King of Pukekohe dethroned
Jason Bright dethroned the 'King of Pukekohe', Greg Murphy, by winning the rain affected New Zealand round of the 2004 V8 Supercar Championship Series at Pukekohe Park Raceway,
Race one of the PlaceMakers V8 International scheduled for Saturday was postponed in controversial circumstances at Pukekohe Raceway, 40km south of Auckland, because of worsening weather conditions which flooded the track in places. The round was decided over three 36-lap (100km) races on Sunday. The original two Sunday heats were reduced from 54-lap (150km) events.
It was not only the track that flooded, officials also considering moving the 32-car field to higher ground overnight because of the threat of the pits being flooded with the continual rain. Ironically one of the new sponsors of the series is Telstra's Big Pond and the fear was that the race track would turn into a big pond.
The last race in the V8 Supercar Championship Series to be called off because of weather was at Calder Park in Melbourne in 1998.
"Most of all I feel sorry for the fans who have sat out in the wet all day wanting to see a race. It is definitely a shame for them. "Hopefully things will settle a bit and we can put on a decent show tomorrow," said Stone Brother Racing's Russell Ingall
Not all the Saturday action was washed out. The shoot out for the top ten grid positions went ahead and this year the results counted because it was wet for all the runners. Last year there were wet and dry track conditions for the shoot out at Pukekohe and the results considered unfair so the grid was based on normal qualifying times. In the slippery conditions fastest qualifier Jason Bright slipped back to fourth position as the masters of the one lap shoot out, Skaife and Ambrose, put their cars on the front row of the grid, with local hero Greg Murphy joining Bright on the second row.
TOP 10 SHOOTOUT
1: Mark Skaife (Holden) 1:04.7477
2:Marcos Ambrose (Ford) 1:04.7514
3: Greg Murphy (Holden) 1:05.2608
4: Jason Bright (Holden) 1:05.7407
5: Steve Richards (Holden) 1:06.5466
6: Paul Radisich (Ford) 1:06.5501
7: John Bowe (Ford) 1:06.5503
8: Max Wilson (Ford) 1:06.5796
9: Todd Kelly (Holden) 1:06.7599
10: Jason Bargwanna (Ford) 1:07.6230
When racing finally got underway on Sunday Holden Racing Team's Mark Skaife wasn't able to make use of the front row spot. He made disastrous start from pole position and his day got worse when later he spun after contact with Steven Richards. Skaife's poor start allowed Ambrose to take the lead and to go on and win the opening race from Jason Bright. This was Ford's first race win in the V8 Supercar Championship Series in New Zealand.
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