Murphy's Hometown Reign May Have Come To An End, But Local Hero And Kelly Finish 3rd And 5th In NZ
10/5/2004 0:38 (Press Release) -
Greg Murphy’s winning streak in the PlaceMakers V8 International may have come to an end, but Kmart Racing’s string of strong results continued this weekend, Murphy claiming a podium spot with third overall, team-mate Rick Kelly finishing fifth in the rain-effected event.
PWR Racing’s Jason Bright won the round for Holden, with reigning V8 Supercar champion Marcos Ambrose finishing second – the first scheduled 36-lap race on Saturday being moved to Sunday due to monsoonal rains which lashed the venue early in the weekend, while the final two 54-lap races were shortened to 36-lappers.
While disappointed he was not able to retain his “hometown crown”, having entered Pukekohe aiming for his fourth straight V8 international victory, Murphy was pleased to have again finished on the podium, the result frog-leaping him over Kelly to third in championship points.
"I'm passionate about these races and they are special being at home, but [the winning streak] had to come to an end sooner or later and I’m glad it was to another Holden driver in Jason,” Murphy said.
“In race two, my Kmart Commodore was as good as it has ever been here at Pukekohe, but any chance we may have had of winning went when we made some changes and it went backwards in the third.
"But I don't think we could have caught Jason. We had a good battle, but he had a pretty quick car and we would have needed a miracle for him not to win,” he said.
Kelly continued his fine NZ run – the 21-year-old has finished fourth, fifth and fifth in his three visits to the circuit – despite being hampered by a slow car on Friday during the vital practice and qualifying sessions.
“Fifth is pretty good as we made the best of a reasonably average Friday where we really found it hard to get on top of the car – we progressed from 13th in qualifying to finish seventh at the end of race one, fourth in race two and fifth in the third for fifth overall,” Kelly said.
“For some reason, I have always found it difficult to qualify well there, but I have been able to finish well. If we can qualify better I am sure we would be able to fight for a podium spot.”
In the unofficial V8 Supercar teams championship, instigated by The Age newspaper’s motorsport writer Michael Lynch, Kmart Racing “won” the round and leads the series with 1,011 points, 129 ahead of Stone Brothers Racing.
The next round of the V8 Supercar Series is on 21-23 May at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin, NT.
2004 V8 Supercars Championship Series Standings (After Round 3): 1. Marcos Ambrose, Stone Brothers Racing – 532; 2. Steven Richards, Castrol Perkins– 528; 3. Greg Murphy, Kmart Racing – 509; 4. Rick Kelly, Kmart Racing – 502; 5. Jason Bright, PWR Racing – 457; 6. Craig Baird, Team Kiwi – 258; 7. Russell Ingall, Stone Brothers Racing – 350; 8. Paul Weel, PWR Racing – 347; 9. Steven Johnson, Dick Johnson Racing – 341; 10. John Bowe, Brad Jones Racing – 326
Release Date: 03/05/2004
Kmart Racing
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