On the weekend of the 4^th – 7^th of October 2012 was race 21; the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. On pole position was car 6 of Will Davison alongside car 1 of Paul Dumbrell. Off the start line Will stalled his car which allowed Paul Dumbrell to take the lead on lap 1. Also During lap 1 Will took the lead back from Paul after he ran wide coming out of turn 2, on the approach to the cutting which is turn 4. Paul got passed by Shane Van Gisbergen. Before the end of the first lap everybody was going nuts trying to get places as early as possible. On lap 2, Paul Dumbrell tried to do the over and under trick on car 9 of Shane Van Gisbergen but Shane would not budge, which meant that he would not move over to let him, pass.   Garth went off the road at maximum speed of 225 klms an hour.  So that they are not involved in any accidents or incidents then during the early stages of the race the 2 Team Vodafone cars came into the pits due to tyre problems, car 888 came in on lap 10 and then car 1 due to having a window pop out somehow,

The Ford Performance Racing team had a shocker of a day on the 7^th with both cars 5 and 6. Garth Tander and Nick Percat were out of the race after Nick Percat’s chances of defending their Bathurst title were destroyed when Nick hit the wall on the approach to the dipper.  This then forced the defending champs back into the Garage. After that the race went well until green lap 20 car 91 Jonny Reid had stopped at the top of the mountain on approach to the grate. This caused the 1st safety car of the day.  During the 1^st safety car everybody came into the pitlane to do driver changes. On the restart John McIntyre, Will Davison’s co driver took the lead while everybody else was filing in and out of pitlane.

During the co drivers stints Ford were in positions 1, 2 and 3.

When the main game drivers got back in the cars, Will Davison had to go back through the pits for a 2^nd time to serve his drive thru penalty for spinning his right rear wheel while the car was up on the air jacks. In the middle of the 50^th running of the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, John McIntyre got spun around at turn 4 at the cutting. From there on, there day was crappy because not only did they have to serve pit lane penalty when Will jumped back in for the last stint of the race. He had no brakes going into Caltex chase because the brake line had been cut. When Will went apply the brake pedal there was no stopping. There was also another Safety car for David Bernard who went into the sandtrap up at the top of the mountain. Dean Fiore/Matt Haliday were stuck in pitlane on lap 13. Tim Slade went wide approaching the esses. On laps 80 and 81 Craig Lowndes was chasing Greg Murphy/Owen Kelly. This year was Craig 19^th Bathurst start. If you ask me in my opinion Paul Dumbrell and Warren Luff did a fantastic job.

Towards the end of race Jamie Whincup were having fuel issues Mark Dutton Jamie’s race engineer asked him to save fuel. Steve Owen crashed and then his team boss and teammate Paul Morris crashed at the same spot on lap 55. There was a safety car due to Steve Owen and the Dude Paul Morris. The restart was on lap 60, and John McIntyre went down the escape road down at turn 1 under the safety car period and due to John going off at turn 1 realised then that they were stacked up behind Will Division. And then when the Safety car came out the pitlane was full of V8 Supercar drivers coming in to take advantage of the safety car. During the middle of the biggest race of the year, Warren Luff was following Steven Richards in Mark Winterbottom Orrcon Steel Ford Performance Racing Falcon and then car 888 was Team BOC car number 8 of Jason Bright and Andrew Jones. Into the tyre wall down at turn 23 the on lap 100 final corner which is called Murrays corner. When Mark Larkham tried put the pads back to the calliper Mark Skaife reminded Mark Larkham and told him that the pads have to turn around and be put in the correct direction. On lap 61 Team BOC’S Jason Bright almost spun going down Conrod straight.

Results

1^st Jamie Whincup/Paul Dumbrell – Team Vodafone
2^nd David Reynolds/Dean Canto –The Bottle-o Racing Team
3^rd Craig Lowndes/Warren Luff – Team Vodafone

On the weekend of the 13^th – 15^th of September 2013 was the Wilson Security Sandown 500.

