Round 9: Sandown 500

[Mickcals]

Predictions For Sandown
Well Sandown is only a two days away so lets have some suggestions on whose going to win.
pic of Map:
http://www.v8supercars.com.au//v8data/crct/crct_114.jpg




Heres some info to help you decide:

Current Qualifying Record: Craig Lowndes - Holden - 1.10.9386 -1999

Current Lap Record: Craig Lowndes - Holden - 1.11.6535- 1999

Past Results

Driver on Pole
1998 - Bowe - Ford
1999 - Lowndes - Holden
2000 - Lowndes - Holden
2001 - Skaife - Holden
2002 - Ambrose - Ford
2003 - Ambrose/Ingall - Ford

Round Winner
1998 - Lowndes - Holden
1999 - Skaife - Holden
2000 - Radisich - Ford
2001 - Todd Kelly - Holden
2002 - Ambrose - Ford
2003 - Skaife/T.Kelly - Holden
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Sorry about how late this was, i thought that is was on next week

2004 Enduro lineup:

SBR:

#1 Marcos Ambrose/Greg Ritter
#9 Russell Ingall/Cameron McLean

HRT:

#2 Mark Skaife/Todd Kelly
#05 Peter Brock/Jason Plato

Tasman:

#3 Jason Richards/Fabian Couthard

FPR:

#5 Allan Menu/Adam Macrow
#6 Craig Lowndes/Glenn Seton

CPR:

#7 Tony Longhurst/Alex Davison
#8 Paul Dumbrell/Jamie Wincup
#11 Steven Richards/Jim Richards

LMS:

#10 Jason Bargwanna/Mark Winterbottom
#20 MarkLarkham/Matt Halliday

BJR:

#12 Andrew Jones/John Cleland
#21 Brad Jones/John Bowe

KRT:

#15 Steve Owen/Tim Leahey
#51 Greg Murphy/Rick Kelly

PWR:

#16 Marcus Marshall/Matthew White
#50 Jason Bright/Paul Weel

DJR:

#17 Steven Johnson/Warren Luff
#18 David Brabham/Owen Kelly

TKR:

#021 Craig Baird/Mark Porter

WPS:

#23 David Besnard/Neil McFadyen
#48 John McIntyre/Alex Yoong

PMM:

#29 Paul Morris/Alan Gurr

SER:

#31 Steven Ellery/Luke Youlden

GRM:

#33 Nathan Pretty/Alan Simonsen
#34 Garth Tander/Cameron McConville

Team Dynamik:

#44 Simon Wills/Paul Stokell
#45 Dale Brede/Will Davison

Toll:

#75 Anthony Tratt/Tomas Mezera

Triple 888:

#88 Paul Radisich/Max Wilson
#888 Yvan Muller/Dean Canto

Romano:

#24 Garth Walden/Grant Elliot

Smiths Trucks:

#14 Lee Holdsworth/TBA

HYL:

#46 Kurt Wimmer/Christian D’Agostin

.....................

My Predictions:

Ford:

Ambrose/Ritter - Ambrose has always been strong at Sandown, its one of his favourite races and last he was 40 sec clear of 2nd place before Ingall sent the car into the kitty litter

B.Jones/Bowe - Traditionally strong come the Enduro time. A very experienced car with Bowe having won the 500 in the past. Last yer they finished fourth and will be looking at making the poduim for the first time together

Ingall/McLean - This is Ingall's time to shine, he copes very well in the longer races and this time there is no pressure of a champioship lead on Ingall's shoulders. Also this is Ingall's chance to make himself felt in the championship standings

Holden:

Skaife/T.Kelly - Despite their slow season both Skaife and Kelly will be strong at Sandown. Both T.Kelly and SKaife have won this event individualy and are the most likely combo to win this weekend

S.Richards/J.Richards - a very strong combination here.This is Stevens chance to make his make on the chmapionship standing as he has got the best possible co-driver in Jim Richards.

Bright/Weel - PWR's car have been very strong this year. Expect to see them enter the race on the last stint as thats when Bright and Weel are at their best.

Underdogs:

Ford: Bargwanna/Winterbottom, Radisich/Wilson, Lowndes/Seton

Holden: J.Richards/Coultard, Tander/McConville, Brock/Plato

[VQ]

Well for my sake, I hope that Skaife/T.Kelly or Bright/Weel win. Cos I am going!

