A short 20 minute qualifying session began the day for the V8 Supercars. With hopes of carrying over its form from yesterdays practice sessions, The Bottle-O Commodore was quick out of the box and posted laps times that saw Tony standing his ground in the top 15.
Times began to tumble as the session came to an end, although Tony improved his lap time on his last flying lap, it wasn't enough to keep Tony in the top 20, finishing in 22nd.
'The track didn't have as much grip as yesterday and I couldn't the car to do what I needed it to. I was hoping we could produce results similar to yesterdays but 22rd is still an improvement on previous races.'
Race one turned out to be an eventful race. Lap one saw Steven Richards hit Tony on the right rear causing damaged to the rear of Tony's car. Tony quickly regained control without loosing too many positions and pressed on in persuit of Jack Perkins.
Lap 5 and the pit lane opened. Teams peeled in and Tony moved up into 12th, to then pass Patrizi and be in 11th.
Coming in to pit from 5th position on lap 11, the green machine came in for fuel only getting back out there to be behind Todd Kelly and in 20th place.
The safety car was deployed on lap 29 when Holdsworth broke down on the track on the with engine troubles. Cars again started pitting but The Bottle - O team saw it as as opportunity to gain position, with Tony staying out, taking full advantage working his way up into 9th.
Tony pitted under safety car on lap 30 for fuel and tyres, Tony came back out on the track to be in 8th, a great position as 3 cars infront of him had only done one out of their 2 compulsary stops.
Lights out on the safety car on lap 33 and the battles continued with plently of panel rubbing going on, as the field sorted themselves out, over the radio the call came through that #55 had broken a gear lever and was stuck in gear. Coming in, the team quickly fixed the lever andTony was backout on lap 36 and in 23rd position, 3 laps off the leading lap but steadily pushing on.
The field was again compacted when the safety car was deployed for Alex Davison, who had dramas at the last turn coming onto the straight. When the race restarted the mad dash towards the end began. With three laps remaining Steven Johnson hit Tony, and as a result of this a watts linkage breaking.
Making the call to keep the car out and struggle home, Tony crawled over the line in 22nd position.
The car was later classified as a DNF as Tony's final lap time was too slow and didnt comply with the rules.
'It was a disappointing day, we copped alot of hits from others causing our damage. I have never broken a gear lever before and it was a quite a shock when I found the lever was dettached and in my hand. The track is intense and demanding, I am physically drained, tomorrow is going to be tough when we do it all again.'
Tomorrows another day and the Bottle-O Commodore Racing Team will continue to fight on for qualifying and race 2.
Qualifying begins at 11am before race 2 at 1.35!
Last Modified on 13/07/2009 11:42