcome relief as it evens out the field and is bound to throw in a few surprises (see Lee Holdsworth's win at the last round in the wet). Anyway, the rain didn't really eventuate, we had some light drizzle towards the end of the race but not enough to force cars onto the wet tyres.
For those unfamiliar with the V8 Endurance races, our rules dictate a driver change (the minimum a driver can complete is a third of the distance, so 54 laps in this case) and a mandatory brake pad change. The V8's can go approximately 60 laps on a single load of fuel and, unlike in NASCAR, they don't throw the caution out every time a driver spears off into the gravel trap and drags a whole bunch of sand back onto the track.
Also, unlike NASCAR, we have grid girls...so stick that in your tailpipe.
To the race then where the Ford quartet (two drivers per car remember) of Mark Winterbottom/Matt Halliday (who drove the Team NZ A1GP car for half the season last year) and James Courtney/David Besnard started from the front row but it was the fast starting Todd Kelly (Holden) and Craig Lowndes (Ford) who got the jump on James and slotted in behind Mark. Now, the season so far has seen a domination of the sprint rounds by the Holden (GM to you North Americans...Vauxhalls to the Brits) cars while the Fords have been struggling to keep up.
However, this wasn't a sprint race and it was the Fords that looked the better car as those three pulled out a gap over James until the first round of stops began on lap 47. Mark blinked first with Todd and Craig not pitting for another 10 or so laps. After that, Nathan Pretty (who swapped with Todd) stayed behind Matt Halliday while Jamie Whincup (swapped with Craig) jumped both and went into a lead that the #888 car would not lose for the rest of the race.
Matt had a few issues and ended up flying off the road a couple times due to some minor brakes problems, though that was nothing compared to the #17 Ford of Steven Johnson/Will Davison. Their brake problem was that it stayed on...the brake fluid wasn't working as it should and when Steve hit the brakes they just stayed on which cost him about 20 positions before he managed to get into the pitlane.
The only other point of interest was the final safety car which came out with about 30 laps to go. For whatever reason, the officials decided that the leader was the guy in seventh and not Craig Lowndes (who jumped back in the car for the final stint) which caused great frustration as Craig was, effectively, a lap ahead of those guys but the blue flags (see Iowa's blog for details) were not being shown so Rick Kelly was able to start closing the gap to Craig. Finally, Craig got past and was able to keep the lead around six seconds to the end of the race.
The #888 car was nearly as dominant as the #07 was at Loudon
Overall, a dominant performance by Team Vodafone which bodes well as they attempt to defend their Bathurst 1000 title in three weeks time.
And, after that we have the Gold Coast Indy, where no driver has ever won the race more than once since the first time they roared around these streets back in 1991.
I'd hate to be a judge...such pressure *sigh*
It's also home to the meter maids and the Miss Indy competition...why do I get the feeling that some people have just booked flights?
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.