This was the first of the endurance races for 2013 which means 2 drivers per car.

One driver must drive a minimum 54 laps and one driver cannot drive any more than 107 laps.

This year Dad hired an accessible van for us to drive down to Sandown for the races, that way I could bring my electric wheelchair. This made things a lot easier for not just me but also Dad. (He didn’t have to push me around… LOL) We stayed at the Ibis Hotel in Glen Waverly close to the tracks.

As you can see from the photos I got to hang around with the legends of V8 Supercars – old and new…

Car 1      Jamie Whincup/Paul Dumbrell                                   Red Bull Racing Australia
Car 888 Craig Lowndes/Warren Luff                                        Red Bull Racing Australia
Car 2      Garth Tander/Nick Percat                                           Holden Racing Team
Car 22    James Courtney/Greg Murphy                                   Holden Racing Team
Car 3      Tony D’Alberto/Dale Wood                                          Tony D’Alberto Racing
Car 4      Lee Holdsworth/Craig Beard                                        Irwin Racing
Car 9      Maro Engel/Steven Johnson                                         SP Tools Racing
Car 47    Tim Slade/Andrew Thompson                                     HHA Racing
Car 5      Mark Winterbottom/Steven Richards                        Pepsi Max Crew
Car 6      Will Davison/Steve Owen                                              Pepsi Max Crew
Car 55    Dale Reynolds/Dean Canto                                           The Bottle-O Racing
Car 7      Todd Kelly/David Russell                                               Jack Daniel’s Racing
Car 36    Michael Caruso/Daniel Gaunt                                     Norton 360 Racing
Car 360 James Moffat/Taz Douglas                                          Norton 360 Racing
Car 15    Rick Kelly/Karl Reindler                                                  Jack Daniel’s Racing
Car 8      Jason Bright/Andrew Jones                                         Team BOC
Car 14    Fabian Couthard/Luke Youlden                                 Lockwood Racing
Car 21    David Wall/Chris Pither                                                  Wilson Security Racing
Car 18    Alex Davison/John McIntyre                                       Jeld-Wen Racing
Car 17    Tim Blanchard/Ash Walsh                                             Advam Racing
Car 12    Chaz Mostert/Dale Wood                                            Wilson Security Racing
Car 19    Jonathon Webb/Marc Lieb                                          NSW Police
Car 33    Scott McLaughin/Jack Perkins                                    Fujitsu Racing
Car 34    Alexandre Premat/Greg Ritter                                   Fujitsu Racing
Car 66    Russell Ingall/Ryan Brisco                                             Supercheap Auto Racing
Car 80    Scott Pye/Paul Morris                                                    Ekoi/Hogs Breath Cafe
Car 88    Dean Fiore/Matt Halliday                                             Dodo Racing
Car 97    Shane Van Gisbergen/Jeroem Bleeken Oken     VIP Petfoods Racing

Steve Owen was on pole and alongside him was Paul Dumbrell.  At the start Paul Dumbrell  got the jump and led the field into turn 1 for the 1st of 161 laps, Steven Richards  stalled off the line at the start  as a result they bought him into pit lane to top up with fuel  and sent him out into clean air. Daniel Gaunt ran very wide on the exit of turns 1 and rejoined at turn 3, on lap 10 Nick Percat got a black flag for loose bodywork on the back of the HRT commodore, on lap 11 Nick Percat came into the pits for repairs to the loose bodywork and also fuel and tyres.

On lap 13 Nick Percat received a pit lane penalty for speeding in pit lane, on lap 19 Luke Youlden hit the safety cones at turn 6 which had bolts under them leaving them exposed, as a result the safety car was deployed, following the safety car deployment; Paul Dumbrell came into the pits for fuel and tyres, Warren Luff followed him into the pits as a result car 888 had to double stack. Some of the other cars also came into the pits for fuel and tyres.

