Repco Australia Superlastcar Championship

Saturday, 17 June 2023

Jack Smith leads after first lap crash and Overheating Engine ends his race at Hidden Valley

Jack Smith picked up the 9th last-place finish of his career when his #4 SCT Logistics Holden retired with an Overheating Engine after 3 of the race's 35 Laps. The finish came in Smith's 117th start, is his 2nd of the Season, and puts Jack Smith in the lead of the 2023 Virgin Australia Superlastcar Championship.

2023 has been a typical year for Jack Smith who’s in his fourth year in the main game. He ran for Brad Jones Racing all years. He was 24th in Practice 1 and rose to 22nd in Practice 2. He improved further to 19th in Qualifying.

James Courtney in the #5 Snowy River Mountains Ford started the race in the rear, but before the end of the first lap, Declan Fraser in the #56 Tradie Ford and Matthew Payne in the #19 Penrite Oils Ford collided, damaging the former’s steering and costing them 7 laps in the Garage, dropping them to last. In the aftermath check-up, Jack Smith in the #4 SCT Logistics Holden slammed into the back of Jack LeBrocq in the #34 Truck Assist Holden, damaging the Radiator on the former. Smith would circulate for a few laps while Fraser’s car was repaired before Smith retired as his car Overheated. Smith would fall to last on Lap 10.

David Reynolds in the #26 Penrite Oils Ford would be punted by Nick Percat in the #2 NTI Ford, sending Reynolds down to the Bottom Five. Splitting Fraser and Payne was Will Davison in the #17 Shell V-Power Ford after losing 3 laps in the garage with Steering damage.

The Bottom Five

Jack Smith	3 Laps	Overheating
Declan Fraser	29 Laps	Running
Will Davison	32 Laps	Running
Matthew Payne	34 Laps	Running
David Reynolds	34 Laps	Running

Driver Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Jack Smith	2	4	6
2	Cameron Hill	2	3	4
3	Declan Fraser	1	6	9
4	Nick Percat	1	4	5
5T	Thomas Randle	1	2	3
5T	Tim Slade	1	2	3
5T	Todd Hazelwood	1	2	3
8	Shane Van Gisbergen	1	2	2
9	Mark Winterbottom	1	1	2
10	Cameron Waters	1	1	2
11T	Chaz Mostert	1	1	1
11T	Broc Feeney	1	1	1
13	James Courtney	0	3	6
14	Macauley Jones	0	2	5
15	David Reynolds	0	2	3
16	Jack LeBrocq	0	2	2
17	Anton De Pasquale	0	1	3
18T	Will Brown	0	1	1
18T	Brodie Kostecki	0	1	1
18T	Will Davison	0	1	1
21	Matthew Payne	0	0	3
22T	James Golding	0	0	2
22T	Andre Heimgartner	0	0	2
24	Zane Goddard	0	0	1

Team Championship

Pos	Team	Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Matt Stone Racing	2	2/2	6/2	6/2
2	Tim Blanchard Racing	1	1	2	3
3T	Tickford Racing	4	3/4	10/4	19/4
3T	Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	2/2	5/2	6/2
5	Red Bull/Ampol Racing	3	2/3	3/3	4/3
6	Team 18 Racing	2	1/2	1/2	1/2
7	Premair Hire Racing	2	1/2	3/2	4/2
8	Brad Jones Racing	4	2/4	6/4	11/4
9	Penrite Racing	2	0	3/2	7/2
10	Dick Johnson Racing	2	0	2/2	4/2
11	Erebus Racing	2	0	1	1

Manufacturer Championship

Pos	Manufacturer	Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Chevrolet	15	9/15	21/15	32/15
2	Ford	11	5/11	21/11	38/11

Massive car Fire leaves Waters last at Darwin

Original by Fox Sports, edited by me.

Cameron Waters picked up the 6th last-place finish of his career when his #6 Monster Energy Ford retired due to a fire after 3 of the race's 35 laps. The finish came in Waters' 242nd start.

Cameron Waters is a veteran of the Supercars series, first joining after a racing cadet program in 2011. He would be paired with Grant Denyer, but they'd crash early and complete an insufficient number of Laps to be classified. After that, Waters would enter Super 2 and do well before joining the main game full-time in 2016. He has spent every year of his career with Tickford Racing.

Nick Percat in the #2 NTI Ford started the race in the rear, but quickly Jack Smith in the #4 SCT Logistics Holden battles with Declan Fraser in the #56 Tradie Ford for last. Fraser would win and immediately pit with a damaged wheel, losing a lap in repairs. Around this time, James Courtney in the #5 Snowy Rivers Ford got spun out by Andre Heimgartner in the #8 R&J Batteries Holden. The damage Courtney sustained during this spin and the first restart would leave him in the Bottom Five.

Lap 5 saw then-race leader Cameron Waters in the #6 Monster Energy Ford explode in fire, ending his race and sending him to last. This also triggered the first Safety Car of the race.
During the pitstops, Declan Fraser in the #56 Tradie Ford, Todd Hazelwood in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution Ford, David Reynolds in the #26 Penrite Oils Ford, Zane Goddard in the #888 SuperCheap Auto Holden and James Golding in the #31 Nulon Holden all pitted, eventually leaving Golding 2nd last.

