Experience wins for Skaife and Tander
September 15th 2008 00:10
Despite recent comments by James Courtney, accusing the Holden drivers of being “too old”, red was the colour of the day yesterday as HRT drivers Mark Skaife and Garth Tander took out the first enduro of the season.
Phillip Island came alive for the inaugural L&H 500, putting on an awesome weekend of V8 Supercar racing and creating the perfect build-up for the Supercheap Bathurst 1000 next month.
The win was especially sweet for Mark Skaife who has recently been forced to defend himself against comments regarding his effectiveness in the series and constantly battle his detractors who have been calling for the experienced campaigner to retire.
Despite an extended pit stop, when Skaife’s seatbelt came unclipped, the team managed to claw their way up to second place and put the Commodore into the perfect position to take advantage of a mistake made by leader Whincup with just a few laps to run.
“We were ready to go and when I was putting the last belt in the centre buckle sprung and all the belts came out,” Skaife explained. “There was a bit of drama there. I was yelling and making sure the guy that was helping us was handing me more belts because when all five were out it was on for young and old again to try and get it all done.
“Those sorts of things happen. These sorts of races throw up all the variables, you know, rain and safety cars and all the dramas and that was just one of them today.
“After an ordinary run we came here looking for better fortune. This was personally very satisfying but the win was Garth’s. He drove very, very well.”
Not even Victoria’s unpredictable weather could adversely affect the winning team, in fact, speaking after the race, Tander suggested that a sudden heavy rain shower that hit with more than forty laps still to go, actually helped them.
“We were behind the eight ball strategy –wise until the rain came but we made the right call to put wets on and the car was very, very good in the wet,” he said. “Once we got that second safety car we came in and put slicks on the car was fantastic; best it’s been all weekend.”
Tander was also pretty happy with his passing move on Whincup close to the end of the race. “We were both on the edge of threshold braking and I know I was in trouble and then Jamie went a little bit wide and that was enough to sneak through,” he said.
“I was happy with second, it’s a good haul of points, but if the win was there to take it we were gonna take it.”
And take it they did, leaving Whincup kicking himself in disappointment and having to admit that coming second was still a good result. “But it’s not what it could have been,” he said.
“The guys did a faultless performance all weekend. Craig did a faultless performance and I just dropped the bundle with 10 to go.”
Third place for the weekend belonged to Jim Beam Racing’s Will Davison and Steve Johnson in the number 18 Falcon.
“You just knew something crazy like the rain was going to happen halfway through the race,” Davison said.
“Here we are on the podium again…it’s nice that we are consistently up here.
“We made the wrong call early on and then the rain helped us out and it was chaos coming through there with the drying track on the slicks.
“I got through into third and we didn’t quite have the speed there at the end of the race but we held on under some pressure from Courtney.”
Top Ten Results
1. Mark Skaife/Garth Tander HRT Holden
2. Craig Lowndes/Jamie Whincup Team Vodafone Ford
3. Will Davison/Steve Johnson Jim Beam Racing Ford
4. Steve Richards/Mark Winterbottom Ford Performance Racing Ford
5. Michael Caruso/Lee Holdsworth Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden
6. David Besnard/James Courtney Stone Brothers Racing Ford
7. Rick Kelly/Paul Radisich HSV Dealer Team Holden
8. Jack Perkins/Nathan Pretty Jack Daniels Racing Holden
9. Russell Ingall/Paul Morris Supercheap Auto Racing Holden
10. Shane Van Gisbergen/Jonathon Webb Stone Brothers Racing Ford
Phillip Island came alive for the inaugural L&H 500, putting on an awesome weekend of V8 Supercar racing and creating the perfect build-up for the Supercheap Bathurst 1000 next month.
The win was especially sweet for Mark Skaife who has recently been forced to defend himself against comments regarding his effectiveness in the series and constantly battle his detractors who have been calling for the experienced campaigner to retire.
Despite an extended pit stop, when Skaife’s seatbelt came unclipped, the team managed to claw their way up to second place and put the Commodore into the perfect position to take advantage of a mistake made by leader Whincup with just a few laps to run.
“We were ready to go and when I was putting the last belt in the centre buckle sprung and all the belts came out,” Skaife explained. “There was a bit of drama there. I was yelling and making sure the guy that was helping us was handing me more belts because when all five were out it was on for young and old again to try and get it all done.
“Those sorts of things happen. These sorts of races throw up all the variables, you know, rain and safety cars and all the dramas and that was just one of them today.
“After an ordinary run we came here looking for better fortune. This was personally very satisfying but the win was Garth’s. He drove very, very well.”
“We were behind the eight ball strategy –wise until the rain came but we made the right call to put wets on and the car was very, very good in the wet,” he said. “Once we got that second safety car we came in and put slicks on the car was fantastic; best it’s been all weekend.”
Tander was also pretty happy with his passing move on Whincup close to the end of the race. “We were both on the edge of threshold braking and I know I was in trouble and then Jamie went a little bit wide and that was enough to sneak through,” he said.
“I was happy with second, it’s a good haul of points, but if the win was there to take it we were gonna take it.”
And take it they did, leaving Whincup kicking himself in disappointment and having to admit that coming second was still a good result. “But it’s not what it could have been,” he said.
“The guys did a faultless performance all weekend. Craig did a faultless performance and I just dropped the bundle with 10 to go.”
Third place for the weekend belonged to Jim Beam Racing’s Will Davison and Steve Johnson in the number 18 Falcon.
“You just knew something crazy like the rain was going to happen halfway through the race,” Davison said.
“Here we are on the podium again…it’s nice that we are consistently up here.
“We made the wrong call early on and then the rain helped us out and it was chaos coming through there with the drying track on the slicks.
“I got through into third and we didn’t quite have the speed there at the end of the race but we held on under some pressure from Courtney.”
Top Ten Results
1. Mark Skaife/Garth Tander HRT Holden
2. Craig Lowndes/Jamie Whincup Team Vodafone Ford
3. Will Davison/Steve Johnson Jim Beam Racing Ford
4. Steve Richards/Mark Winterbottom Ford Performance Racing Ford
5. Michael Caruso/Lee Holdsworth Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden
6. David Besnard/James Courtney Stone Brothers Racing Ford
7. Rick Kelly/Paul Radisich HSV Dealer Team Holden
8. Jack Perkins/Nathan Pretty Jack Daniels Racing Holden
9. Russell Ingall/Paul Morris Supercheap Auto Racing Holden
10. Shane Van Gisbergen/Jonathon Webb Stone Brothers Racing Ford
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