The safety car left the track on lap 21, on lap 22 Paul Morris also received a pit lane penalty for speeding in pit lane. On lap 24 Greg Murphy received a black flag for loose bodywork , on lap 25 Andrew Jones pushed Warren Luff off the track at turn 1.

On lap 35 Ash Walsh couldn’t stop because he was going to fast and went wide and hit the tyre barrier at turn 6 as a result received a great deal of damaged this caused the safety car to be deployed so car 17 could be towed out of the way. Will Davison had to double stack behind car 5 and wait to be serviced, a few cars also pitted as well. The safety car returned to pit lane on lap 39, after lap 54 several cars came into pit lane for driver changes, fuel, tyres and brake pads. On lap 64 Greg Murphy received a black flag for loose bodywork, he came into the pits to repair the bodywork and do a driver change, tyres and fuel.

On lap 66 the safety car was again deployed for loose bodywork on the track, Paul Dumbrell was called into the pits and told to stay in the car, but when he stopped was told to get out for a driver change and resulted in the car being left in gear and rear wheels were spinning and Jamie Whincup takes over also tyres and fuel. On lap 68 he returns to pit lane, on lap 70 Jamie Whincup received a pit lane penalty for spinning wheels in pit lane which is a drive thru penalty. On lap 75 Taz Douglas has damage on the front suspension and came into pits for repairs. On lap 83 Chaz Mostert received a drive thru penalty for speeding in pit lane. On lap 87 Garth Tander had a big off at turn 9 due to brake problems. On lap 93 Garth Tander returned to pit lane for repair for his brake problem, on lap 96 Garth Tander was back on track. On lap 102 David Reynolds had a big lock up at turn 1 and re-entered the race at turn 3. On lap 113 Jason Bright had a big off at turn 12 then went into pits for tyres, fuel and brake pads and found he had a broken front suspension. On lap 134 Garth Tander returned to the pits and had to be pushed into pit garage. On lap 138 Garth Tander returns to track.

On lap 141 Scott Pye came into pit lane and was pushed into pit garage. On lap 142 Jamie Whincup is closing in on his team mate Craig Lowndes for the lead. On lap 151 Jamie Whincup takes over the lead from Craig Lowndes, after Craig went wide at turn 12 and stayed that way to the end of the race with Will Davison finishing in 3^rd position.

Results for race 28 the Wilson Security 500 at Sandown Victoria

1^st  Jamie Whincup/Paul Dumbrell – Red Bull Racing Australia
2^nd  Craig Lowndes/Warren Luff – Red Bull Racing Australia
3^rd   Will Davison/Steve Owen – Pepsi Max Ccrew – FPR

The next event is the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. On October 10^th – 13^th of 2013. There will be over 22 hours of action from Mount Panorama Bathurst NSW on Channels  7 and 7 mate in HD which stand for high definition.

This weekend is the Wilson Security Sandown 500 Race number 28. (Last year it was sponsored by Dick Smith)

Last year Dad and I were fortunate enough to be there in person, we flew down with Virgin Australia and stayed at the Rendezvous Grand Hotel in the city. We were there for the practice sessions, qualifying and the main race..

As this is an endurance race, we have the involvement of the co-drivers. The co-drivers as a rule start the race.

So let’s take a look back at what happened in the 2012 Dick Smith Sandown 500.

Luke Youlden started on pole position alongside them was Dean Canto. Luke got the jump into turn 1 for the 1^st of 161 laps.  But then when Greg Ritter took the race lead and he had 28 V8 supercars behind him. Towards the end of the 1^st lap Luke took the lead back from Greg Ritter because of a mistake he made.

Then Warren Luff was chasing Nick Percat who may have jumped the start but they got away with it. Owen Kelly started from the pitlane and after 1 lap they were back in the garage  with engine problems, Tim Blanchard had a massive brake lockup because he was going too fast and could not stop down at the Dandenong Road turn and while Mark Larkham was interviewing Greg Murphy, Tony D’Alberto  was hit from behind  by Christian Klein who was hit from behind by Allan Simonsen  down at turn 9 which sent cars 3 and 66 into the sandtrap , due to Tony being stuck in the sandtrap building a sandcastle there was a safety car deployed, the restart was on lap 8. On lap 18 Greg Ritter locks his breaks and spun backwards down at turn 9 and had to wait for all the cars to go by before he could rejoin.  Will was complaining about brake problems.

