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00:00After more than a year's planning, a world motorsport spectacle is about to commence.
00:30This is the valley of the V8s. Hidden Valley Raceway, Darwin. Deep in the heart of crocodile
00:37country. Only today there's some new predators on the prowl. Louder, faster and a lot more powerful.
00:45With two rounds to go, the 98 series is a cliffhanger after a devastating downpour
00:51cut short round eight. If we don't go out I think there are going to be a bunch of girls if we don't.
00:56Calder had everything. Debut of the all-new VT Commodore. Brake failure for Russell Ingle
01:02costing crucial points. A fairy tale come true. Victory for rookie Jason Bargwijn.
01:11And the youngest podium in Shell Series history. The wait is over. From the cold of Calder to the
01:18heat of the tropical north. The Northern Territory plays host to the nation's premier touring car
01:23series. The Shell Australian Touring Car Championship. Exclusive to your home of motorsport.
01:30Network 10. You'll never never know if you never have a go.
01:54Well the wait is finally over. Here we are in Darwin in the Northern Territory and this is
02:09Hidden Valley. One of the most exciting recent developments in Australian motorsport and for
02:14the first time this track will play host to a round of the V8s. Hello I'm Lee Diffie and welcome
02:19to round nine of the Shell V8 Supercar Championship here in the Northern Territory. It's a fantastic
02:24place and today is a really special day because today marks the point where this championship is
02:29truly an Australian one. To give you an indication of where we are let's have a look at the Northern
02:34Territory because we really are right up in the top end. This gives you an indication there of
02:38just how far from Alice Springs. In terms of the town it takes us about 10 minutes in the car each
02:43morning to travel out to the circuit. It's about 5km from Darwin Airport. Joining us once again is
02:48Greg Murphy. Thanks to be here. I'm sure you're glad to be here. It's fantastic. It's what a place,
02:53what a day. Obviously they get wet like this all the time and I think it's gonna be very hard for
02:56the drivers today in the cars. It'll be around 50 degrees maybe more inside the car but look at the
03:01place. Fantastic. I think they've all done a great job up here. Place looks good. The track's good.
03:05Drivers seem to be very happy with it and I think we're in for some really good racing. Well talking
03:09to some people back down south the most popularly asked question, most popular question is what's
03:14the track like? Well I mean it's got some really good pieces to it. A long straight 1.1 kilometers
03:19long and I think that's going to play host to some good overtaking opportunities down the end of the
03:22straight and obviously everyone's in the same boat. It's new to everyone and I think they're
03:26all going to be looking for some opportunities out there. Well qualifying was an exciting time
03:29and it was a very special time too for young Jason Bright because he picked up his first ever
03:34pole position denying Holden their 100th championship pole position from Craig Lowndes
03:39and Mark Scafer was very tight in the closing stages. Barguana did exceptionally well picking
03:44up a second row spot there. So too Mark Larkham. That was his best one for the year from memory.
03:49We go all the way back to Glenn Seton rounding out the top 10. Now Mark Osler when we look at
03:54that young Jason Bright on pole position for the very first time. First time here at Hidden Valley.
03:58It's not a bad effort for a rookie. Well that's impressive for a rookie but if you think about it
04:02every driver here is a rookie. No driver in V8 supercars competed here before so it's been a
04:06whole new ball game for the lot of them. I caught up with them earlier to see how they're coping with
04:09the new layout. Absolutely fantastic. I mean it's such a good circuit and they've done such
04:15a great job here in little time. But yeah it's great. It's got a bit of everything you know.
04:19Fast straight, tight tricky corners and it's got a bit of everything. So enjoying it. Quite exciting
04:25actually. It's got 1.1 kilometers straight. It's not getting the speeds that we hoped for or what
04:30we expected but definitely very exciting. You're going down here so you can hear the bikes go past
04:34and you've got eventually a hairpin corner down the end. So you're going from sixth back to second.
04:39Trying to pull off a 1350 kilo car. It's quite exciting. Oh look I think it's great. The crowd
04:43are going to see some excellent racing because of the limited passing areas. There's going to be a
04:46lot of punting and I think the only way to get down the inside is to have a big go. It's quite
04:51tight. I mean it's really tight. Not quite tight. And then it's got this incredibly long straight.
