Eastern Creek

[Phil]

Well I just thought I'd add a comment..

Another year of V8supercars goes by and no doubt you all know there has been a changing of the guard.

Ford has taken out the 2003 championship with Marcus Ambrose winning at the creek. Well done to the Stone Brothers Team and Marcus it was a deserved win!.

However there was the incident with Mark Skaife and Russell Ingal that has turned alot of heads. I had the video tape playing for both races and picked up this incident. The sportsmanship displayed by Russell was horrendous. After viewing the replays and the incident in real time in my opinion it was deliberate and calculated. Russell stated in a press release after the race that there was no way he was going to back off from the situation.

Russell was running in P3 and still had a compulsory pitstop for tyres to complete. He was always going to be at the back of the pack and that's that. but instead of allowing Skaife to progress with his race he took him out. I do not condone the actions of Skaife after the incident where he waited on the track for Russell to recirculate so he could give him mouth full, it placed both drivers in a very dangerous situation, with Russell swerving towards Skaife (Which Russell also stated in the same press release that he thought Skaife was going to throw something at his car!!) where he would get that idea from who knows.

The driving display by Russell clearly was not justified and should be dealt with serverly. Anyone that points a car travelling at speed at a person should loose their licence to drive a motor car...

My intention is not to piss anyone off here but I was pretty angry with what transpired. In my mind the Best Driver won the championship this year..

Roll on 2004 and go Holden Racing Team.

Phil

 

[Jaime S.]

Ingall was a bastard. I used to think he was a good bloke but not anymore.

Good on Skaifey for stickin' up for himself.

Ingall should be suspended for a year for attempted murder.

Cheers,
Jaime S.

 

[markovr]

I reckon it was always Ingalls intention to help Ambrose's cause be it against anyone with a threat to the limelight of winning race 2 at Eastern Creek.
He admitted to the press beforehand that he would help Ambrose anyway he could ( legally... tongue in cheek)and this reflected this in the other incidient in New Zealand with him running as a shepard so Ambrose could get past Seton.
His actions at the creek was intent on holding Skaife up as long as he could so in the event of a safety car Skaife could not have a shot at the lead and take the shine in a small way from his team mate winning the championship.
The stewards did their best to cloud the situation by saying Skaife should have got over the fence straight away and not shaken his fist at Ingall.
However if you look at the video Ingalls car turns hard right after he punts Skaife showing his ultimate contact was no accident and he finished the race ok showing his car's steering had no defect during or after the Skaife incident.
How did he avoid a drive through? Any other driver would have got one..... the stewards make decisions to suit who is involved and their obvious intent was to make sure ford got the money this year.
Ambrose is the outstanding winning driver for 2003 but his team mate is the loser.

Anyway thats my opinon
Mark

 

[Darren]

I was working all weekend and didn't see either of the races

I heard about it and thought yeh that's typical Ingall, since he has moved from Holden to ford he drives more like a kid driving a dodgem car rather than a V8, how many incidents has he been involved in this year?

One things for sure with Skaife pissed off by all this is should be a good year next year assuming the 3 race suspension is lifted, if not well you may as well hand the championship again to Ambrose unless of course Murphy can come up with something. It would be good to see Brighty or even Richards make some ground but I guess we'll have to see.

Considering all this blueprint rubbish Holden haven't done too badly this year, ford teams were pushing for parity and they got it. Now the problems with the ford suspension has been ironed out by the front runner Holden teams it should be quite good next year and Holden will once again dominate.

We wouldn't have the need for parity if ford knew how to build race car package!

 

[Phil]

Hi all,

At this stage (According to Auto Action) the two drivers have a 3 round ban suspended for 12 months.

That means they will still be able to race at the first round but they will be on a probation for 12 months, effectivly the whole season.

What is strange is Mark Skaife received the following penaltys
Fine: $10,000 for ingnorning the Marshal's directive.
Points loss: 30 for the intial contact then a further 75 points for ignoring a Track Marshal's directive to retreat to safty behind the wall.

Russell Ingal received the following penaltys
Fine: $15,000 for the swerving at skaife
Points loss: 70 points for the racing contact and was excluded from all results at the creek.

Nice and fair system they hand down. As stated above "where was the drive through penalty for turning someone around?.. answer "driving incident". If it was a driving incident why were the drivers penalised for contact?

As an addition to the whole thing. Russell Ingal gave the HRT team "the Bird" as he exited his pit after getting tyres. Russell claims he was provoked. tit-for-tat..

I am pretty passionate about my V8supercar racing and the team I have supported (HRT) even back in the days when they were not even finishing races for many years. I think I might write a letter to the editor of wheels and motor mags and see what that sparks... I might even write one to HRT, these guys are the benchmark of the sport and should have acted far more superior.

As a mate of mine said FORD desperatly needed this win and the championship. So I guess if your in desperation that is obviously the only way they you win races.

Cheers all

 

[Phil]

Oh Darren,

If you would like a copy of the race send me a PM and I will send it off to you...

Cheers

Phil

 

[Darren]

Thanks for the offer Phil but I think I would rather not see it considering the Stone Age Bros won. If Skaife won on the otherhand I would love it.

 

[seventh path]

ford needed the win but i think since holden had a dodgy year they will come back twice as hard.......but it was good to see competition this year....a bit of variety!

 

[dragrat]

Maybe Skaife should have picked up a rock?!
Bad sportsmanship regardless of the Team @ fault.. but it did make good veiwing and great pub talk.

 

[jetspin_vn]

As far as I can see no ford would have stood a chance had it not been for the new blueprint laws. In fact chances were high of them packing a typical sad and not entering at all. Ingall is a total tosser (most ford drivers are) and by god I hope Murph and Skaife give him and ambrose their just desserts this year. Further to that, Murph's new colour scheme for the number 51 car looks mint!