That was the excitement of the co-drivers; watch this short video to see the highlights and the end of the race… Or you can watch the full race for yourself…

My question is – Who will win the Wilson Security Sandown 500 this weekend?

Result for the 2012 Dick Smith Sandown 500

1^st Craig Lowndes/Warren Luff – Team Vodafone
2^nd Mark Winterbottom/Steve Richards – FPR.
3^rd Jamie Whincup/Paul Dumbrell. – Team Vodafone.

Go Holden.

Full Race 2012

To watch the 2013 Wilson Security Sandown 500 just go to http://www.v8supercar.com.au/

To check out the practise and Qualifying results and race results just go to. http://www.v8dailydump.com.au/

During   the 23^rd – 25^th of August 2013 was the Winton 360 we have Races 25, 26 & 27. In Race 25 they had a 60/60 Supersprint race, which means that they drive the first 60 laps where they don’t earn any points, they then take a break and the second 60 laps is for championship points.

In race 25 Jamie Whincup started on pole position alongside him was Michael Caruso. Jamie led the field through turns 1 and 2 for the 1^st of 40 laps Jamie was leading during the opening laps until he had a driveshaft fail on his car inbetween laps 9 and 10.

Jamie had to watch the rest of the 60/60 Supersprint format from the pits. In the middle of race there was a halftime break of just 15 minutes. Mark Winterbottom ran out of fuel and as a result he had to be pushed back to pitlane by his teammate Will Davison.

On the restart the Nissan teammates of James Moffat and Michael Caruso, had contact approaching turns 1 and 2.  Towards the end of race 25 James almost didn’t win his 1^st race because he ran wide down at turn 10. But he held on to get Nissans first race win in V8 supercars in 21 years. The last time Nissan had won a race was way back in 1992 which was 21 years ago.

Results for race 25

1^st James Moffat – Nissan motorsport
2^nd Michael Caruso – Nissan motorsport.
3^rd Mark Winterbottom – Pepsi Max Crew – FPR.

In race 26 Jason Bright was on pole position alongside him was Tony Dalberto, this was Tony’s first time on the front row. Jason stalled his Team BOC Holden commodore off the line.  As a result of that Mark Winterbottom led the field through turns 1 and 2.  Alex Premat went off the track in the first turn and went cross country to rejoin the pack on the other side of the turn. With Alex coming back into the pack, it appeared to cause the down fall of Jamie Whincup, Russell Ingall and Alex Davison.

There was a safety car deployed on the opening lap. While Jamie was able to limp back to pit lane for repairs to car 1 in the Red Bull Racing garage, with smoke pouring out of right front of  his Holden. While Russell Ingall was taken out of the weekend altogether with too much damage and Alex Davison was able to stay in the race as he had the least amount of damage.

Then on the restart Michael Caruso went into his garage. When Jamie rejoined he had race tape all over the front of the bonnet.  In the middle of the race Tony Dalberto passed James Courtney down at turn 12.

Towards the end of the race Mark Winterbottom was under massive amounts of pressure from Jason Bright not only for the race lead but the race win, and the top spot the Winton podium. This was Mark Winterbottoms first win at Winton…

Results for race 26

1^st Mark Winterbottom – Pepsi Max Crew FPR.
2^nd Jason Bright – Team BOC.
3^rd James Courtney – Toll Holden racing team.