04:56So I mean it creates its own set of problems. It's certainly like nothing else I've driven on.
05:01I do like it. I think the heat throws are a real challenge at all the drivers and I can see
05:07a bit of barge and lots of pedal damage here. I really can't. Yeah it's a pretty busy little
05:11circuit up the back here. There's a nice long straight, big braking areas, tight little corners.
05:15I reckon it's fun. Well the championship is far from over although this is the penultimate round.
05:21Craig Lowndes has a 34 point lead over Russell Engle and those two guys if you don't know already
05:27they have to drive the new VT Commodore this round. So it's going to be on for young and old.
05:31Perkins, Scaife, Bower, Bright. It's tight through the middle section there. We go all the way back
05:35to Jason Barguana and Tony Longhurst. Well please make sure you rejoin us after the break
05:40because this is History in the Making.
06:05Well if you get the opportunity you should really make an effort to come up to the Northern
06:26Territory. It's just been fantastic. We've had such a great time during the week. We've been up here
06:30most of it since Wednesday or Thursday. It's just been a tremendous time. It's a really great place
06:36but this is what we're here for. The V8 supercars and as we get ready for race one, Greg Murphy,
06:40take us through the track. Yeah new circuit obviously for everyone. Everyone's on an even
06:43par. Turn one, a bit of a passing opportunity going into there. Constant radius corner around
06:48there. Turn two, another one going into three and four I think. Five, six, seven and eight.
06:52Important section and a good run on off onto the main straight out of turn nine is imperative for
06:58a good run down the main straight. 1.1 kilometers long. Well speaking of a good run, someone who had
07:02a great run in qualifying was Pertec Ford driver Jason Bryde. Oh for sure we've been saying all
07:07year that Hidden Valley is our best opportunity. No one will have an advantage on us because
07:11they've been here before and our car has just been fantastic all weekend. The guys have done such a
07:16great job. We've had a really good car since the start of Calder and we've been in the top three
07:21ever since the first session at Calder and I'd just like to give this one to the guys because
07:25they've been working really hard. Yeah he certainly did it well as we check the shell helix grid for
07:30you. Jason Bryde for the first time ever starts from pole position from championship leader Craig
07:34Lowndes. Mark Scaife out of three. He had quite a bad accident in qualifying. Jason Barguana starts
07:39out of four. Good run to Mark Larkin in the Mitre 10 Ford. He's up in fifth position alongside John
07:44Bow. Tony Longhurst, good run from him too. And the Castrol Ford and Russell Ingle, our championship
07:48chaser. He's back in eighth. Go back to nine, his teammate Larry Perkins and Glenn Seaton rounding
07:52out the 10. Faulkner and Ellery, they share 11 and 12. Alan Jones and the Komatsu Ford out of 13. Garth
07:57Tandor and the Gary Rogers motorsport car 14. 15. Dick Johnson and Paul Romano out of 16. Back to
08:0317, Darren Pei who out qualified his teammate Thomas Mazera. Terry Finnegan in 19 and Mark Poole out 20.
08:10As you watch these positions just look to the right of your screen you'll see those little logos
08:13there. The F alongside John Briggs name that denotes the Ford or the H is for Holden and the Y, the D
08:19and the B that denotes the tyre brands Yokohama, Dunlop or Bridgestone. We go back position 29 Darcy
08:26Russell, Danny Osborne out of 30. Jeff Kendrick and Mike Imre. And off the back row Robert Smith,
08:33Charles Ryman there. On the back row Greg Crick, he had a oil pump failure in qualifying. He didn't
08:37get to do a fast time that's why he's right off the back. A lot of work to do. Now for Ford fans
08:41something you may have noticed there. No Stephen Johnson racing for Live Falcon. Stayed in Brisbane
08:46for this round and the team have been working on preparation for the endurance races in Sandtown
08:52in the Australian 1000 Classic. We are set to go. The first time ever in the Northern Territory.
08:57Hidden Valley is set to erupt. There is a huge crowd here at Hidden Valley and we are set just
09:02seconds away. Away we go. Bright got away to a beauty. Lowndes bogged it down off the line.
