Ambrose.......the new Brock........

[retro]

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0...-23770,00.html

Contrite Ambrose looks ahead
By Ray Kershler
May 27, 2005

REPENTANT champion Marcos Ambrose will aim to put the turmoil of the previous round behind him this weekend as he attempts to re-establish his dominance of the series at Sydney's Eastern Creek.

Ambrose, who has won the past two V8 championships, capped a stellar period when he displayed absolute mastery at Eastern Creek in the final round last year.

He won the first race, which clinched the title, and the next day proved to be unbeatable.

There has been no more impressive performance in the sport in modern memory - and that includes Peter Brock.

But times change, and the cool Ambrose of yesteryear was replaced by the ugly face of the sport at the Perth round earlier this month when an ill-tempered clash with arch-rival Mark Skaife brought him undone.

The two refused to give an inch in the second race of the round and both speared into the sand at the first bend.

Ambrose was ultimately blamed.

Whatever pressures have been building in the champ exploded and public comments both on TV and at a press conference meant he was in trouble with officials.

He claimed, fairly many thought, that he was punished twice for the same crime when he was black-flagged during the race then, after the race was over, had 25 points deducted from his championship lead.

But his criticism of officialdom could not be tolerated, especially by a modern judiciary system that has a money-hungry look about it.
So with time to think - and a $15,000 fine later - Ambrose conceded some of the comments were "completely inappropriate".

In the week after the race, Ambrose was absolutely contrite.

"I expressed anger at the incident and the penalty," he conceded.

"My language at the time was inappropriate. This was wrong and I apologise for any offence caused.

"It was inferred I called into question the fairness of the judicial system. I did not mean to do so and I apologise unreservedly.

"Despite being briefed at the start of the year that pit lane penalties can and often will involve further sanctions before the stewards I was unaware of this.

"My ignorance of the system is no excuse but it was as a result of this that I made inappropriate comments.

"My comments that have been taken to mean the points penalty was imposed because no action was taken in [the previous round in] New Zealand and also because I had driven too well in the Perth race were, in hindsight, completely inappropriate and could only cause harm to our sport."

Ambrose apologised unreservedly to the V8 judiciary officials who might have been slighted.

"This championship is one of the world's great championships," he continued. "That my comments gave the impression of dissatisfaction with V8 Supercar racing could not be further from the truth.

"If I have given this impression I would like to absolutely correct this.

"I now recognise my comments have caused some grief to the championship, my Stone Brothers team and to my personal sponsors and to sponsors of the team. I am sorry."

Most observers trying to analyse what went wrong in Perth have focused on Ambrose's pre-season announcement that he would quit the sport this year to try his hand at Nascar racing in the US.

Steven Richards, currently his main Holden rival in the championship, has some sympathy.

"There's no doubt that although he announced he's going to Nascar he wants people to know it's not going to affect his V8 Supercar aspirations," Richards said yesterday. "But it instantly puts more pressure on him and focuses attention on his results.

"He wants people to know that if he doesn't win the championship this year it wasn't because he announced he was going to Nascar.

"It's a bit of a tough one and maybe that's why he's being a bit hard on himself when things don't quite go the way we'd all like them to."

The Daily Telegraph

[The Hrt Kid]

Amrbose is yet to win a Bathurst, Ambrose will never be as good as Brock. Lowndes in my opinion is the best driver of the modern era.

[aj_308]

Fairly large call I must say.
From where Im sitting, has he done better than Lowndes/Skaife did at HRT?

[nafe!]

What a stupid and completely biased article.

He is no where near brock and never will be, has ambrose even got a podium at Bathurst? Brocks won it 9 times, in vehicles that arent half as bulletproof as todays cars.

Ray also forgets skaife has 5 championships under his belt, 3 in recent years.

Ambrose is a a great driver and fords best performing driver in V8supercars. However if Lowndes had a decent car for the last 5 years results would have been very different.

Just more typical crap from ray.

[TSR]

As a Ford fan I think that the call by Aussie Bernie favourite scribe is a bloody big call, and trying to compare MA to Brockie is a no go area. Brockie is a ledgend is this sport and Marcus is a great driver but not a ledgend yet.

But as Mr Kershlar (Aussie Bernie fav) is trying to pump up the hype for EC, he will write garbage.

[rustyinsthoz]

Yep , Ambrose has a long way to go before he can be compared to Brock , Moffat or the Johnsons of this world .

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by nafe!

What a stupid and completely biased article.

He is no where near brock and never will be, has ambrose even got a podium at Bathurst? Brocks won it 9 times

Hasn't Brock won Bathurst 10 times

[bestfit]

No
I'm still yet to be convinced he won it 9 times.