In race 27 James Courtney started on pole position alongside him was Jason Bright but Jason got off to another bad start. Then Todd Kelly in the Nissan Altima went off the road before turns 1 and 2. Todd Kelly in his Jack Daniels Nissan made contact with Jamie Whincup and this caused him to go off road into the barriers and took him out of the race for the day while Jamie was able to stay in the race. (Todd Kelly had to walk back to pitlane)

Then on lap 2 Scott Pye was hit from behind and that started the fire on the left hand side. Scott attempted to drive back to the pits but only made it to pitlane and had to abandon his car as it filled with smoke.

James Courtney lead the way on the restart as Chaz Mostert chased him down, meanwhile Craig Lowndes passed Tony Dalberto and took him from 13^th place to 12^th position.

Then in the middle of the race Jonathan Webb and Maro Engel came together inbetween turns 1 and 2 sending Maro off the track. Michael Caruso was battling away with Jamie Whincup.

Towards the end the race Scott McLaughlin was passed by David Reynolds. Then Rick Kelly and Mark Winterbottom came together inbetween turns 5 and 6 taking Rick out of the race taking the Jack Daniels team out of the race altogether. Jason bright had to get towed off the slippery grass. On the last lap James was being chased down by Fabain Coulthard and Chaz Mostert.

Results for race 27

1^st James Courtney – Toll HRT.
2^nd Fabain Coulthard – Lockwood Racing.
3^rd Chaz Mostert – DJR.

Trivia

Jamie Whincup still leads the championship by 55 points his former housemate Will Davison. The Wilson Security Sandown 500 is on September 13^th to the 15^th 2013.

Let’s take a look back at what happened in races 27 and 28 in 2012. This weekend at Winton is races 25, 26 & 27,

In race 27 Mark Winterbottom started on pole position alongside him was Jamie Whincup, but Frosty bogged his car down off the line and as a result of that Jamie got to turn 1 first, the safety car was called out onto the track on lap 3 due to Jason Bright and Michael Caruso running off the track at turn 3.

James Moffat started on the soft tyres and was leading when Jamie made a pitstop on lap 27.

Then Jamie was chasing down James for the race lead.  Towards the end of race 27 Craig got passed James at turn 7 for 2nd spot, the two Team Vodafone cars ended the 27th race in positions 1st and 2^nd.

Results for race 27

1^st Jamie Whincup – Team Vodafone
2^nd Craig Lowndes – Team Vodafone.
3^rd Lee Holdsworth – Stone Brothers Racing

In race 28 Jamie Whincup started on pole position alongside him was Will Davison. Jamie ran wide on the run out of turns 1 and 2. But with Jamie having hard tyres on and Will having soft tyres on Jamie had no choice but to let Will pass him towards the end of the opening lap. Will was out in front of the Team Vodafone car by lap 7.

Will had opened up a handy gap; James Moffat was on the side of the track. A safety car was deployed that forced everyone to the pit.

While in the pits, as the Team Vodafone boys were about to drop Jamie’s car he spun his right rear wheel, and got a drive thru penalty.  Towards the end of race 28 Craig Lowndes took the final race at Winton.

Results for race 28

1^st Craig Lowndes – Team Vodafone.
2^nd Mark Winterbottom – Ford Performance Racing.
3^rd Jamie Whincup – Team Vodafone

Trivia

The last time that Craig won at Winton before last year was back in 2006 race 3.

My question is who will win the Winton 360 this weekend?

Jamie Whincup still leads the championship by 129 points over his teammate Craig Lowndes

Jamie has been around since 2006 and Craig has been driving V8 Supercars fulltime since 1996. Winton held its first race way back in 1961 and the only years that there was not a  race meeting held at Winton were 1996 and 2005.

Best of luck for this weekend’s Winton 360 everybody.

To watch races 25 26 and 27 just go to. http://www.v8supercar.com.au/

To c heck out the Practise and qualifying results just go to http://www.v8dailydump.com.au/

On the weekend of the 26th to the 28^th of July 2013 was the Coates Hire Ipswich 360.

