“It’s the best racecar I’ve ever driven and to totally dominate a meeting is the best experience I’ve had in racing.” Were the ecstatic Ambrose’s comments.
While Ambrose set the pace out front there were plenty of battles and action back in the pack The sight of cars four wide at top speed up the back strait at Sandown is very attention grabbing. A cliché goes, “Safety cars breed safety cars” and it was very true at Sandown on Sunday.
It all stated when the Caterpillar Falcon blew an oil line and laid a trail of oil all around the circuit as it limped back to the pits. On lap 27 Cameron McConville touched the edge of the oil coming through the fast down hill turns after the back strait and slammed into a crash barrier, and bringing out the first of five safety car periods for the race.
At Sandown the first series of turns connecting the back and front straits is narrow and after each restart it looked more like an Tullamarine Freeway on a Friday afternoon than a race track. Not surprisingly there were a number of incidents that resulted in the re-appearance of the Safety Car. The most controversial moment came when Neil Crompton ran into the back of the Castrol Perkins Commodore of Steven Richards. A very upset Richards was less than complimentary about Crompton and his driving ability.
Crompton avoided direct comment on the cause of the incident “After we’d made up so many positions during yesterday’s race, I’d really been looking forward to a good result this weekend but it simply wasn’t to be.”
He went on to say “It’s certainly a disappointing way to end both the year and my time with 00 Motorsport, but thanks has to go to the team for the efforts over the entire season.”
