Ok here is what happened.
firstly it was the most confused i have ever been at a V8 event..the commentary kept dropping out because of a small fire apparently) in the comm box..hahahaha...and their official timing was completely use ...saying that some driver had retired in the pits as he came round to take the checkered flag..what a shambles...fortunately you can see the whole track so we had to keep our eyes open to find out for ourselves what was going on.
Good day of racing ..what there was of it.
some mechanical failures..but quite a bit of carnage especially at turn one.
anyway i have some great pics of the meeting and you can have a sneak preview of my new site at
www.racingpghotos.homestead.com this is the first page ive done and i plan to do more of all the pics i have at present.
race 1 saw Kevin mundy hit Allan heath and take out half the field..end of the day for Mundy, Craig harris,Allan heath and Michael Simpson. quite a shabby piece of driving really..but Dumbrell took ogg into the lead pursued by Owen Kelly and Simon Wills and then Leanne ferrier...Michael Donaher in a guest apperance in the Team SA Falcon was going very well but power steering problems hampered him all day and eventually gave up in race 3 because of it.
Aaron McGill brought out the pace car after spinning at the old turn one (he was caught up in the first crash and lost his front spoiler and continued on before spinning)
at the re start Dumbrell dropped it at Rollover corner and spun out of the lead handing the lead to Wills and no one was going to catch him from there..at the back of the field debutant Wayne Cooper performed a few off track spins..but did well considering it was his debut...the battle for the all important 10th place was very interesting swapping between another debutant Eddie Abelnica and daniel miller and Dumbrell even had a chance to get it back ...but to the crowds approval Daniel miller came home in 10th.
RACE 2
just to prove the commentators had no idea what was going on ..we were told that Truckie parsons was to be put at the back of the grid therefore allowing Dumbrell back up to 10th for race 1 and taking Pole for race 2..well out came the cars and the front row was Daniel miller and Phonsy Mullen and Truckie started 5th ????
not sure what really happened but Mullen and Miller got together at turn one and Mullen spun in front of the pack ..cars went everywhere and then there was an allmighty crunch ..and Simon Wiils had his front end demolished by the spinning Mullen..ending both their days ..allthough mullen continued on at full speed until realizing at the old turn one he had no steering and off he went again..Wills got out and called it quits completely from the series...YES SIMON WILLS HAS OFFICIALLY PULLED OUT OF THE SERIES
the rest of the race was relativly incident free..except for Aaron mcGill pulling of with mechanical failure and Owen Kelly punting Dale brede out of the lead to which he recieved a 30 point penalty..Donaher spun at the end of the new section ..didnt see that one so not sure if he jumped or was pushed. and Abelnica christened his new VT somehow ..but i missed that 2 ..maybe he and Donaher got together ??? not sure. so owen kelly won his first ever V8 supercar race..but sudenly stopped on the cool down lap...apparently he suffered alternator failure which then shut down the fuel pump...just 200 metres after the finish line...very lucky indeed...and i thought he was gonna do a burnout.
RACE 3
race 3 saw the field dwindle by a few more..gary Holt managed a gearbox change in between races and Kelly found an alternator just in time...robert Smith had given up for the day (dont know why but he wasnt that quick when he was on track so some sort of problem I guess)
poor Aaron mcgill was trundleing up pit lane to go out to the grid when the Falcon ground to a halt ..some sort of mechanical problem and he didnt start.
amazingly a very clean start..no contact whatsoever at turn one.
a rather boring race this one..Donaher gave up with smoke pouring out the back and Ric Shaw spun at the end of the the old back straight and slammed into the marshalls dugout..he got going but it had damaged something and he retired...wayne cooper had another spin..and thats about it I think..but a good day really ..sad to see Simon Wills leave the series and sad to see quite a few cars so badly damaged they couldnt race anymore.
Support classes were Hq's, formula vee, Sallon Cars and porsche cup.
never seen these sallon cars before and found them very interesting ..and even noticed one Harry Bargwanna racing...reliving old memories perhaps
Porsche cup was also interesting with Martin wagg (in his rebuilt car after his Adelaide crash) have a great fight with Paul Whitmarsh ...race 1 saw a pile up at turn one started by the red PBR Porsche i think..and then in one of the races Wagg tried a very over ambitious move on whitmarsh at turn one from way to far back in my books and the 2 collided and shot across the grass but Whitmarsh looped it when he got back on track with cold and wet tyres.
very good days racing and managed to get a signed Poster from leanne ferrier (allthough strangely enough it only had Tander and bargs on it and not her ???)
bought a fantastic Holden lion all done up in a HRT racing suit for $30 dollars..very good value..no rain thankfully but the wind got pretty cold and was forced to rug up a fair bit towards the end of the day.
and no i didnt drink a slab Crash test as someone had to drive home
oh some more news they announced ..apparently Michael Simpson will be at the Phillip Island round but NOT in the car (ex Havoline Falcon) he is driving now...either he has a new car or has landed a drive with someone else ??
CHEERS Til the Shell Round
Marcus