In race 22 it was the 60/60 Supersprint format, Jamie Whincup started on pole position, alongside him was Scott McLaughlin. Craig Lowndes, Mark Winterbottom and Fabain Coulthard all came together on lap 1 down at turn 3. Scott was hunting down the championship leader Jamie Whincup, in the 1^st half of the race which was 20 laps.

Shane Van Gisbergen passed David Reynolds. Chaz Mostert was battling with Tim Slade, Fabain gave Chaz a bump on the exit of turn 3, and Chaz was a bit upset with going off the road.

After the first 20 laps Jamie still had the race lead at half time, after the 15 minute halftime break Mark Dutton, who is Jamie’s race engineer had to remind him to maintain the restart speed. On the restart Jamie timed it perfectly. In the middle of the race Craig got passed Mark Winterbottom at turn 1. Towards the end of the race David Wall and Todd Kelly came together inbetween turns 4 and 5.

Dean Fiore came together with Lee Holdsworth also Michael Caruso had a lot of damage on the rear wing of his Nissan Altima, Lee had a right front tyre that was bent.

Fabain ran off the track on the exit of turn 6. Mark passed Craig for position number 3; in the end nobody could catch the race winner for race 22 Jamie Whincup.

Results for race 22

1^st Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia.
2^nd Scott McLaughlin – Garry Rogers Motorsport.
3^rd Mark Winterbottom – Pepsi Max Crew FPR

In race 23, Jamie Whincup started from pole position alongside him again was Scott McLaughlin. Chaz Mostert ran wide at turn 3 and Dean Fiore went out through the sandtrap.

Then David Reynolds had a massive brake lockup inbetween turns 4 and 5, which hurt him during the race. James Moffat ran off the racetrack down at turn 1. Lee Holdsworth, Scott Pye and Shane Van Gisbergen were 3 abreast and did not go into turn 6 the Safety car was deployed to remove the debris from car 4, on the restart Scott was still the race leader with Jamie hunting him down.

In the middle of the race Garth passed Will Davison with a bump and run, in the end he had to give the spot back. Jason Bright passed Alex Davison, towards the end of the race.

Russell Ingall and Todd Kelly came together at turn 6. In the end Scott held on to claim his 2^nd race win of this season.

Results for race 23

1^st Scott McLaughlin – Garry Rogers Motorsport.
2^nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia.
3^rd James Courtney – Toll Holden Racing team.

In race 24 Will Davison started on pole position alongside him was Chaz Mostert,  Chaz led the field through turn 1 for the 1^st of 32 times.  Scott Pye ran into Alex Premat and as a result of that Russell Ingall couldn’t continue because his car was too badly damaged to keep going.

Jonathan Webb ran into the side of Rick Kelly. Tim Slade ran wide down at turn 3. Tim Blanchard had an engine fail. James Courtney and Lee Holdsworth ran wide due to the oil leak from the DJR Ford Falcon, Jamie Whincup had 2 flat tyres, and then another 5 cars had flat tyres as well.

In the middle of the race Mark Winterbottom got passed David Reynolds at turn 1. Towards the end of the race nobody could catch Chaz Mostert. Chaz gave DJR their first race win in 3 long years.  The last time that DJR won a race at Queensland raceway before last weekend was way back in 2001 VIP Petfoods, Queensland 500. I was shaking my head when I saw the Red Bull Racing Australia Commodore come into the pits with a flat tyre. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Results for race 24

1^st Chaz Mostert – Dick Johnson racing
2^nd Will Davison – Pepsi Max crew FPR,
3^rd Mark Winterbottom – Pepsi Max Crew FPR.

Due to Jamie finishing way down in 25^th spot his championship lead has been reduced from 177 points to 129 points over his teammate Craig Lowndes, the next event is in Winton Victoria on the 23^rd to the 25^th of August 2013.

This weekend is the Coates Hire Ipswich 360 at Queensland raceway. Races 22, 23 and 24

Let’s take a look back at what happened in races 16 and 17 of 2012. As you will see, I attended this race..

