The Giz shines bright in Darwin
A weekend crowd of 48,360 soaked in the sun and partied long into the night at Hidden Valley, witnessing Shane van Gisbergen and Ford’s second win of the season, INXS rocking the top end and, arguably, the craziest finish to a race this season.
While the southern states freeze, Darwin turned on the sunshine as those in attendance basked in the glorious rays, refreshed by the occasional cool breeze that cooled the humid air. Never did the mercury stray far from a perfect 30 degrees. It was the perfect winter escape, while for the locals, it was the chance to host one of the parties of the year. The party was well and truly kicked into gear when INXS featuring JD Fortune hit the stage Saturday evening, belting out the bands classic hits. Short Stack and Bliss N Eso proved just as popular Sunday night, with a big crowd rounding out the weekend in style.
The XXXX Golds were well and truly flowing at that stage, after two thrilling races. Saturday’s race came down to the final restart, when Mark Winterbottom, Lee Holdsworth, Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen went four-wide into turn one, wiping out and opening the door for Rick Kelly (or was it Steven Bradbury?) to sweep through and claim his second win of the season.
Like at Hamilton back in April, Kelly’s Saturday win was followed by a van Gisbergen win on Sunday, as the young Kiwi played the strategic game perfectly (helped by a late race safety car), saving his set of soft tyres for the last stint and extracting the best out of them to sail past Craig Lowndes for the win. Amazingly, it was just the second win of the season for Ford, while the improved performance from Ford Performance Racing will give the Blue Oval fans some cause for optimism.
At the end of the day, XXXX Gold ambassador Jamie Whincup was off the podium over both races, seeing his championship lead cut to 156 points with teammate Craig Lowndes in second, and van Gisbergen ominously jumping into third.
The series regroups in Townsville in three weeks for another popular event; in another warm climate, with more concerts (Sneaky Sound System, Wolfmother, Thirsty Merc and more) and, hopefully, more nail-biting racing.
