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[Australian Motorsport] CRAMP WINS SENSATIONAL FIVE CAR SHOOTOUT AT PHILLIP ISLAND |
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Saturday, 26 November 2005 |
CRAMP WINS SENSATIONAL FIVE CAR SHOOTOUT AT PHILLIP ISLAND
The Donut King Australian Performance Car Championship today threw its hat into the ring of nominations for race of the year yet again, with Steve Cramp holding out a five car pack to take the race two win at Phillip Island.
Even before the start of the race, tension was high in the paddock. Following a high speed crash earlier in the day, championship leader Peter Floyd’s crew faced a battle against time to get the wounded BP Ultimate HSV GTS back on track.
With the assistance of the Smash Repair Team, other teams and even on-track rivals from the series, they succeeded with a championship defining effort. The car joined the field and Floyd would start the race from pitlane.
The absence of Floyd and teammate Trevor Sheumack (www.kawasaki-fp.com HSV GTS) at the head of the field left the way for Garry Holt (Century 21 Real Estate Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII) and Cramp (CVW Engineering HSV GTS) on the effective front row of the grid.
Cramp took the lead at the start, and Holt slotted into second place right behind. The battle between the V8 and the four wheel drive was soon joined by Mark King (Delphi Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII), making it a three way battle between the cars, which were showing their different strengths at various parts of the 4.48km circuit.
The Lancers would challenge Cramp through the slower corners, but the HSV would be able to ease back away down the straight. Then Beric Lynton (Donut King BMW M3) joined the battle and made his presence felt.
He moved past King and then Holt in spectacular fashion and started to pressure Cramp. Just as Lynton came from seemingly nowhere, Dean Lillie (Vaporate HSV GTS) bought into what was now a five car freight train, duking it out for the lead.
Lillie also made his way past the Lancers and was up to third, while King moved by Holt for fourth place. Resisting the pressure from Lynton - who himself was battling with Lillie - Cramp was able to take the race win. The top five covered by less than 1.5 seconds.
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