Rick Kelly Should Have Been Shot Into The Sheets

[benm]

Call of the day "See you in 5 laps" said by the Triple8 manager to Lowndes after his 3rd pitstop to change the worn front tyres

[Whiplash]

We'll know tomorrow who the champion is there will be a hearing into the events of the weekend.

However its going to be very rushed as they have to name the champioon tomorrow night at the V8 gala, expect to see some VRY unhappy people ther (if the loosing party attends)

[Kel]

Gutted to hear R Kelly is the champ (for now).

Missed the action because I was at the NSW Chrissie cruise but all sounds dodgy.

Aside from the fact that Rick is a tool- it's a shame to see someone who has done so little for the sport end up on top of it.

[Kaido_RR]

waaa waaa waaa!

motorsport is never fair get over it hehehe

jk

[_8OO5TED_]

it was a regular head to toe incident and Kelly served his drive through penalty, it really shouldnt be taken any further. Had Lowndes not have copped a wack from Wil Davisons car, he would have been the one walking away with a championship.

Thats racing.... The incident was minor, but championship defining at the same time.

HSV Toll team was very consistent through the year and was equally deservant of the championship win I thought.

[KamikazeR33]

i didnt c any of the races at all being at work, but looking at the vid link posted up it seemed that kelly had intent to stop but being that close to lowndes and having a slow reaction to him braking i cant c how anything could b changed from it. yes he did rub him in the rear but as they said many years ago "rubbins racin"

[TokyoTaxi]

I agree with most here that Kelly is a pre-pubecent knuckle f#cker ( irrespective of what happened yesterday ) but I have to say, it's FORD vs. HOLDEN.......... Who "really" cares who wins ?!?!?

I know Lowdes is a really nice guy and deserves to win etc etc but it's all about carnage !!! Fords & Holdens in an orderly, high speed demolition derby is just good entertainment Bring it on !!!

[Sydneykid]

The officials can't have it both ways.

They black flagged Tander for blocking with 4 laps to go, because Bond said the rules say 3 laps. Crompton asked the drivers and they ALL said 5 laps were the intructions at the drivers briefing. Ooooops

Tander was in contention for 3rd in the Championship with Winterbottom. The Officials basically said that they don't care about 3rd, the only thing of interest is 1st. Tander was also trying for the most race wins in the season (8), by black gflagging him the Officials denied him that chance in the 3rd race. After starting 22nd he came up short by 1/10th of second.

Regarding the incident on lap 1 of race 3, Lowndes stuffed up the previous corner and knew Kelly was going to pass, so he blocked on lap 1 of a 31 lap race. Moving over to the inside (off the racing line) left no room for Kelly to brake. Lowndes' move to block caused the contact, no block, no contact, Kelly makes a clean pass and Lowndes lives to fight back the next lap. Or the next 30 laps.

Basically it was the same as Murphy did to Ambrose at Bathurst 2005, Murphy made a mistake the previous corner and refused to pay the price for that mistake.

cheers

PS; I will declare the following interests. Mark Winterbottom (Ford) raced Karts with us and his dad is a friend. I occasionally work for Tandersport (Holden) in the F3 and Improved Production programs. I also spent Bathurst with a Ford team.

[2rismo]

As much as I'd like to see the points stripped away and the TRULY deserving winner of the 2006 series take his rightful place, it's not gonna happen. There's only one precedent that I can think of where points have been removed post-race when a drive-through penalty has been served and the 25 points deducted back then won't make a bit of difference to this situation.

It's a crying shame that the obviously talented and incredibly well backed R.Kelly felt that he had to stoop to this sort of rubbish to win.

As for Tander, don't get me started. Can ANYONE imagine Whincup/Lnowdes carrying on in the same fashion were the roles reversed?

Don't think so.

Adrian

[mid life crisis]

all yr lowndes has been punting people of the track to move forward thru the field . he stuffs up and cops one back and has a dummy spit big deal get over how much was he fined a few weeks ago for bringing the sport in to disrupute . sorry guys if ya ford fans ya wanna look thru both eyes and see the real picture just not the one eyed version thru ya rose coloured glassers

[GTR1993]

[madbung]

T.Kelly over cooked the corner, Lowndes had a look up the inside that's why he was there. R.Kelly wasn't @ Lowndes D-pillar @ the approach to the apex so he should have conceded the corner not used a police style immobilisation technique...Tapping-rubbing the rear bar is fine, trying to drive through your opponents rear quarter is not.

As for G.Tander and the other conspiring Holden drivers/teams pffft what a day of shame, seriously Walkinshaws driver instruction of "win it or bin it" borders on criminal!!! If cams are not willing to burn atleast one of these tools at the stake I'll be disappointed.

Maybe send the naughty boys back to race carts with the other kids where they belong or atleast until they mature more than just a tad.

They willingly conspired to ruined what should have been an awesome final round of racing..