[murph_fan]

Heres my tips, quite a hard decision this time:

1st #34 Tander/McConville
2nd #51 R. Kelly/Murphy
3rd #1 Ambrose/Ritter
4th #31 Ellery/Youlden
5th #2 Skaife/T. Kelly

UNDERDOGS:

#88 Radisich/Wilson
#44 Wills/Stokell
#10 Winterbottom/Bargwanna
#3 J. Richards/Coulthard

PRACTICE #1 TIMES:

PRACTICE #2 TIMES:

1. R. Kelly
2. Jones
3. Ritter
4. Youlden
5. Wilson

[murph_fan]

Practise 3 Results:

1st. Mark Skaife/T Kelly
2nd. Craig Lowndes
3rd. Morris/A. Gurr
4th. Craig Baird
5th. McConville/Tander

QUALIFYING:

1st. Morris
2nd. Skaife
3rd. R Kelly
4th. Ambrose
5th. Seton/Lowndes
6th. Johnson
7th. Owen Kelly
8th. Bargwanna
9th. Bright
10th. Dumbrell

TOP 10 SHOOTOUT:

POLE: Rick Kelly
2nd. Ambrose
3rd. Morris
4th. Skaife
5th. Lowndes
6th. Johnson
7th. Bright
8th. Dumbrell
9th. Bargwanna
10th. O. Kelly

Some other drivers in the qualifying session:

Steve Richards = 12th
Tander = 14th
Ingall = 15th
Plato = 16th
Radisich = 19th

[VQ]

Looks like it's gonna be interesting tommorow for me, I mean the rain is defienetly gonna reduce the numbrs, which i good for me.

[Bo0]

heh yeah hope there isnt too much rain like last year, at times it was an ice-skating rink.

Good mix of drivers in the top 10 - 5 fords and 5 holdens so we should be up for a cracker of a race.

[murph_fan]

SANDOWN 500 RACE RESULTS: (UNOFFICIAL)

1st. Ambrose/Ritter
2nd. Ingall/McLean
3rd. Johnson/Luff
4th. McConville/Tander
5th. R Kelly/Murphy

Positions 3rd and 4th are still undecided. McConville claimed that Luff passed under yelllow during a crash.

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS:

1st Ambrose 1487
2nd Bright 1464
3rd Richards 1397
4th R Kelly 1373
5th Ingall 1347
6th Murphy 1284
7th T Kelly 1163
8th Tander 1155
9th Bowe 1004
10th Bargwanna 962

12th Skaife 863
14th McConville 860
18th Baird 814
26th Lowndes 637

[VQ]

Well, I was there, I was quite furious and didn't understand who was where after ambrose went into the pits for the first time....

[Perko_Rulz]

I watched it today and it was like the Bristol 500 more than the Sandown 500. As soon as the pace car went off, it was back on again. I think that Dynamik and WPS should be sent down to Konica for 2 years, get their drivers to learn how to drive, and maybe then, allow them back up. At times it looked like the drivers wanted to have a go at rally driving.

[Mickcals]

Yeah the safety car did more laps then the Andrew Jones/John Cleland car.

It was a good race, lots of incidents, kept the fans happy im sure.

Its good to see that Ford have finally come to terms with the Enduro cocept and have finally got some good enduro combinations.

Also it seems that DJR might be the end of the year improver, i hope to see that No 17 car in the top five alot more often.

Brock and Plato had a good run, looking for a top 10 finish until Plato sort of spun of the track.

Poor Skaife, talk about rotten luck. Those Dynamik cars and the WPS cars shouldnt have been on the road they caused so much trouble and mess for the other drivers

[Bo0]

Yeah i agree, they shouldn't have been on the road, take Dynamik and WPS out of the equation and we might have had a decent race.

Well in terms of the Ambrose win, i call it "Unfinished Business" after what happened last year, its one area SBR struggles in - enduro's, and this year it seems to have been all figured out.

On a statrs point-of-view, they reckon that Sandown shows a poor giude as to who wins Bathurst, only a couple of drivers had made it a Sandown/Bathurst double, none of those been since the V8 Supercars concept was introduced in 1993, so hodlen fans, you may have a *bit* of luck, hopefully not too much! ^_^

I wouldnt have called that race the best i have seen, it was quite scrappy, and its a shame for Skaife and Bright to have had so many dramas. It was quite a remarkable effort by HRT to bring the #2 car back out after what had happened, so the crew would have worked their arses off for the car to make it back onto the track. :eek: