Pro Racers Sandown report!!!

[Pro Racer]

It was off to Sandown for the 5th round of the chamionship, this time though it was not the Bathurst warm-up endurance race, instead it was a regular sprint round. As usual the teams were greeted by some misserable cold weather that always seems to turn up at Sandown no matter what time of year.

Practice:
The first 30 minutes of practice lets teams give their enduro drivers some much needed milage ahead of the L&H 500 and SuperCheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and those in the lower half of the championship can have a run also. The man on top was Steve Owen in Will Davisons Jim Beam Falcon beating home some regulars such as Russel Ingall. It was then time for the big boys to come out and play and the #1 HRT Commodore of Garth Tander that set the fastest time on Saturday edging out the SBR Falcon of James Courtney who had toped the times in the 2nd session.

Qualifying:
It was an all blue front row with Jamie whincup putting in a super lap to take pole and with it the lap record to be the only bloke in the 1.09's, beside Whincup on the front row was FPR's Mark Winterbottom. The first Holden was 4th with Rick Kelly, reigning Champ and the man with the fastest time on Saturday struggled to 12th.

Race 1:
Race 1 saw Whincup run away to more then a 3 second victory over front row partner Winterbottom and Vodafone team mate Craig Lowndes. Russell Ingall surprisingly lead Holdens charge in 4th beating Holden hero Garth Tander home after his fight back from starting 12th. Rick Kelly earns save of the race after spinning at Dandenong road missing all cars and walls to keep going only losing 3 places. Cameron McConville had a standout run making up 10 spots after qualifying lowly in 24th

Race 2:
the heavens had opened and with a wet track there was plenty of motor crossing especially down at turn 3. In the end wet weather specialist Craig Lowndes took out the race after Jamie Whincup made a mistake in the closing stages running wide at Dandenong road, this also let a flying Shane Van Gisbergan through to take 2nd for the race in a sterling drive. The Generals man clearly didn't like the wet with Ford taking the the top 6 positions, Russell Ingall lead the Holden charge once again this time in 7th.

Race 3:
Race 2 winner Craig Lowndes broke an axle on the out lap which made him unfortunatly have to sit out the last race, this left Shane Van Gisbergan all alone onf the front row, James Courtney got off to a flyer from 4th leading the early stages of the racebut that was to be short lived with Whincup storming home to take victory from Winterbottom and Courtney. Behind the top 3 there was an awesome battle between Shane Van Gisbergan and Todd Kelly lasting the whole race with The Giz comming out ontop in the end. There was a few good fight backs in this race the biggest from Greg Murphy with 15 spots (26th-11th), making up one less spot was Lee Holdsworth with 14 (22nd-8th).

Pro's thoughts:
While my Holden boys didn't fair well at all this weekend there was some great racing going on all the way down the field, the standouts for me were Rick Kelly's race 1 save, The Giz's charge in race 2 and the awesome battle of The Giz and Toddler in race 3. I hope the Holdens fair better at Hidden Valley and i can report a Holden white wash to make up for this display.

hope you guys enjoy the latest instalment. Cheers.

[Uncle Cranker]

Originally Posted by Pro Racer

hope you guys enjoy the latest instalment. Cheers.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, Pro.

Give up this carp, please.

Noone is really interested in reading your take on what we have all seen/read about in e-news.

[Pro Racer]

done.

[peckstar]

i didnt mind it pro racer. keep up the good work. although i reckon if you got it out quicker than enews yo may be on a winner

oh and dont listen too much to cranky old men

[Pro Racer]

it was har as the racing was on monday, if i do one for Darwin it will deffinatly be out Sunday.

[stoned pony]

As a public service or an ego feeder?

[Pro Racer]

public service if it was ego driven i would have stoped posting at this place along time ago as my ego would of taken a bit of a hit, i just like writing abit (not to much though) so just thought i would do something like this.

[BAZzzzz c]

Well Crankyguts dont speak for ME ol' chap and some of us LIKE to read other fans 'take' on the Racing, esp and in particular, if you wozz there. Keep it up and next time you see cranky logging onto your efforts, add a rasberry or two... Oh, since when is it comPULSary to read every post and every subject.? It ISNT..? then whyyyyyy?????????is cranker bothering to comment..?? Funny ol lad

[NAC]

I'm with the DS driver. If you enjoy doing it Pro then go for it. Those that don’t want to read it I have a really simple answer for you, DON’T READ IT, go waste your time on some other thread.

Pro I have to ask, are you getting someone to proof it? either that or have you been back to school recently? That is actually a compliment - your writing is getting better

[Pro Racer]

i do it in word.

[BAZzzzz c]

Yeah. doing it in word is far far easier than trying to convey the week-end in PICTURES. Good idea there Pro.



Psssst Just keeding.... You gotta lurve that copy and paste function.

[billy bigtime]

Keep doing it Pro, just post it @ V8Kindergarden instead

[RotorFan]

Pro Racer loves motorsport, surely that alone is qualification to write about what happens at a race meeting

[stoned pony]

Originally Posted by RotorFan

Pro Racer loves motorsport, surely that alone is qualification to write about what happens at a race meeting

Let's hope he isn't a huge fan of kinky sex then!

[Pro Racer]

good one pony, maybe if my name was max!!!

guys i was thinking of a new format instead of a review of each session how about just my thoughts on each session, a drive of the round and a picture of the round that i think is the best from my surfing of motorsport sites on the net. would that be better?

[Just Do It!]

Originally Posted by NAC

I'm with the DS driver. If you enjoy doing it Pro then go for it. Those that don’t want to read it I have a really simple answer for you, DON’T READ IT, go waste your time on some other thread.

Pro I have to ask, are you getting someone to proof it? either that or have you been back to school recently? That is actually a compliment - your writing is getting better

Im with NAC and Bazzz (enough Z's?)...and it's not because we are part of Club Sheep Shagger.

I say if you have a dream you have to hold on to it - bear hug the thing at times - to make sure that you keep it yours.

Shane did a wicked job, and you highlighted that. Wait until he wins a championship and see what happens!!

But never quit...unless you are a smoker!

[Downoz]

Pro Racer, keep at it buddy, I now that you are only a young fella, but at least you will grow up, not like some that post on here.

[Woolley]

Keep at it. If people don't want to read it they don't have to (and it's not like they don't know what it's about from the title).

Just a suggestion, though. There's plenty of round ups available out there, from specialist press to websites. Keep it personal. Since you were actually at the round, do the write up based on your experience - where you sat, what you saw, how the day went for you as a spectator, anything you spotted from your vantage point.

If you're watching a televised round it's more difficult, but you should still be able to personalise it.