[R33JET]

wow someone went to some effort... especially on the car

[djr81]

The really disapponting thing about the whole weekend is that all four of the HRT/HSV team cars ran into Lowndes at some stage. But for anyone who has followed motorsport for any time at all you have to expect that sort of thing from a team run by Tom Walkinshaw.

Cheating dogs. Always have been, always will be.

Having said that I do feel a bit sorry for Rick Kelly. He didn't mean to punt Lowndes. Tander was a completely different matter, however. As was Skaife on Saturday.

[Sydneykid]

As for Tander, don't get me started.

So Tander was supposed to move over and give up his 3rd place in championship because Lowndes wasn't fast enough to get past? ALL the drivers were told at the Drivers Briefing on Friday that blocking on the last 5 laps was OK. So how come Tander gets black flagged with 4 laps to go for blocking?

T.Kelly over cooked the corner, Lowndes had a look up the inside that's why he was there. R.Kelly wasn't @ Lowndes D-pillar @ the approach to the apex so he should have conceded the corner not used a police style immobilisation technique...Tapping-rubbing the rear bar is fine, trying to drive through your opponents rear quarter is not.

As usual this incident started the corner before, where Lowndes made a mistake. Go back and look, you will see Lowndes move over early on the short straight. He wasn't trying a move on the car in 1st, he was blocking because he lost corner exit speed and knew that Kelly was going to beat him to the next corner.

If you really think that Kelly tried the "drive through your opponents rear quarter" then you had better have a look at the damage on Lowndes car. WHAT DAMAGE? It was the slightest rub, that's all it takes when you are on the limit of traction. Plastic bumper probably popped right back out. The real damage occured when Lowndes ploughed into the innocent guy in 1st place.

Next time there is a drive day at Philip Island, pop out and I will show you the propper racing line for those 2 corners, Lowndes was at least 2 car widths inside that line. Blocking for all its worth.

cheers

[madbung]

Doesn't matter what happened 100mtrs back up the road really does it? that's not the incident that is under investigation. As stated rubbing the rear bar is fine it's the pinning manoeuvre used that wasn't.. Have a look yourself he rubs across the back several times then moves right as Lowndes brakes sticks it up the inside about 200/300mm then steers left...have another look yourself its all captured nice and clear, it's a text book immobilisation technique and about as dangerous as it gets in racing on a mid-high speed corner.

R.Kelly has no idea, but he's still very young and has time to learn

[2rismo]

So Tander was supposed to move over and give up his 3rd place in championship because Lowndes wasn't fast enough to get past? ALL the drivers were told at the Drivers Briefing on Friday that blocking on the last 5 laps was OK. So how come Tander gets black flagged with 4 laps to go for blocking?

Come on mate. 1:38.3's when the rest of the field (Winterbottom for example) was running 1:36.0’s???

Don't think so!

And post-race by Tander's own admission, he had fuel pressure problems and lacked the pace. You know better than that.

[Sydneykid]

Doesn't matter what happened 100mtrs back up the road really does it?

That's exactly the point, Lowndes made a mistake in the previous corner and didn't want to pay for it. He was slow out of that corner and knew that he was going to be passed, at the end of the short straight or on the corner entry. That's why he was 2 car widths inside the racing line on the corner entry. That's blocking and "according to the Officials" you are only allowed to block in the last 3 laps (or is it 5 laps).

If Lowndes doesn't go for the block (forget about the D pillar) Kelly would have been up to the A pillar.

Do you really think that Kelly would deliberately take out Lowndes knowing full well that every second they were going to be on slow motion replay? In car cameras, 20+ track side cameras etc. Plus the Officials have access to the data from the Motec logger in every car, they can see the braking effort, the impact force and the steering angles. His team had already been penalised in the previous race, big brother was watching.

cheers

[Sydneykid]

Come on mate. 1:38.3's when the rest of the field (Winterbottom for example) was running 1:36.0’s???

Don't think so!

And post-race by Tander's own admission, he had fuel pressure problems and lacked the pace. You know better than that.

Yes, I do know better. Blocking to protect your position is 100% legal, the Officials said so at the Drivers Briefing. It's not like Tander was being lapped, it was a genuine fight for position after all. So the question is not about whether blocking is legal or not. The real question is why did the Officials say 5 laps from the end of the race was OK at the Drivers Briefing and then apply the no blocking rule with 4 laps to go?

Personally I hate blocking, if the guys is genuinely faster, let him go, he might pull you along with him. But that's why I am an amateur racer, the professional drivers don’t think like that.

cheers

[djr81]

I think the problem was, as fas as GT was concerned after the issue of the first black flag he gapped Lowndes, only to fall back when he felt he was safe (ie within 5 laps) to do so. Which can easily lead to the impression that he wasn't out there racing to his own full potential. Whether or not there is anything wrong with that in the particular circumstances is another issue.