09:07That's what Jason Bright needed as they head down. Seton's gone out wide and Russell Ingalls come
09:12right through and Mark Warner. They've gone around. Scaife's got the lead into the first corner.
09:17Unbelievable the tight stuff. We were waiting for that. I was waiting for that one to happen.
09:2235 V8s trying to shuffle into that first turn. You can see they're getting ready to muscle each
09:26other. Look at them. They're going all over the place. Somebody in the inside there. It was 11,
09:30Larry Perkins. He's been spun and it looked like Bauer went out also. So plenty of contact in the
09:35first turn. It's Mark Scaife who leads the way. It looked like Mark Lark have got up in the second
09:40spot from Jason Bright. Ellery is well placed and there is Perkins stuck in turn one. Now he gets
09:45going. And Craig Lowndes got an absolute terrible start. He bogged it down. Didn't get away well.
09:50He's back in about sixth. Just got past Stephen Ellery. So he's making progress but way back in
09:55the field. Russell Ingalls is ahead of him at this stage. Well Russell did a superb job. He took
09:58maximum advantage of that. He thought he'd jump up a few positions at the start. Look at him. He's up
10:02in fourth position after starting eighth. What about Mark Scaife? He doesn't qualify a pole. He
10:06gets a blinder. Leads into turn one. Changed it around hasn't it? Well he said after qualifying
10:10yesterday he had a rotten running qualifying win. Third's not a rotten run. He crashed the car as
10:14well and he said well maybe the fact I've got a bad qualifying run is going to give me a bit of
10:17luck in the race. More than that. Have a look who's sitting in second spot. Mark Larkham in the
10:21Minotaur Falconers. We have a look for the replay. So we've gone down. Someone's dived to the inside.
10:25It's Larry Perkins. Locked it up. You can see him spinning right on the inside. Bark one has gone.
10:29Bauer's gone. Larry really went in too fast by the looks of it from where we're sitting. And look at
10:34the traffic jam behind him. Everyone's trying to find a way past. They're all recovering. Bargwana
10:39recovers last. Bauer on the outside. This time we see it. And I would say Bargwana. Yep. Larry.
10:45Russell Engle looks like he's tapped the back of Bright who's turned Bargwana around. And you
10:49couldn't see behind Russell. There's a whole chain of cars behind him. So it could have been a huge
10:52domino effect going in there. It was definitely a big domino effect. Bargwana tried to recover as
10:57quick as he could. But turn one was going to be pretty tight. It certainly was. Very dynamic start.
11:03It's all going Mark Scaife's way at the moment though. Then we go back to Larcombe. How about
11:06this? And Russell Engle. He won't be able to believe he's lucky. Sitting there in fourth
11:10position behind Jason Bright. And a big gap back to Craig Lowndes who looks like he's worked his
11:14way past. Yes. Tony Longhurst. Yeah. Craig's made a move on Tony. He'll be really really trying hard
11:19to get back up and bridge that gap between him and Russell as soon as he can. So the order now.
11:23Scaife, Larcombe, Bright, Engle. There's one of our... Oh. Cold wheel. Dear oh dear. The castrol
11:29hit. He's tasted the tyre wall pretty hard. Just look at that. Oh I don't know. He's...
11:35That's now after... That's after turn one. Oh yeah. What's happened now? I don't know. He's...
11:39It's after turn one. He's running along the outside of the circuit. Then he's just hit the wall. So
11:43maybe he had a problem on the steering or something before that. Look at this. Russell
11:48Engle all over the back of Jason Bright. So Engle didn't qualify that well. He was a little bit
11:52disappointed. He was in eighth position. He has now worked his way up into fourth. And very soon
11:57looks like he's going to be in the top three. Has a look up the inside. You can see Jason Bright.
12:00There's a turn four there or turn two or turn three. A passing opportunity and Bright. He was
12:05covering the inside. Making sure Russell couldn't come up. It's a fantastic run from Mark Larcombe.
12:09We've seen glimpses of competitiveness from the minor ten forward throughout the season.
12:14This really has been a tremendous start. He took advantage and he's right up there running in
12:18second position. Keep in mind he only qualified fifth. So he made great gains. He's holding up
12:22this high speed trade behind him. Russell Engle. Boy is he going to be pushing hard. Well the thing
12:25is when you look back at some of the rounds this season. I think Larcombe qualified 19th in one
12:30round. It was disastrous. But he's been very consistent and very quick in terms of the one
12:34off laps this weekend. So if you can hold them together. He's got his teammate and Bright right
12:38behind him. This is the on-board shot from Russell Engle's new VT Commodore. Well the pressure is on.
12:43Craig Lowndes has definitely closed that gap and is catching these guys. As you can see Jason
12:48Bright's Falcon rocket away from from Russell Engle down the straight and pulled a bit of a gap.
12:53So the VT not quite as quick down the straight at this stage. Well we're worried about the battle
12:59of the VTs in terms of Engle and Lowndes affecting their championship hopes. They're placed fourth
13:04and fifth at the moment. They're going to be battling each other one-on-one. Meanwhile Scape
13:08just cruises out. Tertek Ford driver Jason Bright looking for every opportunity. They're all starting
13:14to bunch up now behind Larcombe. As we have a look at the triple elementary working away there.
13:19This is on Russell Engle's car. Have a look at this battle now for second, third and fourth.
13:24Well Larcombe had some engine drivers yesterday that made an engine change overnight
13:27and looks like they'll be holding up the bunch here. Mark Scape's taking full advantage of that too.
13:32A 1.10.87 that time around. Larcombe a 1.11.1. So Scape's starting to build it. He's got it up to
13:37over two seconds now. Can't get any closer than this. Russell really looking for a way past.
13:42He's underneath him now. And a nice contact around. And here comes Craig Lowndes. He should get a great
13:49run on the straight which he does. He's benefited from this greatly. And Bright's trying to recover.
13:54He's doing circles. Well a really aggressive move by Russell Engle down the inside coming onto the
13:59main straight. You can see the contact there between the Tertek Ford and the new Castrol VT.
14:03There's Engle now. Down the inside of Russell Engle. I'm telling you Russell Engle would have
14:08seen Craig Lowndes catching up. He knew he had to make a move on on Jason Bright as soon as he
14:11possibly could. I don't really think turn nine is a good place to be doing it. It was all close at Biff and Barge.
14:18And Bright was the big loser from pole to well near the back of the pack. He will be so steamed
14:23up about that. He was so pumped up to taking his first pole position yesterday. Let's have a look
14:27at that again. He did another another angle at that one. But Russell was committed to going in
14:33that hole. He decided he was going to do it. Jason's come off very good now. He's up the inside.
14:41See Jason's very committed to that corner. There's one line around there. Russell was over the white
14:46line. So it's going to be up to Clark of course to make a decision on that one. Look how steamed up
14:52Jason Bright was. Boy look at Engle now. Wheels over the sides of the kerb. Getting very very
14:57aggressive. He's dropped back from Craig Lowndes too. A fair bit in that lap and he's obviously
15:01trying very hard. Look at the gap now. So maybe he's damaged the front steering on that car. I
15:05don't think it's handling that good. Well he's running back there. He's just done a 1.12.35.
15:09The three cars in front of him here quicker. Craig Lowndes looking for a way past Mark Larkham.
15:14There's still a couple of car lengths between those two. Meanwhile Mark Scaife has increased
15:18his lead. Now there he goes. Disappearing out of shot to three seconds as Lowndes presses up on
15:22the inside of Mark Larkham. Can't quite get him there. Larkham's got the run through this next
15:27flip-flop section. Then we go into a right-hander from here. We'll see if Lowndes looks up the
15:31inside. The defensive line from Larkham. This could be an opportunity for Craig now. He gets
15:36a good run out of here and flip over the other side. But Larkham will cover the line going into
15:39turn four. Another opportunity. You can see the speed of the VT. Larkham is holding Craig up in
15:44the moment. And he ran wide at turn one which allowed Craig to get alongside him. And now I
15:51think it's only a matter of time before he does make a move. Well it's good just to see Mark
15:55Larkham up there in a racing situation. We very rarely get to see him up the front but he's doing
15:59extremely well at the moment battling Craig Lowndes for that second spot. You can see the
16:03difference in corner speed there through that Bridgestone race cam. And we'll see what happens
16:08when he comes out on the straight this time. Who gets a better drive? Craig, look at the look how
16:12much speed he carried through the corner. And he's got a great run on the straight. And I'll say he'll
16:17make a move right down the inside going into turn one under brakes. Fantastic shot from our chopper
16:21as Lowndes sneaks up the inside. He's going to attack under brakes big time. He's got it covered.