William Hill Smith here again, this week I have a very special report, on the weekend of the 3^rd to the 5^th of August 2012. Dad and I went to Brisbane actually to Queensland Raceway, to watch races 16 and 17 of the 2012 V8 Supercars championship series.  That’s right folks I was there live on this day. There were 2 races, race 1 45 laps race 2 65 laps, the ultimate rev heads paradise or as I call it vroom vroom heaven, now I know that there are some of you out there who won’t believe me, and so for those of you who just want details of the actual races in written form, ok dipsticks and tar jockeys here we go.

When the cars came zooming down the pit straight, those engines sounded bloody awesome, in  race 16 Team Vodafone started on the front row of the grid but the championship leader Jamie Whincup got off to a horrible start from 2^nd on the grid which meant he dropped back to 6^th,,  Craig Lowndes won both races that got closer to Mark Winterbottom, and from that moment no one could catch him, when dad and I got to the track on Sunday we had a  chance to go down to the Team Vodafone pit garage because their  fans were just swamping the garage outside, Mark  Larkham was talking  about pit entry control line, after the race start down at turn 4, James Moffat spun around with car 49 of Steve Owen, that was all on lap 1, after lap 1 and at beginning of lap number 2  Micheal Caruso was 1^st car go off the on the approach to turn 1 with David Reynolds.

Results for race 16

1^st Craig Lowndes – Team Vodafone
2^nd Mark Winterbottom – Ford Performance Racing
3^rd Jamie Whincup – Team Vodafone

Each morning as Craig went into the truck to get his race gear on and to get into the car the fans wanted their photo taken with him. Before he left the pitlane, to go out onto the track for qualifying, when the drivers turned off their pitlane speed limters I thought oh my god because I also saw at pit exit that they had a camera sitting right at pit exit, I also had a photo taken with Craig Lowndes just before he got into his car, boy O boy when the teams fired the cars up in the garages that sounded  fantastic , that was music to my ears, Lee Holdsworth caused a fire outside car 4 for Stone Brothers Racing.

That I couldn’t see because of so many people was standing outside the Team Vodafone pit bunker. That was all before races 16 and 17.

After race 17 I was laughing at what Craig Lowndes said to his race engineer Jeremy Moore he said now JJ do you need these tyres the reason  why he asked that was because he wanted to do a burnout, to celebrate winning races 16 and 17,

Results for race 17,

1^st Craig Lowndes – Team Vodafone
2^nd Mark Winterbottom – Ford Performance Racing
3^rd Jamie Whincup – Team Vodafone
4^th Will Davison – Ford Performance Racing

If you want to watch the v8 supercars races this weekend just go to http://www.v8supercars.com.au/

If you want to checkout the practise Qualifying and the top 10 shootout just go to http://www.v8dailydump.com.au/

On the weekend of the 5^th to the 7^th of July 2013 was the Townsville 400 In race 20, Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position alongside him was Will Davison. Will Davison got the jump off the line, while Dean Fiore started from pitlane. Lee Holdsworth and Maro Engel were all involved in the incident at turn 2 on the 1^st lap.

Then Craig Lowndes was the only one to take the punt and start on soft tyres, Craig went from 12^th to 1^st in just 9 laps. Craig’s teammate Jamie Whincup started in position number 16^th, before Craig came into the pits (he was having ball out on the racetrack).

Shane Van Gisbergen had a problem when the VIP Petfoods team dropped his car off the jack while refuelling which is not safe. The end result was Shane ended up getting a pit lane drive thru penalty. Then Jonathan Webb the fuel was hose was stuck in the rear of his car in the middle of the race. Both Lee Holdsworth and Russell Ingall, had steering issues. Then towards the end of race 20, Craig got passed by the 2 Pepsi Max Ford Performance Racing Falcons, Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom.

Results for Race 20

1^st Will Davison – Pepsi Max crew FPR,
2^nd Mark Winterbottom – Pepsi Max crew FPR.
3^rd Fabain Coulthard – Brad Jones racing.

