Championship Wide Open
The Falken Tasmania Challenge picked up where the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship left off, with plenty of action at the tight Symmons Plains circuit. Championship hopes were raised and dashed, rain on Sunday threw some normally outside chances on to the podium and there was even a blue in pitlane. If this wasn’t hairy enough, drivers and crew members were a more bristly bunch than usual in support of Movember, which raises funds for men’s health specifically prostate cancer and depression. The Bottle-O Racing’s Paul Dumbrell is a Movember ambassador and sporting his moustache, he announced he would continue racing in 2010 despite an earlier decision to quit. Then he pulled something special out of the bag on Sunday, finishing second behind fellow Ford Performance Racing stablemate Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom.
As Jamie Whincup, James Courtney and Craig Lowndes, whose car had a gear stick problem, had less than savoury results, Frosty’s win in the 200 kay race put him back into Championship contention, trailing the leader by 200 points. Their FPR teammate Steve Richards also raised attention for a different reason when he and Rick Kelly got into a war of the words which ended in Richo “neatening up” Kelly’s collar.
After cutting James Courtney’s Championship lead to just 40 points on Saturday, J-Dub was forced to do a splash and dash late in Sunday’s race. Courtney finished ahead of Whincup, extending his lead to 50 points but he was the butt of some friendly fire in the form of Dick Johnson Racing stablemate Jonathon Webb, who gave him a nice shunt up the rear early in the Sunday race. Webby might have had other things on his mind, given he gave Miss Universe contestant Jacinta Campbell a hot lap earlier in the weekend. The beauty turned more than a few blokes’ heads at Symmons Plains.
Pic: An ecstatic Greg Murphy jumps out of his car after his Podium Finish.
Credit: Justin Deeley
Garth Tander, however, had other distractions and they weren’t as pleasant. Battling a flu-like illness GT still managed to put his brand new Commodore on pole and finished second in Saturday’s race. The next day was not as successful for Toll Holden Racing Team, with Tander losing two spots on the grid as a penalty for using his handbrake during qualifying while the engine let go in teammate Will Davison’s sister car while he was on track for a podium.
One driver who did get to step on to the rostrum was Greg Murphy. It was a long time between drinks for Murph, whose last podium finish was at Bathurst in 2008. It came only days after he announced he was leaving Paul Morris Motorsport at the end of the year and his podium should make other teams sit up and take notice that Murph’s still got it. Trading Post Racing’s Jason Bright also pulled one out of the bag rounding off the podium, his first of the year, on Sunday. Only two events remain in the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship with the penultimate event taking place this weekend in Melbourne for the Norton 360 Sandown Challenge.
