IN a brilliant end to the V8 Supercar Championship Series, the Holden Racing Team’s Todd Kelly has won his second round of 2006, clinching victory in a controversial final round of the championship at Phillip Island.
After dominating today’s first 32 lap race to lead home Mark Winterbottom and Craig Lowndes to the chequered flag, Kelly found himself in major drama on lap two of the final, championshipdeciding race.
Leading the pack into the turn four hairpin, the HRT ace was hit by the
late braking Lowndes as the latter received a light touch from Toll
HSV’s Rick Kelly.
Lowndes ended up hitting the elder Kelly brother’s HRT Commodore, spinning both.
Todd was able to resume, albeit down in 13 th , while championship
aspirant Lowndes was collected by an unsighted Will Davison and the
subsequent damage forced him to limp to the end with a damaged car –
out of the title fight.
With the round victory up for grabs, Kelly mounted a strong comeback
drive to end up finishing fifth in the 31lapper, giving him enough
points to hang on and win the round from Winterbottom and teammate Mark
Skaife.
Skaife struggled with setup on his #2 Commodore in the first race of
the day, unable to do much as he slipped back through the field to
finish an eventual sixth.
But the fivetime champ was on song in the last race – and he had to be!
With the field bunching up under brakes into the hairpin on the opening
lap, Skaife elected to stay on the outside to avoid the likely trouble.
He ended up receiving a tap and spun to the tail of the field with a
lot of work to do. Left languishing in 28 th , Skaife began a fight
back through the field.
He elected to stay out for longer than the leaders before making his
compulsory tyre stop, pitting for right side tyres on lap 14 after
running in the lead.
Once the pit stop cycle had ended, Skaife was outside the top 10 and
ran home in an eventual 11 th place, enough to give him the final spot
on the last podium of the 2006 season.
On a strong day for Holden, Todd’s brother Rick claimed the
championship with 18 th place in the final race after receiving a drive
through penalty for the Lowndes incident.
HRT QUOTEBOOK
Todd Kelly (#22 Holden Racing Team Commodore VZ) “We tried hard
all weekend to get our car to be really well setup. But I have to admit
to keeping an eye on Rick’s progress over the weekend, as well as
Craig’s. It would have been nice to get a clean sweep and win all of
the races after topping qualifying and the Shootout. In the last race I
was heading into the hairpin and I thought Craig was far enough back
that I could turn in without any problems. But the next minute I know
he was in my door! I don’t know what happened behind me, so I’ll have
to go and take a look at the video to get an idea. I thought the show
was over for me after that, but I had no damage. Last year here we
really struggled but we nailed the setup from the start and fine tuned
it as the weekend went along. Hopefully Dad will buy some beers
tonight!”
Mark Skaife (#2 Holden Racing Team Commodore VZ) “The car in the
first race today was the worst it had been all weekend. But by the last
race it was very good. On the run into the hairpin I tried to stay to
the outside to get clear of the congestion, but I got spun around
anyway and dropped to the back of the field. The in and out laps around
the pit stop were very good and the car flowed much better in that
race, which had been my main area of complaint with the car all
weekend. We’ve won the qualifying award for the year, which proves we
have had great pace, but it has just been that slump in the middle of
the year that put us in the points in a position where it doesn’t look
like we’ve had a good year. We look forward now to coming out of the
blocks strongly in 2007 with the new VE Commodore.”
Results, Round 13, V8 Supercar Series, Phillip Island, Vic
1. Todd Kelly, #22 HRT Commodore VZ, 307 pts
2. Mark Winterbottom, #5 FPR Falcon BA, 297 pts
3. Mark Skaife, #2 HRT Commodore VZ, 263 pts
4. Steven Richards, #7 Jack Daniel’s Commodore VZ, 259 pts
5. Jason Bright, #6 CAT Falcon BA, 257 pts
6. Garth Tander, #16 Toll HSV Commodore VZ, 256 pts
7. Rick Kelly, #15 Toll HSV Commodore VZ, 240 pts
8. Cameron McConville, #50 Supercheap Auto Commodore VZ, 227 pts
9. Craig Lowndes, #888 Triple Eight Falcon BA, 210 pts
10. Jason Richards, #3 Tasman Commodore VZ, 207 pts
Final Championship Points After Round 13
1. Rick Kelly, #15 Toll HSV Commodore VZ, 3308 pts
2. Craig Lowndes, #888 Triple Eight Falcon BA, 3271 pts
3. Mark Winterbottom, #5 FPR Falcon BA, 3089 pts
4. Garth Tander, #16 Toll HSV Commodore VZ, 2965 pts
5. Jason Bright, #6 CAT Falcon BA, 2868 pts
6. Todd Kelly, #22 HRT Commodore VZ, 2815 pts
7. Steven Richards, #7 Jack Daniel’s Commodore VZ, 2740 pts
8. Russell Ingall, #1 Caltex Falcon BA, 2708 pts
9. Steven Johnson, #17 First Rock Falcon BA, 2378 pts
10. Jamie Whincup, #88 Triple Eight Falcon BA, 2357 pts
16. Mark Skaife, #2 HRT Commodore VZ, 2036 pts
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