Not long after the restart, on Lap 11, Declan Fraser in the #56 Tradie Ford went off the track. Although he was able to rejoin, Fraser would retire shortly afterwards. The grass would catch fire shortly after, triggering the second Safety car.

Jack Smith in the #4 SCT Logistics Holden pitted on Lap 10 after getting shot off the road at Turn 1, and Smith bumped the wall, damaging the right-rear corner and losing 5 laps in repairs.
Rounding out the Bottom Five was James Courtney in the #5 Snowy River Caravans Ford and Zane Goddard in the #888 SuperChear Auto Holden.

An epic performance for Mark Winterbottom in the #18 DeWalt Holden as he wins his first race in 7 years.

The Bottom Five

Cameron Waters	3 Laps	Fire
Declan Fraser	11 Laps	Mechanical
Jack Smith	30 Laps	Running
James Courtney	35 Laps	Running
Zane Goddard	35 Laps	Running

Driver Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Cameron Hill	2	3	4
2	Declan Fraser	1	5	8
3	Nick Percat	1	4	5
4	Jack Smith	1	3	5
5T	Thomas Randle	1	2	3
5T	Tim Slade	1	2	3
5T	Todd Hazelwood	1	2	3
8	Shane Van Gisbergen	1	2	2
9	Mark Winterbottom	1	1	2
10T	Cameron Waters	1	1	2
10T	Chaz Mostert	1	1	1
12	Broc Feeney	1	1	1
13	James Courtney	0	3	6
14T	Macauley Jones	0	2	5
14T	Jack LeBrocq	0	2	2
16	David Reynolds	0	2	2
17T	Anton De Pasquale	0	1	3
17T	Will Brown	0	1	1
19T	Brodie Kostecki	0	1	1
19T	James Golding	0	0	2
19T	Andre Heimgartner	0	0	2
22	Matthew Payne	0	0	2
23	Zane Goddard	0	0	1

Team Championship

Pos	Team	Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Matt Stone Racing	2	2/2	6/2	6/2
2	Tim Blanchard Racing	1	1	2	3
3T	Tickford Racing	4	3/4	9/4	18/4
3T	Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	2/2	5/2	6/2
5	Red Bull/Ampol Racing	3	2/3	3/3	4/3
6	Team 18 Racing	2	1/2	1/2	1/2
7	Premair Hire Racing	2	1/2	3/2	4/2
8	Brad Jones Racing	4	1/4	5/4	10/4
9	Penrite Racing	2	0	3/2	5/2
10	Erebus Racing	2	0	1	1
11	Dick Johnson Racing	2	0	1/2	3/2

Manufacturer Championship

Pos	Manufacturer	Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Chevrolet	15	8/15	20/15	31/15
2	Ford	11	5/11	19/11	34/11

How Juniorgeneric defines a Last-Place finisher

Australian V8 LASTCAR'S Official Definition of a "Last-Place Finisher" (LPF)

For the purposes of the Australian V8 LASTCAR championship rankings and statistics, a "Last-Place Finisher" (LPF) is a driver(s) who, after qualifying for a V8 Supercars Championship Points-Paying race, the result must be confirmed from official sources, or unofficial sources failing that. Only one driver (or two in a endurance race) can be classified as the LPF for that race.

Meeting those requirements, the LPF can be any driver classified as such for any reason, including, but not limited to.
1) A "did not start" although it should be noted that there is a difference between my definition of "did not start" and Brock Beard's definition of "Did not Start".
For example, in Bathurst 2015 Chazz Mostert and Cameron Waters' #6 Pepsi Max Ford had a huge accident during practice that injured Mostert and all but wrote off the car. Car #6 was withdrawn, and therefore I don't count Mostert and Waters as finishing last. Under Brock Beard's definition, however, Mostert and Waters would have finished last instead of David Wall and Chris Pither.
2) An entrant who encounters an event once the race has started which prevents the driver(s) from finishing ahead of any other qualified entrants, including both DNFs and drivers who finish under power but laps down*

*Only when all the cars in the race are running ahead of the LPF

3) A decision to “start and park” the driver’s entry (Extremely rare in V8 Supercars)
(4) a disqualification handed down by V8 Supercars and/or track officials that subsequently classifies the driver(s) in the final position behind the unofficial LPF.

Australian V8 LASTCAR shall not consider the LPF as anything else, including but not limited too
1) Any DNQ's
2) Any driver's who's car withdrew before the race start.
3)The lowest-ranked driver who finishes the race under power (unless all cars finished under power, actually quite common in V8 Supercars)
4) A driver(s) who finished last initially, however post-race disqualifications usurped the spot.
5) A driver(s) who may be catagorised as finishing last for exhibition events (I may bring these back at some point in the near future, I need more accurate numbers for the events before I start them up again)
6) Anything in non-V8 Supercar Main game (again, insufficent historical data)
7) A driver who was running last when the checkered flag fell, however because they greeted the checkered flag but a drive who was in front of them at the end of the race, however was not running at the end of the race. In that instance the driver who doesn't finish the race will fall behind the driver whom is still running at the end of the race.

In the rare event where official results or a preponderance of unofficial results are later updated with more accurate information about who was the LPF for that event, Australian V8 LASTCAR rankings and statistics shall be updated to reflect that change.