Dale Wood picked up his 5th last-place
finish of his career, while Chris Pither picked up his 3rd last-place
finish of his career, when their #21 Advam/GB Holden retired with
crash damage after 45 of the race's 161 laps. The finish came in
Wood's 32nd start, and Pither's 17th start. and moves Dale Wood into
sole possession of the 2014 V8 LASTCAR Championship lead.
The resurfacing of the Mt. Panorama
circuit caused carnage throughout practice, qualifying and the race.
During qualifying three cars crashed. The first car in the wall was
David Reynolds in the #55 Bottle-O Ford, who crashed hard at Reed
park after trying to get around Todd Kelly in the #7 Jack Daniels
Nissan, causing the first of two red flags in the session.
Next to crash was Jamie Whincup in the
#1 Red Bull Australia/Air Force Holden, who crashed at the cutting
(turn 4), bringing out the second red flag of the event.
Shane Van Gisbergen slapped the wall at
the dipper (turn 15) after the session restarted, but the damage
wasn't major and he managed to complete the qualifying session.
The biggest shunt of the event was
reserved for the final practice session on Saturday. Going into turn
2, Warren Luff lost the brakes on the #2 SP Tools Holden, spinning on
just the rear brakes, he collected Craig Lowndes, sending both cars
into the turn 2 tire barrier, with Luff's car flipping over onto it's
roof. While Craig Lowndes' car was repaired, The #2 SP Tools Holden's
chassis was safety compromised, forcing the team to withdraw from the
event.
Despite Chazz Mostert in the #6 Pepsi
Max Ford originally starting in the rear, Todd Kelly in the #7 Jack
Daniels Racing Nissan stalled on the starting grid, causing him to
drop to the rear of the field and as a result of stalling at the
start, had to start from pit-lane.
By lap 3, Ant Pederson in the #111
Super Black Racing Ford had fallen to the rear, but Chazz Mostert
returned to last by lap 4. On lap 8, Michael Caruso in the #36 Norton
Hornet pitted, falling to the rear in the process. Next to pit was
Tim Slade in the #10 Supercheap Auto Holden, taking him to the rear
of the field. Several drivers fell to the rear as the pit-stops
cycled through, and by lap 20 last-place belonged to Todd Kelly in
the #7 Nissan Altima.
Then on lap 26, Luke Youlden, who had
taken over from Fabian Coulthard in the #14 Lockwood holden in a pit-stop, locked up heading
into the chase, bogging the car in the sand and triggering the first
safety car, dropping them to the rear of the field.
Luke Youlden held the last-place until
lap 46 when two incidents occured that would seal Dale Wood as the
leader of the 2014 Australian V8 LASTCAR championship. The caution
came out when Fabian Coulthard in the #14 Lockwood Holden, and the first
incident was car #6 going into the wall at turn 2, where at the time
the track was starting to break up (I also think the track may have
been breaking up at the dipper also), as everyone was slowing up at
the top of the hill, David Wall in the #21 ADVAM/GB Holden came
around the blind turn 9 and ploughed into the back of Andrew Jones in
the #8 BOC Holden, the force of which sent Jones into the back of
Nick Percat/Oliver Gavin (didn't see the crash so not sure who was in
the car), the stupid crash ended Wood's race. Andrew Jones finished 3 laps down in 14th.
After a 68 minute red flag the rest of
the bottom five was filled out within the following 40 laps. Next to
fall out was Steven Johnson and David Wall in the #17 Wilson
Security/1994 Tribute Ford, who suffered a trans-axle failure at the
top of the mountain, sending the #17 into the wall and out of the
race, his teammate Scott Pye in the #16 Wilson Security Ford, who
after crashing at turn 2 just before the red flag was called, then a
suspension failure on lap 66 sending car #16 hard into the wall at
the chase. Pye was unhurt, but the car was totaled, Tim Slade in the
#10 Supercheap Auto Holden who firstly slammed the wall at turn 6,
then arrowed across the track and into the inside wall at turn 7 and
Robert Dahlgren in the #34 Valvoline Volvo, who smacked the wall at
the cutting (turn 4) after giving Shane Van Gisbergen in the #97 VIP
Petfoods Holden a bit too much room. All of these crashes brought out
five of the 10 cautions in the race.
Australian V8 LASTCAR Statistics
With just 8 races left in the
championship, Only Ford and Nissan can stop Holden taking out the
2014 Australian V8 LASTCAR Manufacturer's championship, and only if
one of the two manufacturer's has a driver finish last in every race
from here to final race at Sydney.
Lastcar
Standings.
The Bottom Five
| Dale Wood/Chris Pither |
45 Laps |
Crash |
| David Wall/Steven Johnson |
64 Laps |
Crash |
| Scott Pye/Ashley Walsh |
70 Laps |
Crash |
| Tim Slade/Tony D'Alberto |
102 Laps |
Crash |
| Robert Dahlgren/Greg Ritter |
114 Laps |
Crash |
Manufacturer
Standings:
Holden: 14
Ford, Nissan: 8
Volvo: 4
Mercedes: 1
Driver
Standings:
Dale
Wood: 5
Todd Kelly: 4
Tim Slade,
David Reynolds, Robert
Dahlgren, Scott Pye, James
Moffat: 3
David Wall,
Jack Perkins:
2
Nick
Percat, Garth Tander, Scott McLaughlin, Shane Van
Gisbergen, Will Davison,
Craig Lowndes, Michael
Caruso, Chris Pither:
1
Why was Dale Wood's accident at the top of the mountain? Dale Wood didn't slow down as he was coming up to what he full knew was a blind corner, and he didn't have a spotter at the top of the mountain for tracking safety cars and track blockages.