16:26Second spot. Very quick run from the VT out of that corner onto the main straight. And Russell
16:29Engle now closing in on the back of the Mitre 10 Ford. Meanwhile Scaife opening up to the front.
16:33He's done a 1.11, 1.6. These two just did a 1.13. That means Scaife is now five seconds in front
16:39of Lowndes Hispaniola. And I believe, oh we just heard from race control, Russell Engle has popped
16:46a five second penalty for that move on Jason Bright. Well Scaife's just cruising away. He put
16:55two seconds on them on that previous lap. It was three seconds one lap ago. It's now out to 5.09
17:00seconds. Mark Scaife is as good as got this one in the bag but remains as is. Lap 7 of 17. Lots of time
17:07left to go as we ride now with Russell Engle working on the back of Mark Larcombe trying to
17:11get up into a top three position. He's got that penalty so all of us to... He's going to really
17:16open it up for Mark Larcombe and take the pressure off in a big way. So if Russell does have to come
17:21into the pits, which he may do this time, then Larcombe really does get a free run. Yes here he comes now.
17:28Pit the stop go penalty for the move on Jason Bright and he will be fuming with this.
17:33There's our heart rate monitor. You're on board with Russell Engle. This is set up
17:37right on the big ticker. Russell Engle, you can see his heart rate there. 170 beats a minute. We've seen
17:42peaks around 180, 190 during the race and even higher. And remember this is a 60k speed limit
17:48pit lane. It's a very long pit lane also. Look he's having to stop. Ray Robbins there and away he goes.
17:55So Russell way way back now. Watch his heart rate go up too as he guns out of the pits.
18:02Further back in the pack as we still ride with Russell Engle. It's a remarkable thing between
18:06these two guys. Former teammates. This is the battle for fourth and fifth. Longhurst is sitting fourth.
18:12Ellery fifth in the conica. Holden Young-Lyons entry and right behind him 20 year old Garth
18:17Tandor. So this is a great battle for fourth, fifth and sixth. Romano is in there behind them
18:21from Dick Johnson. Alan Jones is inside the top 10 also and John Faulkner sitting in 10th spot.
18:27Oh boy the pack's really shuffling around isn't it? Good competitive run
18:30from Stephen Ellery. I think Tandor actually may have a problem. It looked to me
18:36he had a bit of, it looked like he had a puncture but he's dropped way back. He's got a problem coming
18:40through straight away. Speaking with Fred Gibson, Gibson Motorsport team owner this morning and he
18:45said well just the difference is the tyres. He said the Yokohamas are working really well here.
18:49Great to see Stephen Ellery up inside the top five. It's hot here in the Northern Territory.
18:54The action's hot on the track. We'll be back right after this.
18:58Welcome back to Darwin's Hidden Valley Circuit. Now if you've just joined us this is the story
19:02of race one. It has been action-packed. It all happened in the first turn. John Bauer went bush
19:07so too did Larry Perkins. This is your race leader Mark Scaife. He has got almost a five-second gap
19:13lead over John Bauer. He's got a bit of a problem coming through straight away.
19:18He's got a bit of a problem coming through straight away. He's got a bit of a problem coming through
19:22straight away. He's got a bit of a problem coming through straight away. He's got a bit of a problem
19:25five-second gap lead over his teammate in Craig Lowndes who's worked his way past Mark Larkin who's
19:31going exceptionally well in third spot. Russell Ingalls was up there but turned Jason Bright
19:36around and received a stop go penalty. A great battle going on here between Longhurst and Ellery.
