By Matthew Agius
After an interesting Oran Park round of the V8 Supercar Championship last weekend, Craig Lowndes has opened a considerable lead in the adjusted points table after championship rival Garth Tander suffered a disastrous Sydney sprint event.
In the final sprint round before the annual long-distance races at Sandown and Bathurst, Oran Park would be a critical factor in this year’s adjusted points. With both Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander showing terrific speed during practice and qualifying, it would be important for both drivers to stay out of trouble and also gain sufficient points to stay at the lofty part of the standings.
Unfortunately, this plan failed for Garth Tander when he failed to finish the opening race, and had difficulty recovering in the reverse-grid and final sprint on Sunday. Indeed, Lowndes’ round win was a huge spanner in the works for Tander’s championship campaign. Matters were made worse for the Western Australian hotshot when he dropped beneath his teammate Rick Kelly after dropping their worst round – Kelly previously having been third and well behind the two leaders.
Lowndes and Team Betta Electrical now boast a 101 point lead over Rick Kelly after adjusted points, with Tander a further forty-five points adrift of his junior teammate.
Further down the table, and it appears as though the minor placings will be hard fought even in the enduros. Drivers are continually jumping or dropping several places between events – a testament to the closeness between midpack teams – yet at the top of the table, the lead pilots are starting to sort themselves out.
