By Matt Agius
The 2007 V8 Supercar Championship Series heads to Eastern Creek Raceway in New South Wales this weekend for the return to the Sydney based favourite after a one-year hiatus.
Like fellow circuit Winton, Eastern Creek has been one of the traditional permanent tracks to be left off of the championship calendar in recent years. With the increase to fourteen rounds in 2007, ‘the Creek’ is back and with forecast storms for the Queen’s Birthday weekend, will be the first V8 Supercar event to feature racing on the public holiday.
Teams News
Valvoline Cummins Race Team – Lee Holdsworth (#33), Dean Canto (#34)
After his shunt at round four in Winton, Lee Holdsworth has been cleared to race this weekend.
The 146 km/h crash into the barriers at Winton inflicted a large damage bill on the Garry Rogers Motorsport operation, further adding to this year’s repair costs after Dean Canto’s expensive excursion off track at Pukekohe
Team Kiwi Racing – TBA (#021)
A big black cloud hangs over the future of the All-Black team of the V8 Supercar Championship. Team Kiwi Racing looks to be in major trouble financially after Ford Performance Racing terminated their contract with the perennial minnows of the category shortly before Eastern Creek, citing that contractual obligations had not been met by TKR.
Compounding the issue further, main driver and dual World Touring Car Champion Paul Radisich quit the team for similar reasons, with many of the major papers reporting that driver payments had not been met.
TKR’s problems go way back to Bathurst last year, when a massive crash wrote off the team’s Commodore which was going to be sold to raise the funds required for their Ford defection.
