R8S RACES - Skaife's the boss at Oran Park
29/7/2001 18:46 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Mark Skaife reminded everyone just who’s the boss with an emphatic round victory at Oran Park Raceway today.
After a four-round drought, Skaife returned to the winners’ circle with a commanding two-from-two performance at the Sydney circuit, extending his lead in the Shell Championship Series.
Skaife cruised to comfortable wins in both 36-lap races; untouchable out front while the chasers squabbled for position.
The Stone Brothers’ David Besnard finally lived up to expectations with an impressive second overall. The 24-year-old rookie mounted his first V8 Supercar podium after a third and second in the two races. Ford’s Craig Lowndes was third.
Skaife continued the Holden Racing Team’s five-year winning streak at Oran Park while consolidating his position as series leader.
"It's been a great place for us over the years, Oran Park," Skaife said. "We have had a bit of bad luck of late and it is great to have a trouble free run. It is a great resurrection from the team after a run of win-less rounds."
After a year plagued by a combination of rotten luck and rookie mistakes, Besnard was this afternoon on top of the world - "It's a great weight off mine and the team's shoulders," he said.
"This weekend we were on top of the car and we were able to take full advantage of that. I have to say that I never lost confidence – now we go to the Queensland 500 at Willowbank confident of gaining another top result.”
Pole-sitter Lowndes was sluggish off the line in the opening race, allowing former team-mate Skaife into the lead.
But after a hit from behind on the first lap, Greg Murphy parked his K-Mart Commodore precariously at turn three, bringing out the safety car. The race was restarted on lap four.
Second-placed Todd Kelly led a gaggle of cars into pitlane on lap eight. David Besnard’s stop was slick at under nine seconds, more than a second faster than Skaife’s a lap later but not quick enough to steal the lead.
Lowndes’ gamble to remain on track until lap 13 didn’t pay dividends, falling back to seventh at the completion of the pit stops. But Kelly and Besnard soon fell victim to a hungry Lowndes, Besnard allowing Lowndes through to second after running wide exiting Dunlop Bridge.
With clear track and empty mirrors, Skaife produced a series of quick laps to skip away from the field after his stop. He pumped the lead out to more than ten seconds before cruising to a six-second win over Lowndes, Besnard and Kelly. Steven Johnson was solid in fifth.
In race two, Besnard muscled his way to the lead with a brilliant start from row two, while Lowndes pushed past Skaife during a chaotic start. But a determined Skaife soon rectified the situation, taking second back from Lowndes on lap two, and the lead from Besnard on lap five.
The Caltex Havoline Falcon was the first to dive into the new-look pitlane on lap eight, spending just under ten seconds to change his Bridgestone rubber. Skaife was in a lap later, and Lowndes a lap after that - both failing to match the speed of the Stone Brothers crew.
But as pitlane closed, Mark Skaife emerged as race leader, ahead of the Falcon duo of Besnard and Lowndes. Both Ford guns engaged in an intense battle for second mid-race, a battle Besnard would eventually win.
As Jason Bargwanna spun, Lowndes was under attack from the second factory Commodore of Jason Bright. Bright got past the Gibson Falcon with just three laps remaining.
With the chequered flag in sight, Lowndes was sent into a final-turn spin by Garth Tander, recovering to finish eighth. Stewards later dealt Tander a costly time penalty, 36-seconds, for the ambitious move.
"It was simply a racing incident,” Lowndes said. “I knew I had a bit of a buffer in the round placings, but we really needed a podium finish. So I did a bigger burnout than my Mustang demonstration at the GMC400 and scrambled over the finish line.”
Skaife’s win stretched his championship lead to 104 points from team-mate, Jason Bright. Steven Johnson moves to third, ahead of Russell Ingall.
While Oran Park’s new $2 million pit complex was met with wide-spread acclaim from the Supercar fraternity, a nasty pitlane incident in this morning’s warm-up again called pitlane safety into question.
During a practice stop, an air hose tangled with Greg Murphy’s Commodore, bringing down the CAT Racing gantry and collecting two of its crew members – Neil Barton and Kevin May – in the process.
May (back injuries) is expected to be released from Liverpool hospital tomorrow, while Barton will remain under observation for a number of days following surgery for a head injury.
“The danger of the pits has been highlighted this year with all the extra pit stop races but I am sure AVESCO and CAMS are looking at ways to make things safer and improve the medical facilities in the pit area itself,” CAT racer John Bowe said. “The main thing is that the boys will be OK.”
A four-week break will allow teams to prepare for the season’s first real endurance test, the VIP Petfoods Queensland 500 on August 24-26.
**RACE ONE - TOP TEN**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
2nd CRAIG LOWNDES (Gibson Motorsport) - AU Falcon
3rd DAVID BESNARD (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon
4th TODD KELLY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore
5th STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
6th GARTH TANDER (Valvoline Cummins Repco Team) - VX Commodore
7th JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
8th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VX Commodore
9th JASON BARGWANNA (Valvoline-Cummins Racing) - VX Commodore
10th CAMERON McCONVILLE (Lansvale Smash Repairs) - VX Commodore
**RACE TWO - TOP TEN**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
2nd DAVID BESNARD (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon
3rd JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
4th STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
5th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VX Commodore
6th CAMERON McCONVILLE (Lansvale Smash Repairs) - VX Commodore
7th CRAIG LOWNDES (Gibson Motorsport) - AU Falcon
8th TODD KELLY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore
9th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon
10th STEVEN ELLERY (Super Cheap Auto Racing) - AU Falcon
**CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [2006]
2nd JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1902]
3rd STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [1692]
4th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VX Commodore [1675]
5th CRAIG LOWNDES (Gibson Motorsport) - AU Falcon [1365]
6th MARCOS AMBROSE (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon [1328]
7th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1323]
8th STEVEN RICHARDS (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [1316]
9th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [1305]
10th TODD KELLY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1266]
For complete race results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?29/07/2001.ORAN
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