In race 21 Mark Winterbottom started on pole position alongside was Scott McLaughlin. Mark led the pack through turn 1 for the first of 70 times.

Then Shane Van Gisbergen got spun around by Alex Davison. Maro Engel had a left front wheel that looked bent, which resulted in the E63 AMG heading back to the pits.

Then it was close between Tim Slade, Rick Kelly and Chaz Mostert. In the middle of the race Craig was passed by both Chaz Mostert and Rick Kelly respectively, then Craig entered the pits sideways.

With Lee Holdsworth on the side of the track a safety car was deployed to remove his car from the circuit, under yellow flag conditions Jamie Whincup, Garth Tander, James Courtney and Tim Slade in the HHA Erbus e63 AMG, all came in for a pitstop, the Toll Holden Racing team, cars 2 and 22 to be Actzact had to double stack. On the restart David Wall and Rick Kelly came together inbetween turns 5 and 6. Garth Tander hit the wall with all 4 wheels ended up off the ground, Garth was passed by Will Davison.

Towards the end of race 21 Garth Tander and James Courtney were battling for 1st and 2nd in race 21,

Results for race 21

1st Garth Tander- Toll Holden Racing Team,
2nd James Courtney – Toll Holden Racing team.
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – team VIP tekno Autosports.

This weekend is the Sucrogen Townsville 400 races 20 and 21; 200 kilometres 72 laps each.

Let’s take a look back at what happened at Townsville during 2012. This weekend will be Russell Ingalls 226^th V8 Supercars championship start

In race 14 the two Ford Performance Racing Falcons of Mark Winterbottom and David Reynolds started on the front row of the grid. David got the jump off the start line but then he had to yield to Mark. There was a safety car on lap 1 due to Dean Fiore and Karl Riendler coming together.

On the restart David had a very bad restart which allowed Mark to pull away after turn 14. The restart lap was between laps 2 and 3.

Steve Owen started on the soft tyres which made the car go a lot faster for a couple of laps until the soft tyres start to degrade – go off. During the opening laps Steve was putting the pressure on Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes. After Steve got passed David, he went on to get the race lead that was on lap 10.

David ran wide on the exit of turn3.  There were 2 pitstops during races 14 and 15. In terms of strategies for team Vodafone drivers  Craig went in first, while Jamie went around for another lap, towards the end  of race 14 Jamie Whincups race engineer Mark Dutton had to tell Jamie  to save fuel, to make to the end of the race,

Result for race 14

1^st Jamie Whincup – Team Vodafone.
2^nd Mark Winterbottom – Ford Performance Racing.
3^rd Garth Tander – Toll Holden Racing team.

Now for a look at the second race of that weekend.

In race 15 David Reynolds started on pole position alongside him was his teammate Mark Winterbottom.

David led all 28 cars through turn 1 for the 1^st of 72 times. During the opening lap Lee Holdsworth and Michael Caruso came together.  David has a massive slide through turns 3 and 4. Jamie Whincup had been passed by Garth Tander on lap 2 in turn 2. When Lee had a lot of damage on the front, it had crumpled the front of Irwin Tools Ford Falcon.

Jonathan Webb was following David to get the race lead; Jonathan took the race lead on lap 7, Russell Ingall was forced back into the Supercheap Auto Garage due to a damaged front end and rear end. Jonathan was being hunted down by Garth Tander for position 1.

Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes were behind the 3 FPR Ford Falcons, towards the end of race 15 no one could catch the four times V8 Supercars champion.

My question is who will win the 2013 Sucrogen Townsville 400 this weekend? Good luck everybody .

Results for race 15

1^st Jamie Whincup – Team Vodafone
2^nd Craig Lowndes – Team Vodafone
3^rd Will Davison –Trading post racing.

If you want to watch races 20 and 21 just go to.http://www.v8supercars.com.au/

If you want to check out the practise and qualifying results just go to. http://www.v8dailydump.com.au/