19:41Now have a look at this freight train. You've got Faulkner, Dick Johnson, John Bauer has recovered
19:45exceptionally well from Glenn Seaton. There's a really big Ford bunch in there and in behind them
19:49it could have been Bargwana. I tell you what this is really going to hurt Russell Ingall more than
19:53just the pride going into the pits. He's back in 18th position. He was desperate for points here.
19:57That's really going to hurt him. You're on board with him now as he tries to hunt down this pack
20:01but he's dropped way back in the order. He's a long way behind these guys probably five or six
20:05seconds and their laps are running out at the moment so he'll be really really upset with that.
20:10Now I can imagine he'll be trying very hard to get back up but we've seen Russell come back from
20:14from way back before and I'm sure he won't give up the fight. You know the two shell helix team cars.
20:21Dick Johnson ahead of John Bauer. This is their 101st start in the Shell V8 Supercar Championship.
20:28We come on to the beginning of this 1.1 kilometre main straight. They come out of there in second
20:33gear. 90 kilometres per hour and they crank it all the way up almost to 260 k's down this main
20:39straight and then all the way back from sixth down to second gear. It's a really challenging
20:44course in terms of that. Around the back they found out too that there's some passing opportunities.
20:49There is and there's quite a few and also we've seen people get down the inside down the main
20:53straight after someone made a mistake coming onto the front straight. 1.1 kilometres long, 260, 270
20:59kilometres an hour and the braking area is very long so it allows someone to get up the inside.
21:03So we've seen that as we ride with John Bauer now trying to recover from that first lap first
21:07quarter incident. A real quandary for the tyre engineers here at Hidden Valley this weekend.
21:13The track is up inside. John Bauer just sticking up the inside of the boss. What is he going to do
21:18here? The next one's a right-hander so that'll put him on the outside. Be careful that someone's not
21:22sneaking in behind him also so he's minus the rear bumper which came off in the first lap.
21:27New Shell boards running into formation. This is the battle for eighth to ninth position.
21:32Glenn Seaton in behind in tenth. But so yeah the tyre engineers both Dunlop and Bridgestone faced
21:37with sort of an unusual track. Half of it's been resurfaced as part of the upgrade to full FII
21:42regulation. Half of it's still the original rough surface so it's been a real difficult decision for
21:47them but all of them have gone for the hardest tyre in the range just to make sure they can last
21:50under these very high temperatures. Well temperatures yesterday can't give you any feedback at the
21:54moment but they're up to 51 degrees celsius on the track so it's very very hot. V8 Supercar website
22:01there. Latch onto it, have a look. Some interesting stuff as we ride with John Bauer. Now this is the
22:07view back from Dick Johnson's car looking at Bauer. Seaton isn't too far off the pace in Bargwana to
22:12his credit has recovered well on the inside. Now good passing manoeuvre and Glenn's trying to follow suit
22:19but didn't quite get in there. But JB was obviously getting held up a little bit by Dick so he's made
22:23that move nice and cleanly and will be away as Dick comes right up behind JB's car. Look who's in
22:29behind this back Jason Bright continuing his fight back after getting turned around on that corner.
22:34He's just at the back of this pack on the tail of Alan Jones and the Komatsu Ford. So he's fighting
22:41his way through but he will be furious. Well it's great to see Alan Jones and Tony Longhurst
22:45improved performance this weekend. The first time they've received the level one Dunlop rubber so
22:50it's obviously making a difference. Good to see him up there. Jason Bargwana from last up to 11th.
22:56I mean he's showing us he can storm back through the field after having a having a misdemeanor and
23:00you can see the front of his car there just behind Glenn Seaton with all that damage to the front.
23:04So he's been storming back through and sits in 11th at the moment. Meanwhile in the lead Craig
23:08Lowndes digging deep. He's just on a 1.114.7 scape of a 1.126. The gap now has come down to 3.2
23:14seconds and was out to over five. So Lowndes in pursuit of his teammate. Still a few laps remaining.
23:19This is great for Mark Larkham the Gold Coast resident. The 34 year old with a big open wheeler
23:25background. A former Australian Formula Ford champ and well he's been waiting a long time for this.