[Matt H]

well technically, peter brock has won races at the bathurst race trrack at least 112 times, 9 v8 supercar 1000's, 1 24 hour race, and at least 1 race as a team in a brute race with i think James Brock.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by Matt H

well technically, peter brock has won races at the bathurst race trrack at least 112 times, 9 v8 supercar 1000's, 1 24 hour race, and at least 1 race as a team in a brute race with i think James Brock.

In using that theory, Brock has won 0 V8 Supercar 1000s as they only started in 1997.

1 Bathurst 500

8 Bathurst 1000

1 Bathurst 24 Hour

Ambrose winning none of these

[Matt H]

exactly but why are being pedantic :P just to clarify facts, or to pick on the guy, i hope its just a clara\ification

[Troy]

For me Jim Richards is more of a Legend then any names mentioned in this thread.

[Phase3]

How many times did Brock's first car break and he supposedly "Won" the event in the teams 2nd car?

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by Matt H

exactly but why are being pedantic :P just to clarify facts, or to pick on the guy, i hope its just a clara\ification

Clarification. I do feel that Ambrose is a much better steerer than Skaife though. Brock on the other hand or as a Troy stated JR, I dont think so. In the future maybe ? You never know

[jaytor]

Troy, absolutley agree.
DRT, dont agree. He is probably the most adaptable touring car driver on the planet....He is on the pace in anything. Give him a scooter and he'd be as quick as anyone!

[MHDT]

Originally Posted by Phase3

How many times did Brock's first car break and he supposedly "Won" the event in the teams 2nd car?

I think you will find that Brock has officially won Bathurst 9 times. In fact the record books state exactly that.

To achieve that result, Brock adhered to the rules of the day. Just as the rules of today are adhered to by recent winners; rules that allow, for example, a true leader to be artificially pegged back when the pace car is sent out half a dozen or so times during the race.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by jaytor

Troy, absolutley agree.
DRT, dont agree. He is probably the most adaptable touring car driver on the planet....He is on the pace in anything. Give him a scooter and he'd be as quick as anyone!

Sorry Jaytor I didnt write very clearly. I mean to say that Ambrose at the current time doesn;t have anything on Brock or JR

[Phase3]

Originally Posted by MHDT

I think you will find that Brock has officially won Bathurst 9 times. In fact the record books state exactly that.

To achieve that result, Brock adhered to the rules of the day. Just as the rules of today are adhered to by recent winners; rules that allow, for example, a true leader to be artificially pegged back when the pace car is sent out half a dozen or so times during the race.

I'm not disputing the fact he's won 9 Bathursts, I'm just interested to see how many times it was not in the car he started in......

[Average Punter]

There has been no more impressive performance in the sport in modern memory - and that includes Peter Brock.


Just goes to show how good Mr Kershler's "modern memory" is.................

[brendan24688]

Bathurst is not a Championship!!! yes it might be a very hard enduring track but it doesnt count fro what matters the most...The Championship. Of course its the next best thing but the kid has been here for 5 years. This is a very different league to wat i was back then. Ambrose is the New Brock or johnson or skaife (if thats possible). Its time people relized that and stopped living in the past. How did brocky go at The mountain last year???? did he beat ambrose in Qualifing or the race?? They would have had very equal cars.

[Senna05]

I think that all of this talk is totally irrelevant!

The only way we can even look at this, is how we all look at ambrose in 25 years.

All of this talk is like trying to say that the current Ford GT or HSV GTS is comparable in prestige and uniqueness to a GTHO or GTR-XU1.

[stmorri]

IMHO Brock never was as good as his record suggests. Most of his Bathurst victories came after Ford withdrew from motorsport in OZ and left Brock the No.1 driver for the only factory team competing. To further add to my argument was his efforts driving BMW M3's and Ford Sierra's......nothing outstanding there. Having said that, he wasn't responsible for Ford withdrawing and he certainly made the most of his opportunities, that was his good fortune and anyone else with any ability that was in that position would have done exactly the same......that's life.

[TSR]

Originally Posted by Average Punter

There has been no more impressive performance in the sport in modern memory - and that includes Peter Brock.


Just goes to show how good Mr Kershler's "modern memory" is.................

So true, just more of Aussie Bernie BS PR.

[Conrod Kieron]

So how many ATCC's did Brock win in his first 5 or so years racing tin tops?

Theres no doubt about Brocks abilities as a driver, but as stmorri mentioned, the peak of Brocks driving carrer was when Ford pulled out of the sport and he drove for what was essentially a factory team and even then, the privateer Johnson stole the odd few championships and a Bathurst at the time.

As for Ambrose, I agree with Senna, we need a few years to see what happens, its clear Marcos has the makings of another Brock (as did Lowndes) though.

[peckstar]

see i read this article, and i thought it was saying he was like brock, but after WA he is no longer like him, wheer once we could hold him up as the guy in the white hat (like brock). now he is the guy in the black hat