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Press Snoop: If you don't like the weather.....

Friday, 31st March 2006

ANTHONY DAVIDSON was fastest in each of the two hour-long Formula One practice sessions on Friday at Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia, his fastest time a 1min 26.822secs in the second session.

For some real racing, the fans had the V8s, V8 Utes, Formula 3, and Carrera Cup. The celebrities qualified, and there were parades, demonstrations and stunt riding. DAVID BRABHAM showed again that it wasn't a fluke by again winning the Ultimate Speed Demonstration in a BMW 120i street car. It was ROBERT KUBICA in the BMW Sauber finishing second and STEVEN RICHARDS in the Jack Daniels Holden Commodore V8 bring up the rear. Despite the changed handicapping, Brabs still won.

And to my old, worn out ears, the F1 cars still sound good, even with the V8 engines. Friday's announced attendance was 71,000, compared to last year's 82,301. In all fairness to the promoter, besides the weather, Melbourne is being reaching 'sports saturation'. First, the two-week long Commonwealth Games, right on top of the Foster's Australian Grand Prix. Australian Football League started this week, and is playing daily with large crowds around the country, and in a week or so, it's Davis Cup tennis. And last weekend in Adelaide it was hot weather and huge crowds (270,000 for the four days) for the Clipsal 500 V8 street race.

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