23:31A good result I'm talking about. He's had quite a dreadful year. He's been struggling with setup
23:36and trying to do a few different things. At least he hasn't had as many accidents as he has in the
23:40past and this will certainly put a smile on his dial. And he's easily pulling away from Tony Long
23:44just at the moment also. So his gap is getting bigger. He's losing a little bit of time to
23:49Craig Lowndes but doing a good job there in third spot. I don't think I've ever seen a guy who works
23:54hard at the response too. They think the Mitre 10 setup is something like 500 sports across the
23:58country. He coordinates the whole deal. He does a lot of it himself and he's very very active on the
24:03sponsor front the Mitre 10 Ford. They've stuck in with him and good on him because the car
24:06proving its competitiveness here at Hidden Valley. Well that's the thing I bet you he's saying now
24:10look see I can do it. Have a look at this because Stephen Ellery's trying to do it on Tony Longhurst.
24:15The Castrol Ford holding out the Konica Commodore as they come down into turn one. They're coming up
24:20on the back of Darcy Russell. We've got four laps left to run here at Hidden Valley in the opening
24:25race. The very first time a round of the Shell V8 Supercar Championship has been held here.
24:31It's been fantastic. There is a huge crowd. I don't think there's anybody left back in
24:35Darwin Central today because they're all here at the track as Russell gives Ellery a little
24:39bit of racing room to come on through as he continues his battle with Tony Longhurst. It's
24:43great to see Stephen Ellery up here in the Konica car. Young Lion's entry. I mean he's had a tough
24:48year so far and to see him up there in fifth spot great. There's Paul Romano right behind him too.
24:53Not far behind. Oh one of the Shell Fords out in the dust there. I think it's Dick Johnson's car.
24:58John Bauer. John Bauer. Look he's got a guard rubbing too. He's been in the... Yep there's been a bit of a
25:01touch there too. He's had a touch from someone else and the guard is rubbing on the tyre.
25:05There's Bargwana who's made... got past both Dick Johnson and Glenn Seton. So he's made more room,
25:11made more progress as well. John got turned around at that first corner. He's been carrying battle
25:16damage all through the race but looks like something's starting to rub now. There's a big
25:19dent in his door which I don't think was there before. So I'd say he's had to come in together
25:23with someone. Maybe Bargwana trying to get back through the field. And that gap continues to fall
25:27at the front. Mark Scaife and Craig Lowndes. Lowndes quicker that time. This time around he's just
25:32one hundredth of a second slower than Scaife. It's down to 2.9 seconds. Maybe Scaife's just pulling
25:36it back toward the end of the race. We shall find out. Scaife he's got the opportunity now just to
25:40back off a little bit. Save those tyres. He made a great start and a big lead and he'll be trying
25:44to conserve it to make sure he's got good tyres for the next race. Well here's another person who
25:48would like to prove a point too. Tony Longhurst. He said my car is as quick as any. Give me some
25:53good tyres and I'll show you what it can do. And he's doing it today. Sitting in position number
25:57four. He's held up a determined challenge from Stephen Ellery. Well it really does show the
26:03folly of the tyre situation here too because he's been struggling for years on tyres that
26:08haven't been up to the job. And look at all of a sudden there's the performance of the car relative
26:12to really how much Tony and the team are putting in. We've got three Queenslanders in a row there.
26:17Young Paul Romano was exonerated. He recently had to face Cam's Tribunal and the incident that
26:27happened at Barbagello. So he's happy about that. That time around Craig Lowndes was five tenths
26:34faster than Scaife. That gap is now down to 2.49 seconds. So Lowndes he's still pushing pretty hard
26:39to make the gap on his team mate. You get the impression he's just holding that buffer there
26:43Greg? Just backing off? I'd say so. I mean there's no point in really pushing too hard
26:47Craig knows that he'll sit there and he's still on the front row after a bad start. He's had a
26:52great recovery as we look at Mark Scaife now. And he's got a couple of laps to go to get a second
26:56win for the year and the championship. Well Russell Engle he once went right back to 18th position
27:01after that stop-go penalty. He's moved his way up to 14th now. Lowndes in second but that's still
27:05going to give Craig a huge boost in the championship points. 34 points it was coming into today's round.
