Justice for Mark Skaife?
August 3rd 2007 11:37
Originally posted on 23 July 2007 on www.orble.com/v8-supercars
Stone Brothers Racing may have finished this weekend’s round of the championship in a strong position with both Courtney and Ingall finishing in the top seven but the celebrations were short lived for James Courtney.
A late incident in race three saw the Jeld-wen Ford come together with Mark Skaife’s VE Commodore, causing Skaife to spin off the track. Post race analysis of the incident by officials resulted in Courtney being penalised 27 seconds, the equivalent of a drive through penalty, for careless driving, dropping him from seventh position to eighteenth in race three and out of the points for that race.
An annoying but justified result for Courtney, but what about the effect this incident of careless driving has had on Mark Skaife’s weekend?
Skaife has dropped from fifth to sixth in the championship after being leap-frogged by Craig Lowndes following Team Vodafone’s strong performance in Queensland. A time penalty awarded to Courtney does nothing to compensate Skaife for his lost track position and, consequently, his lost points.
Maybe something needs to be done regarding situations such as this.
Speaking after the race, Courtney was resigned to his fate regarding the penalty.
“Getting a drive-through penalty after the final race is pretty crushing … we all worked really hard to turn things around this weekend.”
“It was a pretty full on race and there was quite a bit of action. I was having a bit of a battle with Mark (Skaife).
“On the final lap, Rick ran down the side of Mark and I was a bit wider on the racing line.
“As we went through the corner they both propped and stood on the brakes quite hard. I locked up as a tried to avoid it and tapped Mark on the side. I got off it and gave him room to roll back onto the track in front of me but he didn’t so I kept going.”
Courtney finished by saying, “we just have to take the points that we did get and get back on it at Oran Park.”
Photo courtesy of www.holdenmotorsport.com
Stone Brothers Racing may have finished this weekend’s round of the championship in a strong position with both Courtney and Ingall finishing in the top seven but the celebrations were short lived for James Courtney.
A late incident in race three saw the Jeld-wen Ford come together with Mark Skaife’s VE Commodore, causing Skaife to spin off the track. Post race analysis of the incident by officials resulted in Courtney being penalised 27 seconds, the equivalent of a drive through penalty, for careless driving, dropping him from seventh position to eighteenth in race three and out of the points for that race.
An annoying but justified result for Courtney, but what about the effect this incident of careless driving has had on Mark Skaife’s weekend?
Skaife has dropped from fifth to sixth in the championship after being leap-frogged by Craig Lowndes following Team Vodafone’s strong performance in Queensland. A time penalty awarded to Courtney does nothing to compensate Skaife for his lost track position and, consequently, his lost points.
Maybe something needs to be done regarding situations such as this.
Bet he wasn't smiling like this yesterday.
Speaking after the race, Courtney was resigned to his fate regarding the penalty.
“Getting a drive-through penalty after the final race is pretty crushing … we all worked really hard to turn things around this weekend.”
“It was a pretty full on race and there was quite a bit of action. I was having a bit of a battle with Mark (Skaife).
“On the final lap, Rick ran down the side of Mark and I was a bit wider on the racing line.
“As we went through the corner they both propped and stood on the brakes quite hard. I locked up as a tried to avoid it and tapped Mark on the side. I got off it and gave him room to roll back onto the track in front of me but he didn’t so I kept going.”
Courtney finished by saying, “we just have to take the points that we did get and get back on it at Oran Park.”
Photo courtesy of www.holdenmotorsport.com
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