Skaife back on track

HOLDEN Racing Team's Mark Skaife had a timely return to form at Oran Park yesterday, winning both races to re-establish a points buffer in this year's Shell Championship Series.

The V8 Supercar ace went into this round needing to re-assert his authority to maintain his slender lead in the drivers' title, as it was under threat from teammate Jason Bright and Ford rival Steven Johnson.

After qualifying second, Skaife managed to fight his way to the front early and control both races to win by a comfortable margin. He was clearly the fastest man on the track and continued HRT's dominant run at the west Sydney circuit that now stands at six wins in six years.

"It's been a great place for us over the years, Oran Park," Skaife said.

"We have had a bit of bad luck of late and it is great to have a trouble free run. It is a great resurrection from the team after a run of winless rounds." Rookie David Besnard was also in fine form, qualifying on the second row of the grid in his Stone Brothers Ford before following Skaife home in second overall with third and second place finishes in the two races.

Bernard has had a terrible run so far this season and was languishing in 24th position in the drivers' standings heading into the Oran Park round. His rookie teammate Marcos Ambrose has been one of the standout drivers this year, so a podium finish relieves a lot of the pressure that was resting on the shoulders of the 24-year old Sydneysider.

"Today is definitely a highlight since returning to Australia to go racing early last year," Besnard said.

"It's hard to put the results down to any one thing, but I am learning to gel with the team better and feed back my thoughts on the car to help get he set up right." Craig Lowndes scored his first pole position for the Gibson Ford team, to set the scene for a showdown with old teammate Skaife in the race. But the epic battle never eventuated after Lowndes was swamped at the start and pushed back to fourth at the first turn.

A second place in race one and an unlucky seventh in race two, after he was turned around exiting the final corner by Garth Tander, gave Lowndes third overall for the day.

"It is a bit disappointing after we started the weekend so well," Lowndes said.

"The start in race one was a shocker, but the podium finish is a great comeback for the team after a few bad rounds lately." Johnson and Bright finished fourth and fifth overall for another consistent points haul to keep them at the pointy end of the championship standings.

As the teams head north to the Queensland 500 in four weeks time, Skaife's lead in the drivers' championship is now back out to 104 points over Bright, after he had closed to within 17 points going into this round. Johnson has moved into third, a further 210 points back, with Russell Ingall now in fourth another 17 points adrift.

The big mover after round eight was Lowndes who jumped from ninth up to fifth courtesy of his podium finish and he now heads a pack of six drivers separated by less than 100 points.

RACE 1 RESULTS
1 Mark Skaife (Holden) 44:52.5714
2 C Lowndes (Ford) +5.6197
3 D Besnard (Ford) +6.7127
4 Todd Kelly (Holden) +14.2028
5 S Johnson (Ford) +17.3111
6 G Tander (Holden) +20.0096
7 J Bright (Holden) +20.2948
8 R Ingall (Holden) +22.9264
9 Jason Bargwanna (Holden) +23.3324
10 Cameron McConville (Holden) +25.6952 RACE 2 RESULTS
1 Mark Skaife (Holden) 43:03.6026
2 D Besnard (Ford) +7.0025
3 J Bright (Holden) +8.4285
4 S Johnson (Ford) +16.6489
5 R Ingall (Holden) +17.9173
6 C McConville (Holden) +19.5927
7 C Lowndes (Ford) +22.1155
8 T Kelly (Holden) +24.9151
9 Paul Radisich (Ford) +27.1969
10 Steve Ellery (Ford) +28.0591 OVERALL RESULTS
1 Mark Skaife (Holden) 286 points
2 D Besnard (Ford) 242
3 C Lowndes (Ford) 219
4 S Johnson (Ford) 204
5 J Bright (Holden) 199
6 T Kelly (Holden) 187
7 R Ingall (Holden) 179
8 C McConville (Holden) 163
9 G Tander (Holden) 146
10 S Ellery (Ford) 126 DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
1 Skaife (HRT) 2006 points
2 Bright (HRT) 1902
3 Johnson (Shell Ford) 1692
4 Ingall (Castrol Holden) 1675
5 Lowndes (Gibson Ford) 1365
6 Ambrose (Pirtek Ford) 1328
7 Murphy (K-Mart Holden) 1323
8 Richards (Tickford Ford) 1316
9 Radisich (Shell Ford) 1305
10 Kelly (K-Mart Holden) 1266 Next round: Queensland 500, Ipswich, August 24-26