27:11The difference between Lowndes at the top and Engle sitting in second spot. It's going to be very
27:16interesting in terms of the minor placings because Mark Scaife was so close to Larry Perkins. He was
27:22only I think 14 points or something like that behind Larry. And he's going to be able to get
27:28into the top three today I would say as we begin our final lap here at Hidden Valley. The first
27:33race there you can see as Lowndes starts to catch up to Mark Scaife. Yeah it's down to 1.5 seconds.
27:42Now I think I just saw at the top of the screen just there Stephen Ellery I think I'm not sure.
27:47Had a bit of an incident coming on to the main straight.
27:53Yes Romano's moved up to fifth now on our leaderboard. So yeah Ellery's dropped right back. There he is. No he's still dropping back.
28:01So he did have a he did have a moment. Here's the replay. Yep.
28:04Here's the replay. Yep. Had a lose. Now that is a shame. Oh boy he was so close to bringing it home in the one lap to go.
28:13This is it. They're on their way home. The two Mobile One HRT Commodores. Mark Scaife who sits
28:18fourth in the championship is going to be so delighted with this as Craig Lowndes turns up
28:24the heat. Sitting in second spot there. It's going to be a Mobile One HRT 1.2. You know what that feels
28:30like Murph. We've got just one corner and about 500 meters to run. It's great for the VT and the
28:37guys have been working very very hard to get this going well and as they come up for a formation
28:41finish. Excellent stuff. Across the line they come. Now he's going to let Craig Lowndes come across.
28:46What Scaife's got problems has he? He's slowed. Slowed right down. There's smoke coming out the back of his car
28:51and Craig Lowndes has actually just taken the win on the line.
28:54And that's a championship improving decision. Championship points there up for grabs and the
28:59team's obviously said Mark come on we need the points. Craig can win the championship today
29:03if Russell has a bad day. If it all goes well. Well as things aren't going well for Dick Johnson
29:07he had a bit of a spin there and it's allowed a lot of competitors to come on through. Now Jason
29:12Bright has worked his way up into the top ten. Can you believe that as we see this
29:15run on home here. Larry Perkins in there behind Dick Johnson. Wow what a first race. What a way
29:21to begin this track's history with the Shell V8 Supercar Championship. A dynamic first race. It all
29:28happened from the first corner didn't it? Well I'm shaking my head. I can't believe this. What
29:31have we got? We've got Jason Bright coming underneath Dick Johnson. Jason obviously really
29:36trying to get back through the field and another very very touchy situation there. I don't think
29:42that was a real good move. But anyway there's Craig Lowndes the winner. Some big big championship
29:47points going his way. 40 points in fact. So Kennedy's going to be extremely satisfied with that. Well done to Mark Scaife too. Top two for Mobile One HRT. Larkham an excellent effort to pick up 30. Stayed out of the trouble and held on. So too did Tony Longhurst and a top five result for young Paul Romano. Forkner did extremely well also. Finishing sixth ahead of Bauer. Marguerite and Bright the two youngsters working their way up into the top ten. We go all the way back to the top ten and we're going to have a look at some of the other races that we've got coming up in the next few days.
30:17Mazera sitting in the top 15. Stay with us here on your home of motorsport. We'll be back right after this.
30:39Well we're here with who I reckon would be the unluckiest racing driver in Australian motor
30:44racing. What happened there? I can't believe it. It actually uh look it's gone on the seven cylinders. We
30:48don't actually know what it's done but it's had an engine drama and basically stopped at the end.
30:52But uh it did it on the uh last lap the second last lap at the end of the straight. It started to miss.
30:57I thought I shouldn't radio and tell the boys this because I'd be in a mad state of panic. I thought
31:00I'd get back and still win it no problem. But as I come onto the straight basically the engine stopped
31:04and I and I really limped to the line after like I could only get back sort of halfway. Everyone
31:09thought you were being very generous there slowing down to give Craig maximum points but uh.
31:13Well look I mean if the team wanted to do that wouldn't have been a problem and as it's turned
31:16out it was no no drama. But uh you know seriously it's just one of those things Mark. I mean my start
31:21was great. The early early laps were good and uh in the end when it's your day it's your day.